Churchland High School - Trucker Yearbook (Portsmouth, VA)

Page 28 text:

A Political . . . Suicide? The past few years have seen greater interest in the personal lives of the candidates and diminished concern about the issues concerning each election. The lives and habits of Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford have been scrutinized more keenly, than have the policies and platforms which these men represent. Though the candidates were often accused of being vague in relating their ideals, the public lacked the insistence that would force the candidates to relinquish their views. It would almost seem as if the candidates didn’t want to win the election, as their campaigns were marked with error after error. Carter harped on Ford’s Polish mistake and often mentioned “not men- tioning Watergate.” The Ford camp used Carter’s inconsistent attitudes to- ward defense spending and they also used Carter’s interview with Playboy magazine to possibly sug- gest a lack of morals. In the debates, it was not a question of which of the candidates did the better job, rather which one didn’t do the worse. The basic issue was the reinstatement of public trust in the fed- eral government. As is customary, each candidate promised to do his best to serve all the American people. The area of most concern was the economy. Ford stressed the impor- tance of nailing down in- flation, while Carter showed greater concern for the underpriviledged and wanted to reduce the unem- ployment rate. Burle Stromberg, the student representative for Ford, made claims that Ford’s superiority was ob- vious in light of his ample federal experience. Brad Lassiter, Carter sup- porter felt tha t his ex- perience in Georgia gave him vital knowledge of the executive branch of the government. attempting to coiwirtce the student- bo4y that Carter was the better man. .. Burle Stromberg relates Ford’; strong points to the students. I 24

Page 27 text:

Despite the Factjl i an i i A. N Mrs. Elizabeth Duke’s children. Susan, eight and Johuy, four and a half added grace to the halftime coronation ] by serving as crown-bearers. The C.B. Club , their float whici a giant C.B. radio Break the Hornets”. Unfortunately, the float could not be in tkt re- game parade because it had l built facing the wrong direction,. Although Churchland Tri-Hi-Y did not build a float, they supported the parade by providing clowns who in reality were their siblings incognito. Webb Tri-Hi-Y constructed afloat which sported the slogan “Churchland says: Beat the Hornets , as well as “Fonzie” Olander, and Henry Philyaw. 23

Page 29 text:

Average Knowledge of High School Students V The previous chart was drawn fron» data gathered by members of one of the government classes. The students designed a uuestionaire that would measure me average knowledge of the student body on the issues most concerning this election, namely: Abortion, Tax Relief, Unemployment, Federal Spending Gun Control, Ford’s Pardon of Nixon, Equal Rights. Incumbent President Gerald was the first unelected incumbent ever. I 25