Debategate

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Debategate was a scandal affecting the administration of Ronald Reagan; it involved 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. This fact 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.

Following a brief period of heavy press coverage immediately after the story broke, interest in Debategate quickly subsided, and Reagan escaped without permanent damage to his reputation.