I remember the first election I voted in.... 1980 for the greatest president of the 20th Century, Ronald Reagan. I was so excited on election nite. And then the 1984 debates, RR was so so great. I miss those days.
My first vote was in 1964 for Barry Goldwater although I campaigned for Richard Nixon, when he was still a solid Conservative, back in 1960. I was just under voting age then.
Along with President Ronald Wilson Reagan's greatness in the 20th Century, I really can add only one more who was in his league, Calvin Coolidge. President Coolidge's address to Congress in 1923 was prophetic:
American institutions rest solely on good citizenship. They were created by people who had a background of self-government. New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this purpose it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration. It would be well to make such immigration of a selective nature with some inspection at the source, and based either on a prior census or upon the record of naturalization. Either method would insure the admission of those with the largest capacity and best intention of becoming citizens. Those who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America.