He was an aging incumbent president who had just been drubbed in the midterms by the opposing party. The country was combating inflation and facing interest-rate hikes. His popularity, dipping into the 30s the year before his campaign for a second term, made a lot of his political handlers nervous about his reelection. And in his first debate with his opponent, a populist former vice president, he appeared old and unprepared.
Yet, in 1984, Ronald Wilson Reagan not only won reelection but prevailed in the second-biggest landslide in American history, winning 525 electoral votes, 58 percent of the popular vote, and every state of the union except for the home state — Minnesota — of his opponent, Walter Mondale.
Four decades later, we should not underestimate the historical importance of Reagan’s win. Every election year, partisans fire up voters by telling them that it’s the most consequential election of their lifetime. But it is not hyperbole to wonder how history might have turned out differently if the former California governor had been sent back to his Santa Barbara ranch by the voters.
A loss by Reagan would have been a referendum on his pro-growth, small-government economic policies, which ultimately ushered in an area of opportunity and prosperity. It would have sent a message, during the height of the Cold War, that appeasement rather than rhetorical confrontation was the key to confronting the evil of Soviet communism. Perhaps most importantly, a Reagan defeat would have wounded America’s self-confidence. Yet he did prevail, and we can be thankful that he did.
Click Here To Read More (Originally Published at World Magazine)
Daniel Darling is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary and the author of several books, including In Defense of Christian Patriotism, forthcoming from Broadside Books.
