252. Editorial Note
On November 4, 1980, the U.S. elections were held and the Republican Presidential candidate, Governor Ronald Reagan, overwhelmingly defeated the Democratic candidate, President Jimmy Carter. Reagan received 50.7 percent of the popular vote to Carter’s 41 percent and won 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 49. Reagan had been critical of SALT during the campaign. On November 20, from 2:07 to 3:32 p.m. President Carter and President-Elect Reagan met in the Oval Office of the White House. (Carter Library, Presidential Materials, President’s Daily Diary) According to his memoirs, Carter “listed some of the advantages to our country of honoring the terms of SALT II, pending its ratification, and of maintaining a strong nonproliferation policy.” (Carter, Keeping Faith, page 577) The Treaty, however, was never ratified by the Senate.