1964: Goldwater
1968: Nixon
1972: Nixon
1976: Ford
1980: Reagan
1984: Mondale
1988: Dukukis
1992: Clinton
dies in 1993
This is a man born in 1942 in a small-ish town central Missouri. His parents and family were working-class, patriotic, conservative, of Christian heritage but not particularly religious about it. He was eligible to vote in 1960, but was too distracted by the privileges of youth to follow politics or care to vote. He enlisted in the Navy and served one tour of duty in the Pacific before returning home and went to work in a factory in a neighboring town. Got married at 22 to a girl he met through co-worker friends. Was inspired by a few right-leaning old Navy buddies to vote for the bright, conservative, pro-military Goldwater in 1964, but still had casual interest in politics/voting. Had 2 kids in the mid-sixties, became more interested in current events as the real life stuff set in and major headlines of Vietnam, the economy, protests and riots, etc. began sweeping across the nation. Voted for conservative candidates at the presidential level mostly for social and foreign policy reasons and in certain downballot elections. Also voted a few times for certain local/state Democrats who seemed acceptable, because his views on domestic/economic issues were more mixed. Thought about voting for Jimmy Carter, but still went with Ford, Reagan because he saw them better suited to handle foreign affairs in the Cold War. Got divorced in 1981 after he found out about an affair his wife was having for 2 years with a man in another town. Got cleaned out in divorce court, and became very cynical about life. Struggling economically with only modest wage increases at his factory job, found himself agreeing more and more with Walter Mondale while watching the 1984 election coverage and decided to take a chance on him. Continued to split his ticket between Republicans and Democrats in various elections, but did vote Democratic again in the 1988 and 1992 Presidential Elections. Died of a heart attack in 1993 at age 51.
