Now the president needed to hunker down and get ready for the big debate. He jetted from Ohio to Camp David for a day of preparation. Sam Popkin, a college professor, had been recruited to stand in for Reagan in their mock debates. Several of their sessions were contentious, and Carter stormed out more than once, so angry was he with Popkin's rhetorical hits.66
At one point in the debate prep, the president made a reference to asking his daughter, Amy, for advice. Jody Powell said that the comment “had not come across, did not quite work.”67 Carter's aides advised him not to make any policy references to his thirteen-year-old daughter.
The president's plan for the debate was to go right at Reagan, hitting him on several issues of which he had changed his mind. Carter also wanted to show off his own command of data. But the Reaganites questioned the president's unwavering confidence in his ability to take on Reagan. A few days earlier Ed Meese had pointed out to the Wall Street Journal that Carter would have a harder time making assaults on Reagan with the Republican standing right there on the stage.
“We've found,” Meese said, “that when more people see Ronald Reagan, they like what they see.”68
35
CLEVELAND
“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Kennedy family confidant and historian Arthur Schlesinger bumped into his old friend Bill Casey in Washington just as autumn was deepening and there was a snap in the air. They had first met in the Second World War when Casey was stationed in London working for the OSS. The two men had little in common, politically, but they were both members in good standing of the Washington–New York political establishment.
Casey introduced the Kennedyite to Reagan's top aides Ed Meese and Dick Wirthlin. Since Schlesinger loathed Jimmy Carter, they knew he was a temporary ally. They confided the bad news revealed by Wirthlin's polling: under Carter's relentless attacks, Reagan had “lost 12 points on capacity to keep the peace” but Carter had only “lost 3 points on decency”—“a pretty good trade-off from Carter's viewpoint.”1 As Carter's mother, “Mizz Lillian,” once said, her son was “a beautiful cat with sharp claws.”2
The latest polls showed that the race was as tight as ever. Most national surveys had Carter ahead of Reagan or the race statistically tied with the momentum on Carter's side. An ABC poll released just before the debate did show that Reagan had moved into a small lead over the president, 45–42 percent.3 It had Reagan leading in twenty-four states with 217 electoral votes and Carter ahead in fourteen states with 146 electoral votes.4 But Republicans could not rest easy with that assessment, since a new poll by Time had Carter ahead, 42–41 percent. In Time's breakdown of seven Rust Belt states, Carter had broken out to a seven-point edge over Reagan. Even more important, 62 percent of Americans had confidence in Carter's ability to handle foreign affairs. Moreover, support for Carter's economic programs had improved markedly, with 69 percent of Americans expressing confidence in them.5
The Midwest was, as U.S. News & World Report called it, a “slugfest.”6 While a St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll had Reagan at 36 and Carter at 32 in Missouri,7 a St. Louis Globe-Democrat poll had it just the opposite, with the president at 35 and Reagan at 28 percent.8
“Tense” was the oft-used—overused—phrase in both camps. Even the placid Meese was observed snapping at reporters. Press aide Jim Brady ran down the aisles of the campaign plane as it flew over a forest fire in Louisiana, joking to reporters, “Killer trees! Killer trees!” It was a mirthful reference to Reagan's earlier claim about trees and air pollution, but he was temporarily banished from the aircraft.9 Speechwriter Ken Khachigian also joined in the fun, but he was not caught and punished like Brady.10
Many had lost what they needed most in these last few hours: a sense of humor.
GERALD FORD HAD TEMPORARILY set aside his animosity for Reagan to rally support for the GOP candidate. Ford and Reagan—especially Ford—still had little use for each other.11 But Ford was a competitive and partisan Republican, happy to do his part to hammer Carter. On CBS's Sunday morning show, Face the Nation, he returned to the rumors that Carter might orchestrate the release of the hostages for his own political gain. “There is no doubt in my mind,” Ford said, “that President Carter will do whatever he can in political terms to ensure his reelection.”12
Henry Kissinger, Howard Baker, and Dick Allen all echoed Ford's charges. Allen was an intellectual, urbane and sophisticated, yet underneath the surface lurked someone who could take care of himself in a bar fight. In the 1950s he had competed against Paul Hornung for the quarterback position at Notre Dame—though, as Allen himself would good-naturedly acknowledge years later, it wasn't much of a competition: he ended up tutoring the Heisman Trophy winner in Spanish for $2.50 an hour.13
The Carter campaign was once again forced to deny the charges of a secret deal to free the hostages. Walter Mondale was trotted out to issue a denial, while Jody Powell labeled Ford's charge as “trash.” Ford did not back off, however. The next day, he cranked it up another ten notches when he asked, “Why didn't Carter show the same initiative over the past fifty-one weeks” as he was with the election looming?14
Panicked that Anderson would drain off enough voters to deliver the election to Reagan, liberal groups in the last days rallied to Carter's cause. The Americans for Democratic Action, one of the oldest liberal organizations around, gathered together the best and the brightest to endorse Carter. Clarence Mitchell of the NAACP and Gloria Steinem, utility feminist, held a press conference in which he repeatedly called Reagan a “racist” and she said she was “fearful” for women and minorities if Reagan won. She also said that Reagan was the candidate of the John Birch Society.15
Actually, the Birch Society opposed Reagan's election, saying he was a “lackey” of “Communist conspirators.”16 All the nuts were now coming out, from the Left and the Right.
HIS DAYS ON THE road were winding down, and for the most part, Reagan had had a ball. Several weeks earlier in Philadelphia, he'd been taught a new greeting backstage so he went out to the Polish audience and said, “Dziekuje and dzien dobry.” The crowd ate it up. Reagan then rattled off the names of Phillies slugger Greg Luzinski and Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski and the audience exploded again. He also mentioned Pope John Paul II and eviscerated the Democrats, charging that they no longer represented the values of Polish-Americans.17 That was it as far as they were concerned; Reagan was now an honorary Pole.
Reagan won the endorsement of Oscar-winning actor George C. Scott, though it was doubtful his endorsement would carry much weight among his liberal colleagues in Hollywood.18 More big-city newspapers weighed in with their endorsements. The Philadelphia Inquirer supported Carter's reelection “with grave misgivings,”19 and the Chicago Tribune threw its qualified support behind Governor Reagan, saying, “There is good reason to worry” about him.20 Carter won the support of the Youngstown Vindicator and Reagan nailed the Indianapolis Star.21
WEXFORD WAS THE PERFECT site for Reagan's debate practice sessions. The driveway alone was two miles long, making the secluded estate safe from prying reporters' eyes.
In a garage made to look like a debate set, Reagan went up against David Stockman as Carter. Stockman had been the final recipient of the purloined Carter briefing books and absorbed them to channel Carter. The books, having been given to Bill Casey by Paul Corbin, went first to Baker and then to David Gergen and finally to Stockman. George Will, helping prepare Reagan, looked at the Carter material for all of thirty seconds, dismissing it as meaningless.22
Will had a critical point. The books were simply a recitation of Reagan's comments, positions, columns, and radio commentaries. It was all a part of the public record, and Reagan had been hit on all this by his political opponents and reporters for years.
Baker was on hand, pencil behind one ear, cursing and telling ribald jokes. The candidate often dressed in cowboy boots and western shirts for these sessions. At any one time up to twenty people were hanging aroun
d, until Meese and Baker called the drill to order and a small group got down to work with Governor Reagan. Jeane Kirkpatrick, Marty Anderson, Howard Baker, and others would pepper him with questions while “Carter” went after him, hammer and tong. Reagan lost his temper more than once. A young aide to Ed Meese, Marc Rotterman, was at Wexford and during a break Reagan sidled up to him and said, “They are taking me to the woodshed out there.”23 The candidate later said, “After Stockman, both Anderson and Carter were easy.”24
At one point Reagan was withering under Stockman's assault and stormed in frustration, “Damn it, here you go again!” The briefers laughed, startling Reagan. He told them he was going to tuck the phrase away and “may save it for the debate.”25
One of Meese's aides, Tony Dolan, had written a long, thoughtful memo that had influenced the debate prep. Reagan should not try “to outpoint the other guy,” Dolan wrote; rather, the candidate should “speak directly to the American people.”26
The Sunday before the debate, Reagan canceled a previously scheduled taped interview with Good Morning America to spend more time getting ready for the debate. He also took time to watch video of the Carter-Ford debates of 1976.
Gerald Ford visited Reagan at Wexford for some last-minute tips on facing Carter. Ford was fully engaged now, lashing the president for “demagoguery.”27 Reagan, he warned, “has to anticipate some show of typical Carter meanness … vindictiveness.”28 Ford would know.
THE PRESIDENT WAS IN fighting trim, having spent time with his trusted advisers Powell, Hamilton Jordan, Gerald Rafshoon, Pat Caddell, and Stuart Eizenstat at Camp David, boning up for the debate.29 Carter was poring over the massive briefing books covering Reagan's record over the years on all matters, foreign and domestic.
As Reagan had been active in public discussion since the late 1940s, it was a prodigious amount of material. The domestic book alone totaled several hundred pages.30 Three sets of books had been prepared—though one set had disappeared from the White House.
NO ONE SEEMED TO want to claim credit for selecting Cleveland as the site for the debate, though it was generally agreed that the idea had come from the League of Women Voters. Of all the decrepit, falling-down cities in the Rust Belt, Cleveland may have been the saddest. Its river was so polluted that it had once caught on fire. Looming over the city was “Terminal Tower,” and no one doubted it for a moment.
Yet the media were thrilled to descend on the struggling city. This was the showdown that had been argued and negotiated over for weeks—months, even—and now it was finally here. Some 1,500 reporters and media support-types arrived in the city for the debate. In gratitude, the town took them to its bosom and treated them like royalty, giving them chauffeur-driven cars and limousines, baskets of fruit, receptions with shrimp and oysters, and—as always—copious adult beverages.
The ninety-minute debate was to be broadcast live on NBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS, and many national, regional, and local radio stations. It would be beamed overseas to twenty-six countries via four Intelsat satellites.31 People around the country organized debate parties to watch and cheer their favorite candidate. It was the first televised presidential debate that would feature a live studio audience.
That morning's Washington Post had a big story trumpeting “Carter Goes Into Debate With Lead in New Poll.” The breathless story by Martin Schram detailed, “Their clash comes on the heels of a Gallup Poll report yesterday that voters have swung sharply toward Carter in the last two weeks—a six-point shift that now gives the president a three-point lead over his Republican challenger.”32
Nonetheless, Reagan was “serene” the day of the debate, according to Jim Baker. Sitting backstage just moments before being introduced, Reagan asked Baker if he could have the holding room to himself for a moment. “I want to have a word with the man upstairs.”33
Carter's horoscope the morning of the debate said, “Confront adversaries.”34 But the president received a less auspicious sign when he arrived at the Cleveland Convention Center's Music Hall, site of the debate. He was startled to see Reagan T-shirts on the workers backstage. The men were members of the Teamsters union, which had endorsed Reagan; they hoped to throw Carter off his game with this bit of psychological warfare.35
Meanwhile, a memo authored by Reagan top aide Paul Manafort went out to the entire field staff, urging them to organize “surrogates and leadership persons for favorable debate reaction statements.” Ominously, Manafort warned, “This is an important exercise.”36
CBS OPENED ITS PRE-DEBATE show with Walter Cronkite telling millions of viewers, “It's not inconceivable that the election could turn on what happens in the next ninety minutes.”37
As the hour of the debate finally arrived, Carter appeared stage right, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt, nondescript tie, and a collar bar, which had recently come back into vogue. He caught wife Rosalynn's eye and smiled, then went back to writing notes (neither candidate was allowed to bring any prepared text). Reagan, still in the wings, was also in a dark blue suit, white shirt, and nondescript tie, but no collar bar, though he did have his always present folded white handkerchief in the left breast pocket of his suit jacket.
Somehow, Henry Kissinger had finagled his way into the wings with the Reagan team. He stood where he made sure the audience in the hall could see him.
Reagan looked robust, suntanned, his pompadour held in place with a bit of water and a little dab of Brylcreem. Only the veins on his hands betrayed his age. Reagan had had a light dinner and one glass of wine, “a little color for his cheeks,” Mike Deaver said.38 He was ready.
Carter's hair had been blow-dried and was neatly in place. He was wearing makeup to give his sallow skin a bit of color and to hide some liver spots. Though he was only fifty-six, his four years in the Oval Office had aged him ten years, rounding his shoulders. The famous toothy grin of 1976 had given way to a somber, burdened man. The stress of the job had clearly taken its toll on the president. Mondale worried that “Carter looked pale and drawn and sort of tense.”39 Nevertheless, the Carterites were confident. “Carter seemed intellectually poised to devastate Reagan,” said Peter Bourne.40 They didn't seem concerned that Carter hadn't debated anybody since 1976 while Reagan had already debated six times in the past year—winning all except for a debate with Bush in Texas when there was little on the line.41
While waiting for the cue from the television producer, Reagan bounded up the stairs, stage left, and strode across the stage to proffer his hand to the president. Carter, who was looking down at his lectern, jotting down notes, was momentarily taken aback when his opponent was suddenly standing there, right hand extended. Carter smiled and accepted Reagan's hand but said nothing, and Reagan walked back to his side of the stage. It was not televised, but Reagan had scored a small psychological advantage with his sporting gesture. Photographers captured the moment.
THE “TALE OF THE Tape” stood as follows.
Carter—once known as “Jimmy Who?”—was the defending champion with a lifetime record of 126 wins and 46 losses. His wins included the presidency of the Future Farmers and Future Homemakers of America Camp Development Committee, the Georgia Crop Improvement Association, the Lions International, the Georgia state senate, the Georgia governorship, the Democratic presidential primaries of 1976 and 1980, and the U.S. presidency of 1976. The champ weighed in at 155 pounds, and stood 5'9”. The “Bantam Rooster” of the South had a deceptively good left uppercut but preferred body blows while sticking and moving, sticking and moving. Political pugilism was in his blood, though the word on the street was that he tended overestimate his own skills. He'd won the title four years earlier when his opponent, Gerald Ford, made a critical mistake in the late rounds.
The challenger—Ron “The Gipper” Reagan out of the West—stood 6'1” and weighed 194 pounds. The East Coast writers knew less about him. His overall record was 86 wins and 31 losses, with his victories including his high-school and Eureka College class presidencies, the presidency
of the Screen Actors Guild, the California gubernatorial primaries and general elections, and the Republican presidential primaries of 1976 and 1980. The book on Reagan was that he coasted in the early rounds while taking the measure of his opponent. He sometimes used a “rope-a-dope” strategy, slipping punches and letting his opponents thump themselves weary, although he was often accused of tiring in the late rounds himself.
When aroused, Reagan had a lightning-fast right cross. Though some thought he was not a terrific puncher, most agreed that he was a great counterpuncher. He was also more nimble on his feet than many scribes gave him credit for.
Most observers expected the defending champ to wear down his challenger. But it was precisely one year earlier that Jimmy Carter had confided to Hamilton Jordan that he thought he'd be running against Reagan and that “it would be a mistake to underestimate him.”42 Carter was about to learn how right he had been.
THE PROCEEDINGS OPENED WITH a statement by a very nervous Ruth Hinerfeld, president of the League of Women Voters. Hinerfeld in turn introduced Howard K. Smith, who would serve as the debate's moderator, just as he had in the GOP debates during the primaries. Smith coolly explained the ground rules and introduced the panelists: William Hilliard of the Portland Oregonian, Harry Ellis of the Christian Science Monitor, Marvin Stone of U.S. News & World Report, and Barbara Walters of ABC. An unusual seating arrangement kept Smith and Walters away from each other; when they once shared coanchoring duties at ABC, they had spent most of their off-camera time bickering over who got more “face time” on camera.
Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America Page 75
