Keller: Jimmy Carter punctured myth of Kennedy family's political supremacy
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
BOSTON - Jimmy Carter was little-known nationally when he won the presidency in 1976. But he faced an even tougher test for re-election in 1980, a challenge from the most famous name in American politics, an epic showdown between Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and the incumbent that made a big impact on national and local politics.
Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy
It was an awkward moment at the October 1979 dedication of the Kennedy Library on Columbia Point when Carter told a story about the late President John F. Kennedy being told that "your brother Ted said recently on television that after seeing the cares of office on you, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be interested in being president." Nervous laughter ensued. But 18 days later, Ted Kennedy was in, seeing opportunity in the economic problems and international crises that had beset the Carter administration.
"People are very distressed by the partial answers of Mr. Carter on the economy, the economy is the key issue," Kennedy told one interviewer.
The president's reaction?
"He said 'Well, of course, if he gets in, I'll whup his ass," recalls legendary Boston political strategist Ed Jesser, who was press secretary for Carter's re-election campaign.
Carter "reacted more effectively to the fact of Watergate - the post-Watergate condition of the American electorate - than anyone who ran against him. He was better at it," says Jesser, quoting Carter's famous line from the 1976 campaign: "I will never lie to you."
The Kennedy political operation was famously skilled and aggressive. But the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia didn't get to the White House by shrinking from political hardball.
"Senator Kennedy is well known as the largest spender perhaps in the history of the United States Senate," Carter said. "And the only cuts I know he has advocated have been cuts in the defense budget."
Jimmy Carter's legacy in Massachusetts
In the end, it was no contest. By beating Kennedy so soundly, Carter punctured the myth of the Kennedy family's political supremacy, and opened the door for other Massachusetts pols like Michael Dukakis, Paul Tsongas and John Kerry to go national.
And while 1980 ended in defeat for Carter, the loyalty he engendered from political allies like Jesser lives on.
"He's the hardest working, the smartest, and the most decent human being who ever held that office in my mind," Jesser told WBZ-TV.
