Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America

By: Craig Shirley

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Synopsis: &“A first-rate work of insider history . . . A monumental accomplishment.&” —National Review The election that changed everything: Craig Shirley&’s masterful account of the 1980 presidential campaign reveals how a race judged &“too close to call&” as late as Election Day became a Reagan landslide—and altered the course of history. To write Rendezvous with Destiny, Shirley gained unprecedented access to 1980 campaign files and interviewed more than 150 insiders—from Reagan&’s closest advisers and family members to Jimmy Carter himself. His gripping account follows Reagan&’s unlikely path from his bitter defeat on the floor of the 1976 Republican convention, through his underreported &“wilderness years,&” through grueling primary fights in which he knocked out several Republican heavyweights, through an often-nasty general election campaign complicated by the presence of a third-party candidate (not to mention the looming shadow of Ted Kennedy), to Reagan&’s astounding victory on Election Night in 1980. Shirley&’s years of intensive research have enabled him to relate countless untold stories—including, at long last, the solution to one of the most enduring mysteries in politics: just how Reagan&’s campaign got hold of Carter&’s debate briefing books.