United States Presidential Election, 1980 (The FDR Amendment)

The United States presidential election of 1980 was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 1980. The contest was between the Republican national ticket of Ronald Regan, a former Hollywood actor and former Governor from California with his running mate George H.W. Bush, a former Congressman and CIA Director from Texas who would eventually win the presidency 10 years later (when Regan would resign due to him fearing his Alzheimer's disease would affect his performance as President), the Democratic national ticket of Ted Kennedy, a US senator from Massachusetts with his running mate Walter Mondale, a former US Senator from Minnesota, and a Independent ticket of the former democratic nominee Jimmy Carter and his running mate former governor of Pennsylvania Raymond P. Shafter.

For the Democratic nomination, Kennedy had defeated the last election's dem candidate, Jimmy Carter. He attacked Reagan as a dangerous right-wing extremist. For his part, Reagan pledged to uplift the pessimistic mood of the nation that had that has permeated throughout the 1970s and into 1980 and won a decisive victory for the Republican nomination; in the simultaneous Congressional elections, Republicans won control of theUnited States Senate for the first time since 1955. This election marked the beginning of what is called the "Reagan Revolution" or Reagan Era, and signified a conservative realignment in national politics.