Advance to Contact: 1980 (Soviet Endgame) by Alex Aaronson & James Rosone

Author:Alex Aaronson & James Rosone [Aaronson, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Front Line Publishing Inc.
Published: 2023-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

3 June 1980

White House

Washington, D.C.

The television broadcast finally confirmed what everyone in the room knew was going to happen. The announcer droned on.

“...with one hundred and twenty delegates from the state of California, Governor Ronald Reagan has secured the nomination of the Republican Party in the 1980 presidential election.”

And with that, Tim Kraft turned off the television.

“Gentlemen,” said Kraft, “that wraps up the playoffs and now we’re moving on to the big game.”

Carter wasn’t a fan of trivializing the election like this, but everyone was in an excellent mood knowing that this divisive GOP primary had given them a considerable advantage going into the general election. So he gave Tim a pass tonight.

“What does that mean for us, Tim?” asked the President.

“Only that we continue on our course. We have our platform laid out and we know more or less what the Reagan camp will run with. There’s still the question of his VP nominee, but there’s nothing we can do about that right now. I’d pay good money to be a fly on the wall over at the Connally campaign right now. I bet they have some brilliant ideas on how we can beat ol’ Ronnie.”

“Careful, Tim,” said Hamilton Jordan, Carter’s Chief of Staff. “That’s the thinking that got Nixon into so much trouble.” The men had a laugh in the moment before Jordan moved the conversation along.

“How are we doing with shoring up our own side for the general election?”

“The deal we cut with Kennedy is paying dividends. I doubt we’ve had this much party unity since Roosevelt.” The idea had struck both men. It was one thing to have party support, something that Carter hadn’t been sure of even six months ago; having party dominance was another thing altogether. “Right now we’re riding a wave of popular support based on our foreign policy achievements. Americans love a winner, and that’s what they see when they look at this administration. It won’t last forever, but I have to say that the timing is perfect for this election cycle. ”

“It goes beyond the election cycle,” said Jordan. “We should be able to use this to move forward on some of our policy goals within the first year of our second term—”

Carter cut him off. “If we get a second term. You know that I don’t like it when you take things for granted, Hamilton.”

“Of course, Mr. President. If we get a second term. I think we should pick up the ERA. If we can get a mandate out of this election, I believe that we can unify the party behind this amendment as signature legislation. You’ll be the President that finally accomplished what your predecessors failed to do.”

“And it would be the right thing to do,” added the President, mindful that just because others had failed didn’t mean that it wasn’t a sound decision. “In fact, given our recent surge in the polls, I don’t see why we can’t make this ERA push a part of our campaign.”

Jordan thought about it for a minute, unconvinced.

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