Nixon. And I've never voted for a Republican for President, I assure you!
Oh, I just posted this in the News on Senate/House elections thread. That graph was fascinating!
Nixon had just resigned when I turned 20. The graph is correct.
I was among the first 18 year olds to get the vote. The first vote I cast was for Richard Nixon in '72. After he resigned in disgrace, I was so disgusted I didn't vote again for almost 10 years. Since that time, I have not voted for a single Republican president, although I have voted for an occasional Republican in other elections.
Fascinating graph, btw.
I turned 20 during Reagan's first term.
I was 20 under Wim Kok's first government, or over there, Bush Sr. Kind of a nothing time.
Being a very political kid in a very political government, though, I guess my formative time came earlier. I was 15 at the 1986 elections, which were really the end of an era, extinguishing leftwing hope - and a whole leftwing culture, actually, that had been vibrant for about 20 years..
and the time I grew up with and felt at home with was never to come back.
I turned 20 during Reagan's second term. I also have never voted for a Republican.
Nixon's first term...God I miss him. I kthought at the time he was the worst president ever...I had no idea...
Reagan's second term.
I have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.
I was gonna answer Luis EcheverrÃa, but the graph is too good not to comment.
I have, for long, had the theory that in the US (as center of the Western cultural world) and most Western nations, there is a liberal generation- conservative generation wave movement.
The Woodstock generation is daughter of WWII generation and mother of the young adults of today.
The Yuppies of the 80s are sons of the 50s "Suburbs or Bust!" Generation.
I think an overview of popular music would help notice the changes.
In American terms, I became 20 the year Nixon was impeached, and I'm happy to see my class is the Most Democratic leaning among mature adults.
Look it up, kris. We're not dealing with guesses here.
Sez he who was 20 with Grover Cleveland...
Are you questioning my integrity, osso?
Dayum..... <off to google>. Yep, Reagan.
I'm questioning your memory, Gus...
and, at 128 years old or more, you could be more sympathetic to littleK..
Always liked Ike - pretty much grew up on his watch, but Kennedy was in when I turned 20 - and the only 20th Century Democrat I even mighta voted for woulda been Truman - Harry I've always admired. Never did like Nixon much, but saw nothing of worth from any of his opponents - pretty much a least objectionable alternative in Tricky Dick's case.
I remember the Democrat mantra back in '64 - "Vote for Goldwater and we'll be at war within a year". Well, I did, and we were.
timberlandko wrote:Always liked Ike - pretty much grew up on his watch, but Kennedy was in when I turned 20 - and the only 20th Century Democrat I even mighta voted for woulda been Truman - Harry I've always admired. Never did like Nixon much, but saw nothing of worth from any of his opponents - pretty much a least objectionable alternative in Tricky Dick's case.
I remember the Democrat mantra back in '64 - "Vote for Goldwater and we'll be at war within a year". Well, I did, and we were.
Timberlandko, amen to everything you said. LBJ here. Truman a solid conservative Democrat that dropped the big ones. Camelot was conservative in fiscal policy, I won't say more. Timber, remember the LBJ ad with the little girl picking daisies, next frame a mushroom cloud, insinuation Goldwater a warmonger, and as you say you voted for Goldwater and sure enough we had war. Ike was a solidly conservative Republican, one of the best presidents ever in my opinion, especially after I read an article recently in an old Saturday Evening Post, written by Ike, titled "Why I am a Republican." And to imagine my folks voted for Adlai Stephenson. But then they were solid FDR Democrats.
All presidents that I know about at least from FDR to the current Bush have all been very patriotic and anti-communist, except for Carter and Clinton. Those two broke the mold. Things are a changin, thats for sure.
I served in the miliary during Eisenhower's administration, and turned 20 before JFK was elected. For many of us at the time, Eisenhower seemed stodgy and dis-engaged. Now JFK, on the other hand, was classier than Fred Astaire, read James Bond novels and was married to Jackie. Eisenhower may have been a key player in defeating the Nazis, but JFK took on the Japanese Navy with a dashing PT boat. I can't remember anyone ever liking Nixon, who seemed like the cross between a gigolo and a not very successful used car salesman. My family had been solid democrats since Andrew Jackson's time, and it took LBJ to shake my political faith. Nixon made the Republican Party look bad, but I thought Ford did a marvellous job of putting the system back on its feet. What we needed, I though, was a truly honest man of high character in the Top Office. Carter was that man, but he was a terrible President. I was a Democrat that ended up voting for that "B" actor, and he surprized me with who well the government could be run. By the time Clinton was in office I had changed Parties, and disturbances in grave yards all over Texas, Florida and Virginia were reported as my ancestors rolled over. Oh well.
My favorite President during my lifetime was Harry Truman. What a man, what a President. The last generation worshiped at the Roosevelt alter, but I never thought that much of FDR. Folks who think that Bush is a cowboy might compare him sometime with Teddy who was a self-proclaimed Imperialist. Oh well ...
Cleveland was a very popular President, though he didn't do much in office. He gained his reputation for cleaning up the political sewer that was Buffalo, NY. Like Clinton, Cleveland's sex life was a common gossip, but it never hurt him politically. He enjoyed the Presidency almost as much as Clinton, and was re-elected after that "dastard" Ben Harrison upset both Congress and the electorate. Cleveland was the first Democrat elected to the Presidency after the Civil War. Being on a reform platform against Chester Arthur didn't hurt. Arthur, who succeeded to the Presidency after Garfield's assassination, was part of the Tammany machine. To be fair, in office Arthur made a real attempt at Civil Service reform, but Congress wasn't buying it.
