Republican Primaries of 1980, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush
HIUS 542
Liberty University
At the end of the 1980 Republican Primaries one man was selected to run for President,
Ronald Reagan, what started as eight members of the Republican party looking to guide and
steer the great country of the United states into the future dwindled down to two solid candidates.
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One of the candidates that dropped out, was actually a strong contender, but could not surpass
“the Gipper” in votes to be selected the as the Republican nominee, the votes for the seven
members that dropped out went from George bush having 3,070,033 (23.%), to Bob Dole
gaining a mere 7,204 (0.06%) of the popular vote.
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Throughout the different debates held around
the country during the 1980 primaries the two strongest and most revered candidates where
Ronald Reagan, former Governor and movie star from the state of California, and George Bush;
former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Throughout the debates regardless of how
many of the Candidates where on stage, typically it seemed to be around four to five, Bush and
Reagan received most of the questions during the debates, one of the biggest topics was the Cold
War part II, Reagan seemed to be able to defend the topic and addressed it head on, Bush seemed
to stumble a little bit on the topic seeming un-prepared for the question. One of the most
memorable and documented debates during the Republican Primaries, was in fact one paid for by
Ronald Reagan himself, the Nashua Telegraph debate, held on Feb 23, 1980.
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Reagan almost lost
his microphone, due to an early argument with Mr. Green the host of the debate,
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recovering
from the situation, many believe this is the debate that ultimately secured Ronald Reagan the
selection as the Republican candidate for president. Was it truly the Nashua Telegraph that
secured his seat for the presidential race or was it his ability to communicate and his charm that
won him the seat as the Republican Candidate for election?
Ronald Reagan was born Feb 6, 1911 in Illinois, to John and Nellie Reagan, Republican
primaries of 1976 between Reagan and Ford. He predominantly grew up in small towns around
1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/07/13/convention-1980-republicans-in–
detroit/4be994c1-72e5-453b-b51c-ce411e7de588/
2
https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/local-news/2018/12/03/a-recollection-the-historic-1980-nashua–
debate/
3
https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/local-news/2018/12/03/a-recollection-the-historic-1980-nashua–
debate/
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the state of Illinois. He grew up with the nickname “Dutch” given to him by his father due to his
chunky stature. Ronald attended the Dixon school system throughout his education years,
finally graduating from Dixon High School. While in High School he started his career early in
acting and his political career, while preforming in plays as well as taking the lead as Student
body president for the last two years of his high school years.
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He continued his education
attending Eureka College located in Illinois on an athletic scholarship, he majored in economics
and sociology obtaining his Bachelors all while playing football, running track and captaining the
swim team. He continued his high school duties into his college career while becoming
president of the student council again while participating in school theatrical productions.
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After graduating college Ronald took up a short-term career in sports broadcasting with station
WOC in Davenport Iowa for a short time before moving onto WHO in Des Moines Iowa. He
became known for his broadcasting of the Chicago Cubs, using a name from his youth “Dutch”
Reagan.
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Shortly after his stent as a sports caster in 1937 Ronald signed a contract with Warner Bros
studios starting for seven years. His time as an actor spanned the next thirty years, where he
starred in over fifty movies, some of the bigger ones where Knute Rockne, All American, and
Kings Row, they are still talked about today as classic films.
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Ronald started his transition from acting into politics when he served as president of the
Screen Actors Guild. He spent time testifying in front of the House Un-American Activities
4
https://www.biography.com/us-president/ronald-reagan
5
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ronald-Reagan
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https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan
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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ronald-Reagan
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Committee (HUAC), fighting communist infiltration into the guild. He fought for the rights of the
actors, and movie industry, sometimes violent, other times it was enjoyable, however more on
the violent side.
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In one instance of violence Reagan chose to break the picket line while talking
at the HUAC, cooperating in the blacklisting of actors, directors, and suspected leftist
sympathies. His biggest achievement during his acting career was when he became the host of
General Electric Theater, a television drama series, along with becoming a spokesman for the
General Electric Company itself.
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Ronald’s first real run for political office came in 1964 when he gave a televised speech for
presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, the speech was well received, and his foot was in the
door for state politics. He continued to work for local and state politicians writing speeches and
discussing local issues, until 1966 when he ran for governor of California, beating out
incumbent Democrat Edmund “Pat” Brown Sr., by almost one million votes. Reagan was re–
elected to the governorship in 1970, where he completed his term in office leaving the
governor’s office in 1974.
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Reagan vied for his chance at the presidential run in 1968 and 1976,
both times being unsuccessful. In 1980 he finally received the proverbial “Golden Ticket” to the
dance, getting the Republicans nod to run for the Republican party in the presidential race,
where he chose George H.W. Bush as his Vice President running mate.
George was born June 12, 1924 to Prescott and Dorothy, a political family from the start.
Prescott was an investment banker turned senator representing the state of Connecticut from
8
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan
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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ronald-Reagan
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https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan
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1952-1963.
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George took a diff path when it came to elementary schooling, he attended
Phillips Academy, one of the elite schools that still operates today located in Andover, MA.
George joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 18, not uncommon back in the 1940’s, however he
became the youngest pilot in the navy during World War II.
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He was a combat pilot during the
war, flying a total of 58 combat missions, in a torpedo bomber. He was shot down in the Pacific,
narrowly escaping his burning plane, he was rescued by a U.S. Navy submarine, for his action he
was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.
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He completed his term in the U.S.
Navy and continued with the family tradition of schooling, George attended Yale graduating in
1948. After graduation he was offered a job in his dads’ firm, denying the position he moved
with his wife Barbara, to Texas where he sold oil field supplies. In 1951 he joined forces and
cofounded the Bush-Overby Oil Developmental Company, eventually opening up two more
companies the Zapata Petroleum Corporation, and the Zapata Off-Shore Company.
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Bush started his run in politics in 1959 running in the Republican party in Houston, in 1964
he ran for Senate, losing out to Democrat Ralph Yarborough.
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In 1966 he was elected to the a
republican seat in the House of Representatives, he stayed in that seat until 1970, giving up the
seat to again try his hand in running for the U.S. Senate, again losing out to a Democrat, Lloyd
Besten. He was appointed by Richard M. Nixon to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations, chairman to the Republic National Committee standing by Nixon until 1974.
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In late
1974 Gerald R. Ford appointed Bush as chief to the U.S. Liaison Office in China, being the senior
11
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Prescott-Bush
12
https://www.biography.com/us-president/george–hw-bush
13
https://www.biography.com/us-president/george–hw-bush
14
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-H-W-Bush
15
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-H-W-Bush
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https://www.biography.com/us-president/george–hw-bush
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representative, until 1976 when he was asked to head the Central Intelligence Agency.
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George
continued the role as head of the C.I.A., until Jimmy Carter took office, Bush resigned in 1979
moving back to the great state of Texas where he announced his candidacy for president.
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Reagans first run for the White House was in 1976, between all the candidates for the GOP the
two big hitters where Gerald Ford and himself. From the beginning Reagan lacked behind Ford
in the polls, the number of votes needed by Reagan to move forward was 1,130 delegates to
capture the Republican nimonation.
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Reagan fell behind from the beginning to the incumbent, causing concern that he was out of
his league running for the Republican nomination. Ford and Reagan battled head to head in the
debates running over the other hopefuls leaving them un-noticed in the media and public eye.
The turning point in the GOP hopefuls was in the state of North Carolina, Ford smacked head on
into a brick wall stalling out in the votes; while Reagan took control of the GOP and started
gaining votes over Ford.
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What was the honest turning point of votes? When Reagan started
addressing Gerald Ford’s weak foreign policy plans and his deficit spending.
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After the
Watergate scandal, the American people where not fond of Politicians of any type from
Washing D.C., they despised the thought of being lied to and not treated like true Americans,
Reagan’s campaign manager took advantage of this and had Ronald attack Ford on the two
topics.
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This lead to Reagan gaining votes and passing Ford in the numbers until the state of
17
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/02/672675483/george-h-w-bush-biography
18
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-H-W-Bush
19
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/ronald-reagan-vs-gerald-ford-the-1976-gop-convention-battle-15818
20
https://www.npr.org/2016/03/13/470271684/1976-the-last-time-republicans-duked-it-out-to-the-last-heated-
minute
21
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/ronald-reagan-vs-gerald-ford-the-1976-gop-convention-battle-15818
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https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/ronald-reagan-vs-gerald-ford-the-1976-gop-convention-battle-15818
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Ohio, Ford won this state and that started leapfrogging Ford back towards the lead, then losing
your home state of California. At this point in time Reagan realized he needed to change things
up and try and regain the votes from the people, typically during the time of the primaries they
don’t announce who they will be selecting as their running mates.
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Reagan took a bold move
after losing the state of California by announcing before the convention who he selected as his
running mate, he chose Senator Richard Schweiker from Pennsylvania. This was a very bold
move he hoped would change things after going against a long running precedent of waiting to
announce your running mate. This seemed like a good choice at the time, Schweiker had
promised to be able to pull votes from his home state along with other Northern states,
however he was only able to pull one delegate vote from Pennsylvania. Schweiker was also
known for his moderate pro-labor record, this gave Clark Reed the party boss of the Mississippi
delegation the go ahead to slide their votes across the party, adding to Ford’s numbers
essentially locking his seat for the Republican candidate for the presidential race. Reagan
