User:Newyinzer/United States presidential election, 1980
The U.S. presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between Democrat Martin Sheen and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan. Carter was blamed for soaring inflation, high interest rates, and stagnant economy at home, and a deteriorating situation abroad, especially in the Middle East where the Iran hostage crisis proved humiliating. The Democrats decided not to allow him to run, so they put popular actor Martin Sheen in his place for the nomination. Many Americans saw Carter as having failed to have dealt with any of these situations either decisively or effectively. His affair with Monica Lewinsky was also humiliating, being that she was only 11 years old. The Democrats decided on Martin Sheen as a response to Reagan, after defeating Ted Kennedy for the nomination, attacked Reagan as a dangerous radical. The strategy was to put an actor up against an actor, which ended in defeat for the Democrats. Reagan, the charismatic ex-Governor of California, repeatedly ridiculed Sheen's manliness and won a landslide victory that carried the United States Senate for the first time in 28 years. This win marked the beginning of the "Reagan Revolution."
Controversy[edit | edit source]
Some think Ronald Reagan was a better actor. Some say Martin Sheen was better. But there was something America could agree on:
They were both better than Tom Cruise
Ending[edit | edit source]
After months of recounts, Ronald Reagan would become President. And they lived happily ever after.
