I've talked about my fascination with breaking-news stories before. I go back and watch a lot of old news events: shootings, terror attacks, plane crashes, earthquakes, etc. Not something I want to write about here, tho. It's a little macabre to say, 'Hey, remember that time 20 people were killed? Wasn't that fun?'
I've pretty much exhausted all of the disaster porn available on YouTube. But then I thought, What about
planned breaking-news stories? Like elections! And since I'm so wrapped up in this year's election, and I spent the summer reading books about Nixon and '60s/'70s politics, I'm going to watch election-night coverage from long-ago campaigns.
NBC's Decision '80, broadcast locally on WRC-TV in Washington, DC.
John Chancellor and my spirit animal, Tom Brokaw, are sitting at the desk. Chancellor tells us that, based on polling, NBC believes that 'Ronald Reagan will win a very substantial victory tonight.' Thanks for spoiling that for me, John. NBC projects that Reagan will win Florida, and they show a rather stilted-looking map of the US. Florida is lit up in blue, but Chancellor tells us that, for those of us watching a black/white television, it will be dark-grey. Now NBC is calling Mississippi. There's the map. Chancellor corrects himself, says that the Reagan/blue states will be in light-grey for black/white viewers. Get your act together, John.
Chancellor introduces the other people sitting at the desk: Jessica Savitch to follow the House and Governor elections, and Garrick Utley to follow the Senate.
Jessica Savitch was 33 on this night. She was a star, one of the first women to anchor a network newscast. Three years later, she would die in an auto accident. After she died, biographies were written and made-for-television movies were produced. Of course they were. Savitch was a young, pretty, important woman with a messy personal life. (Anorexic, maybe a drug user, husband committed suicide, another partner physically abused her, etc.) Three weeks before her death, she stumbled and slurred her way thru a news update. It's a notorious video, but it appears that it has been scrubbed from the Internet. That's probably for the best. Her presence is going to be distracting enough; I don't need to see her worst on-air moment.
Utley informs us that the Dems hold 59 Senate seats. Ah, the good old days. Then he tells us that Dan Quayle is projected to beat Birch Baye in Indiana.
Judy Woodruff reports from outside the White House, saying the mood is 'sad' and 'grim' for the Carter family. Chris Wallace is outside the Reagan home in California. His report is more upbeat than Woodruff's.
Alabama and Virginia go to Reagan. Brokaw says that the Reagan states are dark-grey on a black/white television. Dark-grey again? I'm so confused. David Brinkley makes an appearance and cracks wise about the greys. Brokaw corrects himself, says that the blue states are light-grey. This is taking up an inordinate amount of time.
Hey, Carter wins his home state of Georgia. Good for him. He now trails in electoral votes, 83-12.
John Glenn wins an Ohio Senate seat. Sad that the first thing I think of whenever I hear John Glenn's name is the time he got punched. I remember being fascinated by this picture in USA Today.
There's a commercial for the Zenith System 3 television, where you can answer your phone on the tv. I guess satellites are involved, because they prominently show the 'Space' button you hit on your remote. Fantastic. Anything vaguely space-agey or technological is a big deal in the commercials. Lots of satellites and lasers flying all over the place.
This Wang Technologies commercial is just the best thing.
It just dawned on me that I haven't seen Reagan or Carter yet. No old videos or photos, nothing. The graphics are, as you would expect, very basic. I feel like I need to see Reagan before his victory speech, just to get used to the idea of him a little bit.
It's 8:00 on the east coast now. A bunch of states are called at once. Reagan leads 252-12 in electoral votes. The map is now overwhelmingly some shade of grey. John Chancellor announces at 8:15 p.m. that Reagan wins. I was hoping for at least a little drama, but it's already over. Chancellor, Brokaw, and Brinkley talk about Reagan, wonder just how conservative he is. At 8:45, we get our first view of Reagan, as he and Nancy wave to a crowd of supporters from their limo.
Tom Pettit reports from Serb Hall in Milwaukee. Beer and chips are happening. A local labor leader won't concede defeat for Carter. It's still real to him, damn it! Pettit then interviews another Milwaukee labor guy named Rocco. There's always a Milwaukee labor guy named Rocco.
Garrick Utley talks a bit about Senators we've since forgotten. He also talks about some scandal in the George McGovern campaign. Something about promising food and a color television to the community center at a particular Native American reservation with the highest voter turnout. Can we please stop talking about color vs. black/white televisions?! McGovern would lose his South Dakota Senate seat to Jim Abdnor. Overall, Republicans would net 12 Senate seats, giving them the majority. They would also net 35 House seats, but would still be the minority.
Jimmy Carter gives his concession speech at 9:50 EST, before voting even ends on the west coast. Says kind things about Reagan. Asks his supporters to support the new President. Sounds hopeful and optimistic about the future. We need to come together to meet the challenges of the new decade, etc. As concession speeches go, this one's pretty great. I heart Jimmy Carter. Vice President Walter Mondale, in a quieter room somewhere else, gives his own concession speech. A little while later, John Anderson, who had run as an Independent, concedes. Funny and upbeat. Never had a chance, so there's no sadness hanging over this speech. He won 6.6% of the popular vote.
Whoa. A little after 11:00, we go to the local news, and WRC-TV sportscaster George Michael (!) is talking about college football. Mississippi State upset Alabama a few days earlier. Wait, the score was 6-3? What kind of SEC game is that? And we're still talking about it three nights later? News traveled slowly back then.
About 11:30 EST, Reagan appears at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Things get weird. He's talking about Carter, saying very kind and respectful things about him. But then he's interrupted when two guys walk onto the stage with a huge America-shaped cake. And then they almost drop it. Reagan makes a joke about it and brushes it off. But man, know your place, cake guys. Short speech, graceful and optimistic.
A few minutes later, George Bush speaks in Houston. He looks ridiculous talking about the hostages in Iran with confetti stuck in his hair. Do the Republicans know nothing about stagecraft? W and Jeb stand on-stage behind him.
It's about midnight on the east coast. There's another hour-and-a-half of video left, but I doubt that I'll be seeing George Michael again, so I'm only going to skip ahead for commercials now.
Oh, wow. There's that famous Calvin Klein Jeans ad featuring Brooke Shields. (You can probably find this commercial as a stand-alone video on YouTube, but I'll let you look for it. I have enough sketchy shit in my search history.) Legs spread, provocative pose, crotch close-up. 'You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.' She was 15 goddamned years old! Her early career is still mind-boggling. America would never let Brooke Shields happen today.
Okay, onto the next election. Here's hoping the good guys win.