Episode 22 - Where’s the Beef? Liberals in Reagan’s America

‘On the 25th of September 1984, in one of the hardest-hitting speeches of his long Presidential campaign against Ronald Reagan, former Vice-President Walter F. Mondale spoke powerfully at George Washington University about the contemporary political landscape: This election is not about jellybeans and pens pals. It is about toxic dumps that give cancer to our children. This election is not about country music and birthday cakes. It is about old people who can’t pay for medicine. This election is not about the Olympic torch. It is about the civil-rights laws that opened athletics to women and minorities who won those gold medals… This election is not about my standing in the polls. It is about my stand against the illegal war in Nicaragua. This election is not about slogans, like “standing tall.” It is about specifics, like the nuclear freeze – because if those weapons go off, no one will be left standing tall. This election is about values. I refuse to cut loose from my history and desert the beliefs I have always fought for. I would rather lose a race about decency than win one about self-interest. Despite his best efforts, he did lose. The country, according to Mondale, was getting another four years of jellybeans and cowboy boots.’ So, today on American History Too!, we’ll be discussing the complex and often contested intersections between liberalism and conservatism in Ronald Reagan’s America. Reading List Doug Rossinow, The Reagan Era (2015) Randall Rothenberg, The Neoliberals (1984) Bradford Martin, The Other Eighties (2011) Kenneth Baer, Reinventing Democrats (2000) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices