Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign

The 1980 presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan was a successful election campaign for President of the United States in 1980 by former California governor Ronald Reagan, and former CIA director George H. W. Bush. Reagan and Bush, defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter and incumbent Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan, a Republican who had also tried to seek the Republican nomination in 1976, launched his 1980 presidential bid on November 13, 1979, and secured nomination for his election on July 17, 1980. On November 4th, 1980, Reagan and Bush defeated Carter and Mondale in an electoral college landslide, winning 489 electoral votes compared to Carter and Mondale’s 49 electoral votes.

Reagan, a Republican and former governor of California, announced his third presidential bid in a nationally televised speech from New York City in 1979. He campaigned extensively for the primaries after losing the Iowa caucus to former congressman and director of the Central Intelligence Agency Bush. In the primaries, he won 44 states and 59.8 percent of the vote. He decided initially to nominate former president Gerald Ford as his running mate, but Ford wanted such extended powers as vice president, especially over foreign policy, that their ticket would effectively amount to a "co-presidency". As a result, negotiations to form a Reagan–Ford ticket ceased. Reagan then selected Bush as his vice-presidential running mate.

At the 1980 Republican National Convention, Reagan garnered the required delegates to be the official nominee. With Carter's declining approval ratings and popularity, U.S. senator Ted Kennedy challenged him at the Democratic primaries, but Carter was re-nominated. John B. Anderson, who was a presidential candidate for the Republican Party, left the party and entered the race as an independent candidate. On July 19, Reagan opened his campaign with a tumultuous rally in Texas. There he proclaimed the campaign slogan, "We Can Make America Great Again." He called for a drastic cut in "big government" and pledged to deliver a balanced budget for the first time since 1969. At a rally in New York on August 5, Reagan proposed a youth differential in the minimum wage law, for encouraging businesses to hire unskilled and unemployed black youths. Appealing to black voters, he said, "What I want for America is ... pretty much what the overwhelming majority of black Americans also want."

Two presidential debates were conducted, but Carter refused to take part if Anderson was included; the first debate was between only Reagan and Anderson. A week before election day, another debate was organized between President Carter and Reagan; Anderson was not invited. On election day, Reagan won the election by a landslide winning 51 percent of the popular vote with 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49 electoral votes. At 69 years old, Reagan was then the oldest non-incumbent presidential candidate to win a presidential election. He was inaugurated on January 20, 1981.