1980 Primaries (The Hearse at Monticello)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The Wall Street Crash of 1977 and the pejoratively-termed "People's Recession" that followed cast a shadow over the Church Administration, with rising unemployment and market instability preventing action on most of the president's agenda. Though Church's recovery program has been somewhat effective, seeing unemployment rates decrease from 8.4% in 1977 to 7.6% in 1980, conditions remain poor, prompting the American Party and a growing number of Populists to express dissatisfaction with the chief executive's performance. Meanwhile, Church has taken flak from conservative Congressmen for his refusal to support a coup against the socialist Iranian regime in 1979, with critics alleging he passed up a golden opportunity to roll back the tide of Communism.

In the 1980 Populist primary, Church faces Mississippi Senator and union ally Cliff Finch, who has criticized the president for doing too little to stimulate the economy. The American Party, meanwhile, faces a four way race between Senator Phil Crane (candidate of the Goldwater faction), Senator Lowell Weicker (leader of the liberal Americans and an ally of labor darling Ronald Reagan), Congressman John B. Anderson (a fiscal moderate who has been compared to George Romney), and Congressman Jack Kemp (a support of "supply side economics").

The choice is yours. Have at it!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Wow, Church is getting no love at all from his own party. And Kemp is getting all the love from his.

If this keeps up, he may very well become the first president to loose in the primary since John W. Bricker.