Jimmy Carter was elected President as an outsider, and few of his achievements were legislative. Carter was instrumental in the creation of the federal Departments of Energy and Education and supported many environmental reform proposals. In foreign policy, Carter helped to bring peace between Israel and the Egypt and arranged for the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Carter spent the last fifteen months of his administration dealing with the Iranians. A coup in Iran deposed the Shah, and Iranian terrorists kidnapped some Americans in the American embassy. President Carter sent an expedition to rescue the hostages, but the effort failed. Carter was unable to reach a settlement with the Iranians through negotiation, and the hostage issue weighed on the minds of the voters throughout the primary and general elections in 1980.

The state of the economy also hampered the Carter administration. One of Carter’s issues against Ford in 1976 was the “misery index,” which was the sum of the inflation rate and unemployment. During Carter’s administration, both inflation and unemployment soared. Interest rates rose to record highs.

The Democrats were not united behind Carter. The more liberal Democrats lined up behind Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1980 in his challenge to Carter. Gov. Jerry Brown of California also entered the race. In the first primary (NH), Carter defeated Kennedy 47–37 with 10% voting for Brown. Kennedy proclaimed victory although he placed second

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Jimmy Carter was elected President as an outsider, and few of his achievements were legislative. Carter was instrumental in the creation of the federal Departments of Energy and Education and supported many environmental reform proposals. In foreign policy, Carter helped to bring peace between Israel and the Egypt and arranged for the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Carter spent the last fifteen months of his administration dealing with the Iranians. A coup in Iran deposed the Shah, and Iranian terrorists kidnapped some Americans in the American embassy. President Carter sent an expedition to rescue the hostages, but the effort failed. Carter was unable to reach a settlement with the Iranians through negotiation, and the hostage issue weighed on the minds of the voters throughout the primary and general elections in 1980.

The state of the economy also hampered the Carter administration. One of Carter’s issues against Ford in 1976 was the “misery index,” which was the sum of the inflation rate and unemployment. During Carter’s administration, both inflation and unemployment soared. Interest rates rose to record highs.

The Democrats were not united behind Carter. The more liberal Democrats lined up behind Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1980 in his challenge to Carter. Gov. Jerry Brown of California also entered the race. In the first primary (NH), Carter defeated Kennedy 47–37 with 10% voting for Brown. Kennedy proclaimed victory although he placed second because his 37% was more than Carter’s 28% in NH in 1976. However, Kennedy’s challenge was weakened by his failure to win a primary in his neighboring state. In the remaining primaries, Kennedy won the larger states (CA, PA, NY, NJ, MA) and Carter won the southern and western states. The race for delegates was close until the convention met. There, the Carter forces passed a rule that required delegates who were elected on Carter slates to vote for him. By this method, Carter won the nomination on the first ballot.

Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans united behind a candidate early in the year. Ronald Reagan won the New Hampshire primary with half of the total vote. All of his opponents but two dropped out of the race. One of them, George Bush, continued to challenge Reagan unsuccessfully. The other, John Anderson, created a party of his own and re-entered the race as an independent. Reagan chose Bush to be his running mate after a deal with ex-President Ford fell through.

In the 1980 elections, the Republican Party rebounded from its poor showings of the mid-1970s. Reagan carried 44 states, and the Republicans gained a dozen Senate seats, taking control of the Senate forthe first time since 1955. The Republicans also gained 33 House seats.

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