Where Were You In 1976?

Me

[Petruchio]

USAF, Sheppard AFB in Texas.

[LibertarianInExile]

You were potty training when you were 11? Geez, your family diaper bill musta been a bear!

:)

[wrbones]

That stuff was nasty!

[GeronL]

grandma would NOT launder his white tank shirts from wet T shirt contests, for moral reasons.

good for her

[Twinkie]

Hey! THAT was the birthday party I went to that time and gave a kid that spirit of '76 shirt and he said, "Thank you I really like the shirt!" - Now I know the truth!!

[clamper1797]

On an undercover mission in Olongapo

Probably at New Jolos

[ProudVet77]

No more paperboys anymore. You have to be over 18. The Glob led the rest of them to get rid of paperboys as it was child labor. So now kids mug each other instead.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I worked at Harrah's Lake Tahoe in the slot department. I started at $24/shift and went up to something like $40/shift by the summer of '77 when I was a floor supervisor.

Then I bugged out and went on to waste a few more years before I met my wife of 23 years.

[Spyder]

Hmmmm. I'd only been married 2 months and had been in Michigan for the summer preparing. I'm not sure I voted since it was my first election, was 20 years old, a student in California but "from" Michigan, and with a new name change. I wasn't sure yet if I wanted to give up my dual Canadian citizenship either. I definitely voted the next election (1980) and for Reagan.

[RadioAstronomer]

BTW, one of my more prized possessions is a picture of my grandmother sitting with President Nixon on Air force One.

[spotbust1]

OK, I was too young to remember that. What was the freedom train?

[Nowhere Man]

In 1st grade drawing pictures of 13 Star's flags and brave men defeating the British while celebrating and studying the Bicentennial.

I know earlier that year, I was in 3rd grade doing the same thing. My parents were separated and divorced later in the year. I almost failed 3rd grade over it if it wasn;t for a kind treacher and my mom working together. The BiCentennial celebration that year also took out some of the sting of what I was going through so it was very helpful to me as well as starting my love of history.

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

I was a Midshipman 1/C at the Naval Academy. Despite the fact that Carter was a graduate of USNA, I (and most of my classmates) voted for Ford.

As a omen of how bad Carter would be as a President, our company had to march in his inaugural parade behind all of the mounted units. We spent several hours in the freezing cold marching through horsesh*t several inches deep.

For my part, the mess didn't get cleaned up until four years later, in January 1981. Strapped into an A-6E Intruder with a load of snakes and Rockeye, in Alert 15 on the flight deck of USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-62), I waited as the hostages were freed.

The leadership of Iran was TERRIFIED that Ronald Reagan would annihilate their country.

[beezdotcom]

I was in 6th grade and I remember we didn't know until the next day when Ohio finally was projected to go to Carter. Even as a young boy I was disappointed and knew Carter would screw up the country.

Wish I had been as wise. However, I had help being brainwashed, as someone from the CARTER CAMPAIGN actually came into our sixth grade classroom, handed out buttons and literature, and pep-talked us all into running home to tell our parents they should vote for Jimmy.

I wonder if I can file some sort of retroactive child endangerment suit...

[bellevuesbest]

Just bought my 1st house. Drove a 67 Camaro (still have it) and was chasing my future wife. Didn't vote for Jimma but knew Ford was toast for pardoning Nixon.

[FreeReign]

Freshman in college. I would laugh as SNL made fun of both sides.

Me too.

I was exploring my politicism -- I think I took a fly at Socialsim about then.

I didn't know the difference between Ford and Carter. My politics was know-nothingism.

[pamlet]

We stoppped and visited the Batfish on vacation this summer!! I didn't go in, but my husband and son did. I think it's great that they have it on display - in Oklahoma of all places!

[trashcanbred]

I think you might be right but I was still young at the time. Check it out at http://www.freedomtrain.org/main.html

[Yaelle]

I was Sweet 16 and having more fun than people should be allowed to have.

[WorkingClassFilth]

I was a rabid young conservative full of editorials from the 'American Spectator' and 'Human Events.' I was aghast at the Republicans fielding the likes of Gerry Ford. I was to re-experience this horror during the '96 election with Bob Dole.

As it turned out, Carter became a laughingstock for conservatives and his gaffs and those of his staff totem, Hamilton Jordan, proved more sustaining than any minor conservative victories of the times. Looking back, I really miss Billy Carter - the only Carter that had any brains...

[GeronL]

That part of your life and the part with the space stuff and the part with the FReeping would be great on your ABOUT page...

=o)

[Wormwood]

Kickin' ass in the first grade.

[Iron Eagle]

I was playing left field for the champion Red Sox -- of the Freehold Little League.

[Jack Deth]

I'd just done an Active tour with the Air Force. Was TDY at Howard Air Base in Panama with my Reserve Unit.

Jack.

[beckysueb]

The night of the election in 1976, I was in the hospital recovering from surgery. Those were the days when surgery meant a week long stay in the hospital. At that time I was blissfully ignorant of politics.

[GeronL]

For my part, the mess didn't get cleaned up until four years later, in January 1981. Strapped into an A-6E Intruder with a load of snakes and Rockeye, in Alert 15 on the flight deck of USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-62), I waited as the hostages were freed.

and what exactly would have had to happen for you to have been sent into Iran that day?

[freedumb2003]

Ahh, those were the days. Under Carter a few years later we had stagflation, the Iran hostage crisis, the oil crisis and the gas lines....

[Publius]

Living in Pomona, CA and working for the R&D shop at a medium size oil company.

[RadioAstronomer]

I am working on that very thing. :-)

[Lijahsbubbe]

Me too, but I was eight

LOL

[CounterCounterCulture]

I'll figure it out one of these days.

[Reverend Bob]

I was 16. Backed Reagan in the primaries but supported Carter at the end. -- (Insert Hissing Noises Here) -- Simply couldn't stomache WIN buttons, the Swine Flu Scare, and the oratorical liberation of Poland from the Soviets.

Ohio went for Carter around 3 AM CST and I went to bed. The next morning I collected on all my bets and spent the money on something I deemed important at the time (booze? drugs? Led Zeppelin records? -- I can't remember anymore).

Two years later I was a Democrat delegate to the district convention. Got disgusted by what I saw and voted straight Republican in November. By 1980 I considered myself a Libertarian but backed Reagan with enthusiasm. I also won a lot of money that year from people who claimed Reagan was "too conservative" to be elected. :-)

Carter was a failed President -- one of the worst -- but I've often wondered how things would have been different had Ford won. There would have been no Reagan Presidency and no Reagan Revolution. The World would be a very different place, but I'm not entirely sure it would be a "better" place.

[Corvair]

So was I! I remember taking a poll during recess several days and Ford won quite handily at Grundy Grade School here in Morton, IL.

[freedumb2003]

My politics was know-nothingism

A democrat? ;)

[GeronL]

Good!

[Sam Cree]

arcane as hell!
;-)

[vetvetdoug]

Keesler AFB, Ms as an E-4 Veterinary inspector. We too knew Carter would be bad for the military and Carter did away with the USAF Veterinary Service for catching dishonest contractors and dishonest DPSC personnel.

[Nowhere Man]

Then, I was pissed off that Carter won and my mom lectured me about not being a sore loser and how the country has to come together, blah blah blah. Of course, a few months later, she went on one of the few rants I ever heard from her, once Carter pardoned the draft dodgers who ran to Canada.

I remember reading about his pardon in the "Weekly Reader." Remember those, IIRC, they were big on the UN and all that other stuff and it was heaping praise on President Carter like manna from Heaven. Does the "Weekly Reader" still exist? Occasionally, I did find some good nuggets on the science front, but that's about it. I do remember we watched "Big Blue Marble" on our local PBS station, WQED 13 here in Pittsburgh. Interesting show, showed how people lived in other countries. I remember one episode showing a teenaged girl living in modern (1976/77) Iran showing how she lived a lot like American teens, was pretty well off actually, on the par of many of us here in the USA. They showed her dressing in jeans and a top, going to the stores with her friends and so on. Sad to say, it all changed a few years later after the Shah was gone. B-(

I do remember we occasionally watched "Big Blue Marble" on a color set but most often we watched it on a 1960 era Setchell-Carlson 21" black and white sets where it took a while to warm up the vacuum tubes so the treacher kept in on "standby" to keep the filaments warm. B-)

[Kokojmudd]

"OK, I was too young to remember that. What was the freedom train?"

I dunno I can only remember long lines and size 22 basketball shoes. The late 70's were kind of a dark ages....my memory gets a lot better after Ronald Reagan.

[SamAdams76]

I know. I tried to get my son to follow in my footsteps but found that paperboys aren't allowed anymore. Now we have adults driving around delivering papers as a second job. Unfortunately, they aren't as dependable as the kids were.

I delivered papers during the 1975-77 period. Started out making $15 a week and eventually got to $40 a week as my route and tips grew. That was good money in those days for a youngster to make for basically working an hour a day. Christmas 1976 was a very good one for me. I brought in almost $200 in tips! I felt like the richest kid in town - and for that moment in time, I probably was.

It's a shame they don't let kids deliver papers anymore because it's a great way to learn responsibility. It didn't matter if I was sick or if it was pouring rain outside - those papers had to be delivered!

[shellylet]

In Sept. of that year I had my first daughter, "TightyRighty", and she's been my best friend ever since!

[DoctorMichael]

I was working the night shift at a gas station in Springfield, Mass.

Election night, when Carter was declared the winner, the local FM station played Neil Young's SOUTHERN MAN over, and over, and over. The hippie deejay warned the populous that 'White-Sheeted' individuals would be soon be seen in the Oval Office of the White House.

Is it any wonder with this kind of media that Carry, Kennedy, Barney Franknfurter, Mah-tee Mee-Han, and the rest of the idiots that the Great Commonwealth of Taxachusetts inflicts on the rest of the country, are relected time and again?

Is it any wonder why I live in Virginia?

[Calusa]

I got sworn in as a U.S. citizen on June 6 at a at a cattle call event in the Orange Bowl. Conveniently in time to register as a Democrat (family tradition) and vote for peanut brained Jimmy Carter. Big Mistake. I swear I really liked Ford better. Never repeated that mistake again though. Voted for Reagan, then GOP every election since.

[ladyinred]

Actually, what I'm really curious about is what % of current active FReepers were among the collection of nitwits that voted for Perot in 1992.

Okay, I didn't do that!!!! (of course you don't wanna know who I did vote for that year! :-) )

[HenryLeeII]

Was that Operation LBFM?

[Lijahsbubbe]

I remember wearing a gold peanut necklace which were popular during that time

Pwaha! Thanks for the laugh!

[puroresu]

I was a freshman in college and I was one lousy month shy of turning 18! It was disappointing to me because I had supported Reagan in the primaries, but of course backed Ford in the general election over Carter. But I couldn't vote! Arrrgghhhh!

It wasn't my favorite election given the outcome. It was also disappointing because Jim Sasser defeated incumbent Republican Bill Brock for the U.S. Senate in my home state of Tennessee. Sasser, like most southern 'Rats, ran as a conservative good ol' boy, but joined the liberals once he got to Washington. He pulled that scam for two more elections before finally being ousted by Bill Frist in 1994!

My first presidential vote was proudly cast for Ronald Reagan in 1980.

[GoLightly]

Yep, me too. If I hadn't gotten divorced, yesterday would have been my anniversary. I didn't follow politics, so with the aftermath of Watergate still ringing in my ears, my first vote went to Jimmah Carta.

Spent a couple of weeks that summer in your state (MO). Doesn't anyone in your state eat mushrooms? "You mean like toadstools?" "Want that in a tote?" "A what?" "A tote, tote." "Huh?" The on sale, off sale thing also seemed pretty strange.

Sorry bout that. The Okarks are beautiful, but we sometimes felt like we had entered a strange new world when we were there. Then again, we have bubblers around here, so I guess I shouldn't be anyone to talk.

[tang-soo]

I remember Woody Hayes saying he felt personally responsible because Ohio was the key state and he had not done enough to campaing for Ford.

[hyperpoly8]

In the Air Force.