Auburn University - Glomerata Yearbook (Auburn, AL)

Page 30 text:

n J :lt Q 3 3 g ,gl ,mt Y' --F , is rw? '1W,'l 5 A uM ,-J-, jr.. , . 5. , V1.5 ,re mi, r ya, ,. ,X lit' Legg! H 1 +ilfll', ' Y 'M ,fy 1 . , lx 1 v , 1 1' 1 , l lt 26 F em. L 1 -, 'Ng -. , 6.,,.,gfg ,rA,. A 'itil 'ff- . Q we, 35 w .rl- A ull., --1,14 lp' l rg W r, 'lm ,Q ey 2, ,aw , xl 'M l. ll , 1 Changing Times If Franklin Roosevelt were still alive, he would have called it a date that will live in infamy. Ian. 20, 1981 was a day most Auburnites and Americans will not soon fprget. After 444 days in the hands of a band of renegade stu- dents, 52 Americans came home from the shmables ofwhat had once been the American embassy in Teheran. Like the rest of the coun- try, the city of Auburn welcomed them home with yellow ribbons, American flags and not a few tears. But these Americans would not be met at the White House by the president who had secured their re- lease, but by the man who had cap- tured the nation's imagination with the promise of a new beginning. That dream almost came to an abrupt end as john Hinckley, jr., attempted to assasinate President Ronald Reagan. He succeeded in wounding the President and three others. The year was full of events other than political, though. Mt. St. Helens proved to us that nature is still the greatest force in the universe, two million Atlantans anguished as their black children were taken from their arms, one of the Beatles, the immortals, was gunned down in

Page 29 text:

Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, built up his conserva- tive, western-oriented base early and continued his campaign by at- tempting to reach out to more mod- erate voters. With such slogans as Thetime is Now and Let's Make America Great Again. Regan appealed to voters tired of fighting inflation and watching America get taken advantage of abroad. Reagan took as his running mate, Texas conservative George Bush, to bal- ance his highly conservative ticket. Reagan advocated a 30 percent tax cut, domestic energy produc- tion, strengthening Social Security and building up America's defense capabilities. It was his stance on military spending and his views on the Soviet Union that led people to label him a warmonger. But a newly conservative America gave him the support he needed in the end. jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States, was re-nominated by his Democratic Party despite any hopes of Edward Kennedy. The Democrats believed Election 1980 Carter to be their best chance for a second democratic term. Vice- president Walter Mondale re- mained Carter's running mate in his quest for re-election. Carter's early campaigning was curtailed by the hostage crisis, when he declared he was president and his priorities lay with the job. Carter concentrated his campaign getting people to re- member the pluses of his adminis- tration. But voters found it hard to decide and at election time there was a majority of undecided voters Carter had his hopes on. National feelings leaned toward change and Carter's hopes were dashed. From the beginning, when john Anderson announced his indepen- dent candidacy for president, he suffered from a lack of funds. With- out enough money, Anderson tried valiantly to get enough exposure to make his name known. He had trouble gettingthatall-importantair time without sufficient funds. But Anderson didn't let money stop him. He continued campaigning even when most people thought his f A s ses- cause was lost. He spoke plainly, not caring about satisfying all the people. Anderson spoke his some- times highly liberal views that didn't endear him to many people, butviews that set him apart from the other candidates' loose rhetoric. In the end, Anderson was mainly hoping for five percent of the pop- ular vote to get him government funds to pay off his campaign debts. And the final tally showed America thought enough of him to give him seven percent. Your Alternative in l980! Ed Clark's Libertarian pamphlets pro- claimed a new approach from the traditional answers of the two-party system. Clark insisted America did have a choice in him, rather than the two evils. He based his platform on common sense and the principle of individual rights. Clark believed in giving America a choice, through his Libertarian party. He believed in giving the largest tax cut in history, decreasing military spending and non-intervention. ? - Abby Pettiss 25

Page 31 text:

XX Ns' 5' .mt front of his New York apartment building, and the heir to the British throne finally ended his reign as the world's most eligible bachelor. ln Auburn, meanwhile, death took some of our greats: Shug jordan, Katherine Cater and Wilbur Hutsell. We got a new football coach, several new top administra- tion officials and a new eagle mascot. Q As events came to a close, a sense of renewed optimism seemed in the air in Auburn, as well as in the rest of the nation. Two administrations were full into their work, and we felt with them that although the task be- fore each was awesome, the inner fortitude of those known to the world as Americans would some- how rise to the occasion. The future seems brighter for the 19805 than it has been in a long time. Times are changing and spirit is on the riseQ - Steve Farish z-. I