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Mar 2024
52m 12s

American Elections: 1980

David Runciman
About this episode

Our series on the Ideas Behind American Elections has reached 1980 and the election of Ronald Reagan. David and Gary discuss whether Jimmy Carter was always doomed, what made Reaganomics different and how Reagan succeeded in being an optimist and a scaremonger at the same time. Did this election really inaugurate a new era in American politics – and if so, are we still living in it?


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Coming up: 2008 and the election of Barack Obama


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