Debategate was a scandal affecting the administration of Ronald Reagan; it took place in the final days of the 1980 presidential election. Briefing papers that were to have been used by President Jimmy Carter in preparation for the October 28, 1980, debate with Reagan had somehow been acquired by Reagan's team. The briefing papers were never specified to be vital strategy memos or just routine position papers. This leak of campaign papers was not divulged to the public until late June 1983, after Laurence Barrett published Gambling With History: Reagan in the White House, an in-depth account of the Reagan administration's first two years.

Investigation
James Baker swore under oath that he had received the briefing book from William Casey, Reagan's campaign manager, but Casey, then campaign manager, now CIA director, vehemently denied this.David Stockman, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, admitted using the Carter material while helping Reagan prepare for the debate. Stockman said the documents obtained were just position papers, not in question-and-answer format. Frank Hodsoll, also a member of the debate team, said that they were in Q and A form. The investigation turned up hundreds of pages of documents from the Carter campaign in Stockman's files as well as in Reagan's campaign archives at Stanford University's Hoover Institute. One document, an itinerary for Carter during the week prior to Election Day, had "report from White House mole" written on it. This seemed to confirm author Laurence Barrett's conclusion in his book that the material had been stolen. But U.S. News & World Report indicated that the document in question had been volunteered by someone working for Carter. Other papers were turned in to the Washington Post by a collector of political memorabilia who, in October 1980, had exhumed them from a dumpster behind Reagan headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The press speculated that the Reaganauts had been concerned that Carter would pull anOctober surprise during the campaign -- cutting a deal with the Ayatollah Khomeini for the release of the 52 hostages held for over a year by Iran, a bombshell that some believed might have sent Carter back to the White House for four more years. Newsweek wondered whether a clandestine operation involving ex-CIA agents had been undertaken by the Reagan team to keep close tabs on the Carter campaign. This was confirmed by Time in its July 25, 1983 issue. According to that report, William Casey brought in former agents of both the CIA and the FBI to gather information from colleagues who were still with that agency. Jimmy Carter complained that the pilfered documents revealed the "essence" of his campaign, implying that his reelection bid had been done great harm when they fell into Republican hands.[1]

The matter was never resolved as both the FBI and a congressional subcommittee failed to determine how or through whom the briefing book came to the Reagan campaign.[2] The Justice Department, in closing its investigation, cited "the professed lack of memory or knowledge on the part of those in possession of the documents." Still, it said the contradictions between Reagan aides like Baker and Casey "could be explained by differences in recollection or interpretation."[3]

Importance[edit source | editbeta]
The importance of these documents is still in question. At the time this debate took place, Reagan was ahead in the polls 43 to 37 with 11 percent undecided. The stakes were high for this debate especially since Carter had the possibility of an October surprise, such as the release of the hostages in Iran.

During a news conference on June 28, 1983, Reagan was hammered with questions concerning the alleged scandal. The president denied having any knowledge about briefing papers his campaign was thought to have attained. House Speaker Tip O'Neill eventually came to say that even if Carter’s papers had been used for the debate, there would have been no difference in the outcome of the election.[citation needed]

Aftermath[edit source | editbeta]
In 2004 and again in 2005, Carter accused columnist George Will of giving the briefing book to the Reagan campaign.[4] In a 2005 syndicated column, Will called his role in Reagan's debate preparation "inappropriate" but denied any role in stealing the briefing book. As he had done to Carter privately, Will wrote, "My cursory glance at it convinced me that it was a crashing bore and next to useless -- for you [Carter], or for anyone else."[5] In response to Will's column, Carter wrote a letter to the Washington Post retracting his accusations. Carter apologized to Will for "any incorrect statement that I have ever made about his role in the use of my briefing book. I have never thought Mr. Will took my book, that the outcome of the debate was damaging to my campaign or that Mr. Will apologized to me."[6]

In his 2009 campaign examination "Rendezvous with Destiny", Craig Shirley claims that the briefing papers were passed to Casey by Paul Corbin, an aide from Ted Kennedy's failed primary campaign. According to the book, the Kennedy family and campaign workers were embittered by Carter's treatment of Kennedy's challenge in the brutal 1980 Democratic primary, and Corbin stole the papers in revenge. Furthermore, he states that the contents of the briefing book were simply a compilation of Reagan's earlier speeches, and therefore contends that the theft had no effect on the race. Carter, however, continues to blame his defeat on the stolen papers.