1976 Election (The Hearse at Monticello)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

After the chaos of 1972, the 1976 primary elections would be comparatively pacific. With President McGovern having declined a third term amidst falling popularity, the Populist nomination went to Frank Church, a well-known progressive who had played a central role in the greatest accomplishments of the McGovern Administration, most notably the creation of the EPA. To oppose Church, the American Party nominated former Congressman Robert Taft of Ohio, a conservative icon whose father had led the party to its worst defeat ever in 1948.

Though Church's policies are closer to the political center than McGovern's, the ideological distance between the two candidates is vast. While Church supports maintaining McGovern's expansion of the  welfare state, the establishment of a minimum income program, and seeks to establish a "detente" with the Soviet Union, Taft has attempted to cast himself as a latter-day Goldwater, calling for large cuts to domestic spending and a more aggressive foreign policy aimed at rolling back the "red tide." Predictably, Taft has blamed the poor economic environment on McGovern's fiscal policies, which he claims have contributed to high inflation and rising unemployment. For his part, Church has attacked Taft for his inexperience on the national stage, arguing that "two terms in Congress and a famous last name are poor preparation for the most powerful office on earth."

Have at it!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

What a nail-biter! I was sure Taft had it in the bag.

1976 Presidential Election

Senator Frank Church (People's-Idaho)/ Fmr. Governor Jimmy Carter (People's-Georgia): 51.3% popular votes
Fmr. Congressman Robert Taft, Jr. (American-Ohio)/ Fmr. Senator Henry M. Jackson (American-Washington): 48.7% popular votes

In the closest election since Barry Goldwater's razor-thin victory in 1964, Populist Senator Frank Church won a narrow victory over Robert Taft, Jr. in the Election of 1976, winning 51% of the popular vote to Taft's 49%. Church owed his victory in part to his running mate, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, who kept socially conservative Southerners from bolting the ticket over the Abortion Legalization Act signed by President McGovern, as well as to Taft's Goldwater-esque opposition to the National Health Service, which alienated many swing voters. Thus, despite the sagging economy, the Populists would maintain control of the White House for four more years, marking the first time since World War II that a single party had won the White House in three straight elections.