Transcript: Chapter 20

Narrator: But Reagan had something to cheer about. In 1983, after 16 months of recession Americans slowly went back to work. Spurred by tax cuts, lower inflation and government spending, the economy began to improve. The recovery would turn into an unprecedented boom that lasted for eight years. In 1984, the president could campaign on America's renewed confidence.

Campaign Spot Narrator: It's morning again in America. Today more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history. With interest rates and inflation down, more people are buying new homes. And our new families can have confidence in the future. American today is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we want to return to where we were, less than four short years ago?

Ed Rollins, Campaign Manager: We'd come through the, the darkness of the night. We'd come through the economic crises and the recession of '82. We're now to a point where we'd rebuilt the defenses of the country. The military, basically, felt good about themselves again which they clearly didn't in 1980. The American country felt good about itself again, which it clearly didn't in 1980.

Matthews: Of course, it was "Morning in America," they were running the biggest deficits in history, and pouring stimulus into the economy and everybody was happy and nobody was afraid. So, the middle class ... the minute the middle class in this country no longer fears unemployment, it gets very, very conservative. When it fears unemployment, it identifies with poor people because it says, we're next. But, as long as they figure 'we're next to get rich' in a time of a boom, they're very conservative.

Narrator: As he had in 1980, Reagan would reach out to blue collar workers. His appeal amazed his opponents.

Matthews: He didn't know anybody by name. He didn't even know his own HUD Secretary, Sam Pierce. He called him Mr. Mayor when he met him one time. I mean, a man like that who is so unfamiliar with the individuals he has to deal with, you would think was an idiot but he wasn't because Ronald Reagan knew one person and I don't know who this person is, maybe I've never met him but this person is the American people. Even though Ronald Reagan lives in Bel Air, and he hangs around with the Bloomingdales, somehow he still evokes the guy that goes to the Knights of Columbus and plays cards on Friday night. That guy who struggles every day just to make it through the week, who worries about never having a vacation, who's afraid he might get sick and lose his health insurance. That guy thought Ronald Reagan was his guy. Thought Ronald Reagan was looking out for him. That's an amazing power. But he knew who he was talking to, and he talked to them.

Reagan: Alright. I'm willing if you are.

Narrator: Things were going well until one August day at his ranch.

Reagan: Alright. My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

Narrator: That gaffe before an open mike helped Reagan's opponent.

Former Vice President Walter Mondale appealed to voters worried about Reagan's hard line toward the Soviets.

Mondale: He opposed every agreement by Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter, every one of them, to control nuclear armaments. He has conducted an arms race on earth, and now he wants to extend it to the heavens.

Richard Wirthlin, Pollster: The public generally felt a little more comfortable with the way Walter Mondale described how he would negotiate than they did with Reagan's peace through strength platform because they could not really see at that juncture how peace could be realized through strength.

Narrator: A campaign ad tried to explain.

Commercial Narrator: There is a bear in the woods. For some people the bear is easy to see; others don't see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame; others say it's vicious and dangerous. Since no one can really be sure who is right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear.

Narrator: How close to get to the bear had been an issue for almost four years. Reagan's key White House advisers who had opposed dealing with the Soviets had either left or been eased out by Nancy Reagan as she maneuvered behind the scene. When Reagan invited Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko to pay a visit before the election, Nancy was delighted. "For years," she wrote "it had troubled me that my husband was always ... portrayed ... as a warmonger."

Nancy Reagan: Andrei Gromyko came up to me and said "Does your husband believe in peace?" And I said, "Well, of course." And he said, "Well, then will you whisper that in his ear every night?" And I said, "Yes, I will, and I'll whisper it in your ear too."

Narrator: The meeting helped defuse one of Mondale's campaign issues. But a few days later Reagan's age, 73, became an issue. In his first television debate he seemed confused.

Reagan: We have. Our military. The morale is high. The, I think, the people should understand that two-thirds of the defense budget pays for pay and salary ... or pay and pension.

Narrator: Nancy blamed Reagan's staff and wanted to fire Richard Darman who she felt had swamped Reagan with too many facts.

Henry Trewhitt, Baltimore Sun: You already are the oldest president in history. And some of your staff say you were tired after your most recent encounter with Mr. Mondale. I recall yet that President Kennedy had to go for days on end with very little sleep during the Cuban missile crisis. Is there any doubt in your mind that you would be able to function in such circumstances?

Reagan: Not at all, Mr. Trewhitt. And I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.

Narrator: The age issue would not go away. But Reagan routed Walter Mondale with 59 percent of the vote. "We can read," Tip O'Neill would later tell him, "In my 50 years in public life, I've never seen a man more popular than you with the American people."

Crowd Chants: Four more years

Cannon : If there's one constant in American presidential politics, it's that landslides are, are poison to the winner I mean Roosevelt's landslide, he packs the Supreme Court. Johnson's landslide, we go to war in Vietnam, you know. Nixon's landslide we have the Watergate cover-up. Landslides are just murderous for the winner. I mean because there's so much power in that place. If you give a guy and you say, he's won everything and I've carried every state except Minnesota, then you've got to look out.

Crowd Chants: Four more years

Reagan: I think that's just been arranged.

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