Wednesday · November 11, 2026

Edited daily

American history, reported as it happened

Made for the 250th

The events of November 4 · Read the full edition → · More from November 4 →

19801776 Club

Reagan carries 44 states and unseats President Carter

Inflation, a stalled economy and the hostages in Iran left Carter with six states and the District of Columbia.

Voters elected Ronald Reagan the 40th President of the United States on November 4, 1980, ending Jimmy Carter's single term. The country had spent the year with double-digit inflation and American hostages held in Iran. Reagan, the former governor of California, won 44 states and 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49. Carter held only six states and the District of Columbia…

1776 Club

This story is held for members.

Members read every story of the day — and tomorrow's, and the next.

Join the 1776 Club

$17.76 your first year · then $39.99/yr · cancel anytime

More from November 4

Wyoming elects Nellie Tayloe Ross governor; the widow who said no never campaigned

A month after her husband's death, voters give her 55 percent of the ballots against Republican E. J. Sullivan.

Tightrope flies from Johnston Island, and Operation Fishbowl is finished

A low-yield device on an XM-33 Strypi rocket ends the Atomic Energy Commission's high-altitude test series in the Pacific.

Students storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran and seize hostages; they want the Shah sent home

Hundreds of students blindfold Marines and embassy staff and march them before photographers, with Washington's decision to shelter the exiled Shah as their stated grievance.

Joe Biden takes the vice presidency over Sarah Palin as John McCain loses the race to succeed George W. Bush.

Read this as a member →

Read the full November 4 edition →Everything that happened on November 4 →

More from Cold War America

Eisenhower signs the words already stamped on coins into the law itself

The phrase had ridden American currency since 1954; Congress just gave it a statute to stand on.

Scott lands Falcon by hand at Hadley Rille; astronauts get a car on the Moon

The computer drifted off course, so David Scott flew the last stretch himself, straight toward a mountain valley chosen for its scenery.

Bush and Gorbachev sign a treaty to cut the world's largest nuclear arsenals

Nine years of talks end with limits of 6,000 warheads and 1,600 missiles and bombers on each side.

McNamara moves to merge the Pentagon's rival spy shops into one agency

The three service branches have been running separate, often conflicting intelligence operations for years.

The Daily Record · free by email

Tomorrow's edition in your inbox — one featured story, one quote, and today's flag status. Free, every morning.

The full experience

Read every story, narrated, in the app.

Take this story with you.

The complete daily edition, the deep-cut narration, and a library that's yours — the 1776 Club lives in the app.

Your membership comes with you — every event, narrated, with flag alerts, CarPlay, and your saved library.