5. Jimmy Carter Supported Roe v Wade
Conservative Christian voters had made some pretty public failures as they began their foray into national politics. First was the support of Barry Goldwater, who was a hard-liner regarding the Cold War. Billy Graham had long supported the president as a religious advisor, but with Richard Nixon, he threw his political support behind him and did all that he could to ensure Nixon’s election. The two had a public friendship, and Nixon appeared at some of Graham’s crusades. Christians rallied behind Nixon so fiercely that when the Watergate crisis unfolded, the future of Christian political engagement was called into question.
Jimmy Carter, though, seemed to be a specific choice. Though a Democrat, he was one of them, an evangelical Sunday school teacher from Georgia. However, his death-blow from his fellow evangelicals came when he announced his support of Roe v Wade, not because he personally approved of abortion, but because he supported the institution of the Supreme Court and its right to make decisions. Fundamentalist leaders, such as Tim LaHaye (author of the Left Behind series) and Jerry Falwell convened to try to figure out how to get Carter out of office. Despite his religion, they could not support a president who did not oppose abortion.