The state of the union is not good.

The energy crisis has developed into a money crisis.

Gasoline lines and empty pumps.

The second day in a row, sniper is fired at a school bus as a controversy over textbooks continued.

In the mid-1970s, America seemed to be falling apart.

A new president, who never even sought the office, had the task of cleaning it up.

It was as if the weight of the world had fallen upon to Jerry Ford.

Gerald Ford saw his job as uniting the country.

He was such a decent person.

We're going to have a president that we can work with. Until he faced a challenge from the country. He was such a decent person. We're going to have a president that we can work with.

Until he faced a challenge from the edge of his political party.

Political shockwaves of Ronald Reagan's entry into the presidential race.

We have perverted our Constitution.

Perverted it with regard to a welfare clause that doesn't exist.

The question was, is he too dangerous? Is he too crazy?

This is the story of the closest presidential primary race in American history.

We had a pretty bitter contest.

It's a standoff at this hour.

Head to head, knocked down, dragged out of fare.

And it's the story of when the Republican Party became a conservative party.

Warren Moore analysts are predicting the Republicans will go the way of the Whigs.

I'm Ben Bradford, and this is my new podcast, Lancelide, telling the stories of the campaigns that shaped our politics and today's division,

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