Carter Era: American Self-Doubt after Vietnam and Watergate

We will shortly have fuller obituaries for Jimmy Carter, from me and others, covering various aspects of his career. His death marks the passing of his era. Go down the list of prominent political leaders and figures of that period — think of Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Ed Muskie, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Walter Mondale, John Rhodes, Cyrus Vance, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Warren Burger, William Brennan, Bill Buckley, Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly. The last survivors are the era’s rising young men, such as Joe Biden and Jerry Brown — now octogenarians.

My first memory of the Carter era, indeed my first political memory, was going with my parents to vote in 1976. I was five. Our polling place in suburban Nanuet, N.Y., was the local Presbyterian church (since bulldozed), which was the only time I set foot in a Protestant church until well into adulthood. Still in the bicentennial spirit, they had set up a toy voting machine where I went and voted for Ford, just as my parents did. This being New York, not Illinois, I assume my vote was not counted.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Jimmy Carter

We will shortly have fuller obituaries for Jimmy Carter, from me and others, covering various aspects of his career. His death marks the passing of his era. Go down the list of prominent political leaders and figures of that period — think of Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Ed Muskie, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Walter Mondale, John Rhodes, Cyrus Vance, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Warren Burger, William Brennan, Bill Buckley, Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly. The last survivors are the era’s rising young men, such as Joe Biden and Jerry Brown — now octogenarians.

My first memory of the Carter era, indeed my first political memory, was going with my parents to vote in 1976. I was five. Our polling place in suburban Nanuet, N.Y., was the local Presbyterian church (since bulldozed), which was the only time I set foot in a Protestant church until well into adulthood. Still in the bicentennial spirit, they had set up a toy voting machine where I went and voted for Ford, just as my parents did. This being New York, not Illinois, I assume my vote was not counted.