Why did Washington state vote Republican in 1960, 1976, and 1980?

[NOVA Green]

I'm honestly surprised that Boeing hasn't even been mentioned once in this thread....

Anyone that doesn't understand the impact that Boeing played in Washington State back in those decades apparently doesn't have a clue...

Although Portland, Oregon expanded dramatically as a direct consequence of both WWI and WWII related stimulation of the industrial sector, it was much less dependent on defense related spending and activities than Metro Seattle....

In many ways Seattle historically resembled more of a San Diego or West LA scene, where there used to be a large number of jobs tied directly to military defense contracts...

My uncle used to work as a defense contractor in San Diego, my wife's Father and Uncle in West LA for the Aerospace Industry, at a time where Socially Moderate, Fiscally Conservative, and Middle-of-the-Road on Foreign Policy (Vietnam) used to be the norm on the West Coast.

The 1960 election in Washington State is likely explained as the result of a New England Liberal Democrat running against a Moderate West Coast Republican. The Democrat used the "Nuke Gap" to try to outplay Nixon on Anti-Communist street-Cred.

In '76 we see a Moderate Midwestern Republican running against a Southern Democrat in the post 'Nam era.... Foreign Policy was not the defining narrative of the Election, and Ford was seen a moderate Republican on fiscal issues, and I suspect that Ford ran stronger in the Northern states because of those issues, and potentially issues that voters in certain parts of the country had with a "former peanut farmer from Georgia running for President.

In '80, I suspect it was a mixture---- defection of the Moderate voters towards Anderson... (I remember as a young child seeing Anderson yard signs all across my small city in Oregon) combined with a surge of evangelical voters that saw Reagan as one of their own....

Maybe I am totally wrong. but Metro Seattle & Vancouver definitely played a big role in Reagan's '80 victory in Washington....