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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we'll finish up on this President's Day with a pair of 10-minute oral history call-ins on the first presidential candidate you ever voted for, and how that person or that election has influenced your politics ever since. We're dividing this in two by age to make sure we get callers of different generations. This is another in our generational oral history series that we started this year, and in this case, we're dividing it by century. We'll start right now with anyone whose first presidential election was the year 2000 or later.

Who was your first presidential election vote for and how did that person or that election help shape your politics? At 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. Again, you're up first right now for this President's Day call-in. If your first presidential election was the year 2000 or later, who was your first presidential vote for and how did that person or that election help shape your politics to this day? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 or tweet @BrianLehrer.

Those of you who want to call up and say something about Jimmy Carter, hang on, you'll get your chance in Part 2 of this call-in. Who might it have been for you if your first presidential vote was in the year 2000 or later? In 2000, obviously, your options were Bush or Gore. Oh, or Ralph Nader who won 2.8 million votes that year. Did you vote for one of them as your first-ever presidential election vote, and what did they mean to you? 212-433-WNYC.

If your first presidential election was in the year 2004 against the backdrop of the Iraq War, it was the Hawkish Bush or the once anti-war activist Kerry. 2008, John McCain, war hero, and longtime senator, or Barack Obama young upstart who promised hope and change. Then we get into the elections of the last 15 years and the major political figures who took part in them, Donald Trump, of course. Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major political party in this country, and Joe Biden practically an elder statesman or obviously, yes, an elder statesman, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

What did it mean to you to cast your vote for any of the above? In what ways did any of those figures or any other person who run for president this century influence your politics ever since? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer on this President's Day, and we'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC, now to our President's Day call in on the first presidential candidate you ever voted for and why they were important to you. We're taking this by century, so Part 1, if your first presidential vote was in the year 2000 or later. Giovanni in Rockland County, you're on WNYC. Hi, Giovanni.

Giovanni: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. Really enjoyed the show. I voted for John Kerry-John Edwards in 2004, and it was after, of course, the 2000 election, which was really suspicious in terms of the results there. I really wanted to get involved and I remember that they bussed me out to Pennsylvania and I did some volunteer kind of like door-to-door work for the John Kerry-John Edwards campaign. I was really impressed with the way that people were just really questioning and welcoming the dialogue back then in 2004, which makes me sad now.

Folks were really questioning and thinking about who they wanted to vote for, and I got really engaged responses and some real debate. It was a really exciting moment for me personally because I experienced firsthand the excitement of political process, and engaging with folks one-on-one at their doorstep. I was like, "This doesn't happen everywhere in the world. That was really fun.

Brian Lehrer: Good story, Giovanni, thank you very much. Of course, that, like 2000, was another very, very close election. Ishmael in Harlem. You're on WNYC. Hi, Ishmael.

Ishmael: Hi. My first election was for Obama in 2008, and I was in college and after the war in Iraq and after eight years of Bush, it felt like a miracle, honestly. I'm also African American, so seeing a Black man, the elected it felt nothing short of miraculous. I think also after his eight years in the office, there was a come down from that collective fantasy of our directory towards improvement. I don't know, I feel like there's a way in which we're still living through the hangover of-

Brian Lehrer: Obama being elected.

Ishmael: -this notion that -- Right. This idea that we saw that we can be a wonderful country. We can overcome some of our historical ills, but we also know that improvement is just as easily lost. It's been a kind of confusing political life for me.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Does that arc that you described leave you politically disillusioned and disengaged or determined to fight for a resumption of that progress? How would you put it for yourself?

Ishmael: You know what, I think one really important thing that Obama did was instill this notion that improvement takes involvement from democratic citizens. Even as we look back and think about his presidency as maybe being kind of naive or less progressive than we would've liked. I do think that he gave us a legacy of political activism and engagement that we're seeing flourish today.

Brian Lehrer: Ishmael, thank you so much. Please call us again. Raj in New Providence, you're on WNYC. Hi, Raj.

Raj: Hey, good morning, Brian. Happy President's Day to you. Thank you very much. Yes, my first election was Y2K 2000. I was actually a first-year at RPI. I remember voting for Al Gore and just the entire ordeal, not only of the next two weeks and months but just that night staying up to watch the election results. I was crushed knowing that George W. Bush had won. I really think for me, first of all, that election, I'll always remember being a stark contrast in terms of personality of the candidates and the issues. For me, I always voted on issues, and so it's very disappointing to see that Gore loss.

I would say the long-term ramifications of that was just for me to feel more fired up to vote for Kerry in '04, and then of course, Obama in '08. So much so that I actually went to the inauguration in 2009 and it felt great to be there to know that President Obama would replace George W. Bush in office. Starting there in 2000 and then having the long game into 2008 I'll always remember what it was like that night to vote for Al Gore in 2000.

Brian Lehrer: Raj, thank you. Thank you very much. While we're on 2000, Thad in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Thad.

Thad: Hi, Brian. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. I was 19, and I was very idealistic. I was planning on voting for Gore, but on my way into vote, someone said to me, "Vote your hopes, not your fears." I was like, "Wow. Yes, I should be motivated by my idealism." Then that night I really regretted it. I was in Pennsylvania too, so it's like a consequential vote.

Brian Lehrer: The regretted vote for Ralph Nader. Thad, thank you very much. One more on Part 1, then we're going to go to the older callers, pre-2000 for your first presidential election vote. Aaron in East Meadow, you're on WNYC. Hi, Aaron.

Aaron: Hi Brian. Thanks for taking my call and Happy President's Day. My first president that I voted for was Hillary Clinton in 2016. I was a first-year college student and very optimistic to make my voice heard in our country. I originally wanted to vote for Senator Bernie Sanders, but having seen how the primary went, I realized that the Democratic National Committee was actively rigging the primary against him and in favor of Hillary Clinton.

I saw the corruption going on, but unfortunately, I had to vote for my party over my conscience. I had to choose strategy over my conscience. What that meant to me was seeing that there is no clear dichotomy between the two parties that there is corruption on both sides.

Brian Lehrer: You were also the opposite of the previous caller who decided to vote his idealism for Nader and then came to regret it. You voted what you saw as practicality.

Aaron: Exactly. I decided that it would not be suitable for the country to take a vote away from my party, because I believed that Donald Trump was a bigger threat to our country than it would be to make a stand for my values.

Brian Lehrer: Aaron, thank you very much. Thanks to all of you who called in in part one. Now, to part two of this Presidents Day Oral History call in two 10-minute call-ins. We got a lot of calls in there in 10 minutes, right? Now, if your first presidential election was the year 1996, or prior, who was your first presidential election vote for? How did that person or that election help shape your politics? 212-433-WNYC. All the younger callers whose first presidential election was 2000 or later, we ask you to clear the lines for those whose first presidential election was 1996 or prior and also to help set the stage for some of the calls that we might get.

Here's a clip of former President Jimmy Carter, who, of course, was elected in 1976. It was just announced over the weekend has now entered hospice care at age 98. Jimmy Carter on this show, I think the year was 2012, and you'll listen to the question that I asked him near the end of our interview.

[start of audio playback]

Brian Lehrer: We just have a few minutes left. I'm curious as a Christian, do you believe in an afterlife?

Jimmy Carter: Yes, I do. I believe in an afterlife. I don't know what both of them would take and so forth, but I believe in it. We're taught in my Sunday school class, and I think in most churches that we don't believe in Christ and try to simplify the life of Christ in our own actions, just so we'll have an afterlife. We do it because we are blessed by the knowledge of Jesus, and we're blessed by the love of God.

That's a life is fair, but it's not the motivation for us to accept Christ. It's a reward that we have, and nobody knows who will be there or who, as Jesus said, that in the final judgment, there'll be sheep and goats and some will be chosen to their surprise. I will not be chosen to their surprise. I think it's an unpredictable thing, but I believe in it.

[end of audio playback]

Jimmy Carter here on the afterlife back in 2012. Now, to your calls on the first presidential election vote you ever cast and what it meant to you. Nancy in Montclair, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nancy.

Nancy: Hi, Brian. I was born in Detroit in 1933. When President Roosevelt died, I was 12. I don't think I even knew that presidents were elected at that time, but I did grow up and I finally voted for the first time for Adlai Stevenson and was madly for Adlai and have been a Yellow Dog Democrat ever since except for one time in DC when I voted for a Republican and she lost. That was it.

Brian Lehrer: Was it a revelation to you that a Republican could win since you grew up during Roosevelt and he had four times in a row and then Truman? Were you disillusion like, "Wait, Adlai Stevenson is so smart, how could Eisenhower have won?"

Nancy: Well, I grew up to realize that there were lots of problems with Adlai Stevenson later in life. I was better able to understand why he lost. Democrats have improved a great deal since then, I think.

Brian Lehrer: Nancy, thank you very much. Don, in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Don.

Don: Yes. In 1972, I voted for Pete McCloskey. I did not vote for George McGovern, even though I worked for him during his nomination because I thought he compromised too much. In 1980, I voted for Barry Commoner versus Jimmy Carter because Jimmy Carter also backtracked. Those were the last--

Brian Lehrer: Commoner was the Green Party candidate in 1980, right?

Don: Yes. Because both Barry Commoner and George McGovern, I thought compromised too much.

Brian Lehrer: How did McGovern who has the reputation over the years as having taken the Democratic Party so far left in a presidential election, that the Democrats have been running away from McGovern's progressive legacy ever since, how did he make too many compromises for you at the time, if you recall?

Don: I'm a Black guy and there are some things that McGovern did. The right wing of the Democratic Party, he tried to pull them in. He made so many compromises to try to pull them in.

Brian Lehrer: That's the way it's out with you at the time. Don, keep calling us. Thank you very much. Terry, in Hightstown, or is it Tori in Hightstown, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Tori: Tori is correct, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. My very first presidential road was in 1956, and it was for Dwight David Eisenhower. I want you to know, that was my last vote for a Republican of any size, shape, or description since. I am now a Yellow Dog Democrat. I think my main reason for voting for Eisenhower in those days was simply that my family were rock-ribbed Northeastern liberal-type Republicans, and there seemed to be a good fit there.

We were wells coal miners. My great-grandfather had been an ardent abolitionist and an ardent Republican back in the 1890s until the time he was killed in the mines. A friend of mine said, "Well, that was written in the days when the Republicans were the good guys," and I thought they were. However, I then went to college in G.I. Bill and after having voted for Eisenhower in '56, and I learned a few things about the world and myself and other things, and I came out and became a Democrat, and I've been a Democrat ever since.

Brian Lehrer: Tori, thank you very much. Back to 1972, for Berry in Southold. Berry, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Berry: Good morning. My first vote I was just turned 18 in '72, and I voted for McGovern. I got up early and voted before I went to college. I just knew that he was going to lose, it was so sad. Then it rained all day. I was just really so sad because I knew he wasn't going to win, and it was just going to be another mess. My type didn't change my politics. I grew up. My mother was a New Deal Democrat, and I grew up watching civil rights in the Vietnam War on TV the way before the army learned to censor everything. We've got all that raw footage. My politics were already pretty progressive.

[crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. All right, we're going to finish with two from the same election. David in Westport, you are in WNYC. Hi, David.

David: Hi, Brian. You're the best at what you do, and we're so lucky to have you here.

Brian Lehrer: You're very kind. 1980, right?

David: In 1980, I voted under the influence of my father, who was a pretty staunch Republican, I voted for Reagan. Shortly thereafter, through friends at College, University of Washington, Seattle shout-out, I changed my mind and became a Democrat. Then I moved to New York in 1982, and saw the poverty and the people there that needed help, and saw that the Republicans really weren't in that camp. That solidified my change.

Brian Lehrer: David, thank you very much. I'm going to try to sneak in, in our last minute. Actually, two more from the 1980 election. Elizabeth in Manhattan, you wrote in John Anderson, the third-party candidate in 1980. Why?

Elizabeth: I did. I thought he was going to be the best. I loved Carter. I respected him. My little sister went to school with Amy, but I didn't think he was doing a great job, particularly with the economy. We had the disastrous whip inflation now.

Brian Lehrer: I'm going to leave it there. I apologize because I want to get Soul in White Plains in with the third candidate in that race. Who was your first-ever presidential vote for 1980s? Soul, it's you. Soul?

Soul: Yes. Jimmy Carter, for two reasons. One, progressive family background, and two, he was the one who established diplomatic relations with China in 1978. I was a Chinese major in my freshman year of college.

Brian Lehrer: Appropriately on this day, the Jimmy Carter voter gets the last word. Thanks for all your calls on that President's Day call-in.

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