In the election of 1980, there were three main contestants, Ronald Reagan for

president and George Bush for vice president, with the republican party; Jimmy
Carter for president, trying to keep his title, and Walter Mondale for vice president,
representing the democratic party; and John Anderson for president Patrick Lucey
for vice president, running as independents.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6 of 1911, in Tampico, Illinois.
Before he got forayed in the world of politics, he was a famous Hollywood actor, his
career began in 1937 when Ronald Reagan did a screen test for the Warner
Brothers movie studio which a contract in Hollywood. He studied at Eureka College
where he studied economics and sociology. In 1964, Reagan stepped into the
national political world when he gave speech for Republican presidential candidate
Barry Goldwater. Then two years later, Reagan run for his first public office, as
governor of California, in which he Edmund “Pat” Brown Sr. by almost 1 million
votes to win the governorship of California, in 1970 Reagan was reelected for a
second term.
Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, on October 1, 1924. He attended to the
U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating in 1946 Carter had a seven-year
career in the Navy in which five where on submarine duty. Carter launched his
political career with a seat on his local board of education and in 1962, he won
election to the Georgia State Senate as a Democrat and he was reelected for a
second term. In 1974 Carter announced his candidacy for president, Carter faced
Gerald R. Ford in the elections, who had succeeded to the presidency after
Richard Nixon’s resignation because of the Watergate scandal. In November,
Carter won the elections, during his time in office he worked hard to combat the
continuing economic woes of inflation and unemployment, he succeeded in
obtaining ratification of the Panama Canal treaties and established full diplomatic
relations with the Republic of China and completed negotiation of the SALT II
nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union. In 2002 he was awarded with the
Nobel Peace Prize, because of working to find peaceful solutions to international
conflicts.
Anderson was born on February 15of 1922 in Rockford, Illinois. In 1939 he
graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, after that he
started the law school, but his studies were interrupted by World War II, after that
Anderson completed his education at the University of Illinois College of Law in
1946. He served in the United States House of Representatives for ten terms, from
1961 to 1981. He ran third in the Republican primaries, but gained attention for his
intelligence and independent views, which were fiscally conservative and socially
liberal, so he decided to run for the presidency as an independent.
The main purpose of Regan’s advertisements was to show and highlight that
Regan was a good governor. His television spots were not particularly artful, they
were biographical ads tracing Regan’s political career and his achievements as
California’s governor, such as reducing California’s deficit while lowering taxes.
Furthermore, a variety of Reagan’s ads attacked Carter, reiterating his fails as
president and the main problems of his administration, such as high inflation and
the hostage crisis. Also, one of his spots included a clip of Ted Kennedy shouting,
"No more Jimmy Carter!" during the primary campaign and showed the slogan
"Democrats for Reagan".
On the other hand, Carter’s advertisements were mainly oriented to show his
presidency in the best possible light, and to raise concerns about his opponent.
The ads portrayed him as a peacemaker, emphasizing his main achievement, the
Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Also, some ads focused ore
on showing Carter’s personal qualities calling him "a solid man in a sensitive job."
In negative ads Carter recalled Johnson’s attacks on Goldwater in 1964 and
attempted to raise fears that Reagan would be a warmonger. However, these
tactics weren’t effective.
Finally, Anderson’s advertisements offered a toll-free number in order to encourage
small individual contributions. This technique was previously used by such
candidates as Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Jerry Brown, and Bill Clinton.
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the American embassy
in Tehran, they held 53 Americans hostage to protests about the entry of the
deposed Shah into the United States. This crisis, along with an oil shortage and
resultant increase in gas prices, and 18 percent inflation, reduced the confidence
on Carter; however, his chances were further damaged by a tough primary battle
against Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy.
At the end of the elections, Ronal Reagan won, winning in 44 states and had
50.7% of the popular vote, Jimmy Carter won in 6 states and had 41.2% of the
popular vote, and Anderson didn’t win in any state and had 6.6% of the popular
vote. If I had to vote in the 1980’s elections I would vote for Ronald Reagan,
although Carter did a good job during his mandate, my confidence on him would go
down because of the recent things were happening at that time. On the other hand,
Reagan did a great job as governor and I think that it is very important to change of
party in power from time to time.