34th Anniversary of Reagan Revolution. Any Freepers to young to remember? (Vanity)

[SMGFan]

November 4, 1980 was a great day when Jimmy Carter was soundly rejected and GOP defeated a huge numbers of incumbent Democrat Senators. a 12 seat pickup. Sadly 6 years later many of these GOP Senators were defeated.

[SMGFan]

I was only 16 at the time and I forgot about the details of the Senate victory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_1980

[SMGFan]

Yes “to” should be “Too”

[posterchild]

Exactly 1 year after hostages were taken in the US embassy in Iran.

[Tennessee Nana]

the 1st time I got to vote in the US as a naturalized American citizen..

A very good start

:)

[JPX2011]

Born in '79 so missed out on the Regan Revolution. But it was an interesting time being a little kid and going to elementary school in the 80's. In the time of movies like Rambo, Wargames and Red Dawn, etc. you had an acute sense of the Soviet threat.

I have this memory of drawing epic tank battles while in class and what was interesting is that I would draw a swastika on the tanks representing the Soviets, being too young to know the difference but intuitively making the link between that symbol (which as kids we knew was bad) and the Cold War rhetoric of the time.

Also reminds me of the time I was walking to school and I happened to see a US Army supply truck parked on the side of the road. Not having seen one before I came home and announced to the whole family that the Russians were coming and proceeded to set up trip wires in the yard.

So if 2014 is 1980 redux I'll be happy to see it. God I miss the 80's!

God I miss the 80's"

[ScaniaBoy]

Remember it like it was yesterday. At the time I was living in southern Sweden and watching the morning news with my whole family. We could get both the Danish and Swedish channels. The contrast was fantastic:

Danish TV showed clips of Ronald Reagan and Nancy smiling, happy crowds waving US flags. The news of the hostage release had come through.

Swedish television was doom and gloom. The question was how many weeks into Reagan’s reign before he would unleash WW III?

The propaganda was immense - and in those days it was more difficult to find alternative news sources. You had to subscribe to foreign newspapers and magazines (which we did).

Well, we celebrated Reagan’s victory, oblivious to how the rest of Sweden perceived the events. The same day my mother traveled to Stockholm for a meeting with her colleagues (all conservatives). They were shocked by the election result, but even more so when mother told them about the coverage on the Danish news. Unbelievable, they thought. The world was heading for disaster. How could anyone rejoice?

That was not the last time we got to see how little interest even so called conservatives had in the political events outside our borders, and how indoctrinated the media kept them.

Anyway, Reagan and Thatcher - some disaster! I’d take much more of the same anytime!

[lovesdogs]

I remember that day so well. I was 18 and so proud to cast my first vote. I got out of class at a little after 930p so excited to go home and watch electon returns with my dad. Once I got the car warmed up and grabbed a cup of coffee boy was I surprised to hear Carter concede the minute I turned on the radio.

I pray that at least one more time, I will have the privilege of casting a vote for a decent man who has the courage to state his values our loud and defend them at every challenge.

[SteveAustin]

I was too young to vote that day, but remember distinctly riding my bike to pick up a pizza and big bottle of coke to watch the fun. Got home at 5:30 central only to see NBC news immediately project that longtime Dem stalwart Birch Bayh was going down to defeat to newcomer Dan Quayle.

And the night just got better from there.

[muir_redwoods]

Reagan was the only president I ever voted FOR. I have, before and since voted AGAINST candidates.

[Dan in Wichita]

I was 21 years old on Election Day 1980, so I was casting my first vote for president. At that time, I thought I was a Democrat, so I voted for Jimmy Carter.

As the election returns were coming in that night, I was sad because my guy was gonna lose.

I decided I would listen to Reagan's victory speech. I was impressed and decided he deserved a chance and tepidly gave my approval. Let's see what Reagan can do, I told myself... and the rest is history.

Needless to say, I was first in line to vote for RR in 1984.

[Harold Shea]

Wasn`t quite as severe reaction as the Swedes,but

I loved the leftist teachers disgust at the Junior College

that I was attending.They had a tv on in the cafe and

none of them would stop and look,just kinda sneer.

Loved it.

Soon the hostages were home.

[Charles Martel]

The propaganda was immense - and in those days it was more difficult to find alternative news sources. You had to subscribe to foreign newspapers and magazines (which we did).

Sounds familiar.

[defconw]

I was 16 as well.

[lormand]

As a democRAT, I cast my first vote ever *for* Ronald Reagan. With the exception of the 84’ election and my votes for Ted Cruz, I’ve been voting *against* democRATs ever since.

[VanDeKoik]

I was just about to turn 2, but his election gave me a wonderful 8 years of knowing what a real president is supposed to be like. Not to mention growing up in a country where being optimistic was the default setting.

[cyclotic]

My first vote was 1984. I was in college and forgot to get an absentee ballot. I drove home to vote. The was a girl at school I had taken an interest in and asked her if she wanted to go for a ride. I drove 400 mesmto vote for Ronald Reagan. The girl? We’ve been married for 27 years.

[Tennessee Nana]

she liked your good sense

:)

[Resolute Conservative]

Wolverines!

[darkangel82]

I was born in ‘82 so I only remember the tail end of his presidency. But a few years later when the Berlin Wall fell our teachers told us about that and what it meant. Same with the breakup of the USSR the following year.

[Sam Gamgee]

I was only 8 I guess, and all I knew about Reagan was he was a crazy old koot ready to blow up the world - I remember the Genesis video with the muppets and Reagan pressing the button. Then I grew up.