In famous 2003 eulogy Senator Joe Biden, having no trouble delivering oratory, said Reagan was 85 when he and Strom Thurmond met with the then 71-year old president

"The president [Reagan] then was about 85 years old".

"And I swear to the Lord in the Lord’s house this is a true story. ...  And the President -- true story -- President looked very sternly at Strom ..."

Ronald Reagan turned 85 in 1996 during the presidency of Bill Clinton. Biden in 2003 was off by nearly fifteen years.

The Thurmond-strong-arming-the-president anecdote, if it actually happened at all, must date to late 1982 because Reagan vetoed the Biden-Thurmond crime bill on January 15, 1983, which was what the meeting Biden recounts was about.

At about the 7 minute mark (the crowd is already skeptical of the previous anecdote's truthfulness at the 3:30 mark):

 

The Wall Street Journal opines that some demagogues are worse than others

Here:

'But America has rarely lacked for demagogues willing to exploit public discontents. William Jennings Bryan won three Democratic presidential nominations running against eastern elites. In 1948 Henry Wallace ran as a Soviet sympathizer while Strom Thurmond won 39 electoral votes running as a segregationist. Either one would have been a disaster as President.'

"Either one"?

Demagoguery in defense of progressivism is no vice, apparently.

A Brief History of Third Parties' Performance in Presidential Elections

2008  2.0 million votes  1.5 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes

2004  1.2 million votes  1.0 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes

2000  3.9 million votes  3.7 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes  Nader

1996  9.7 million votes  10  percent of the vote  0 electoral votes  Perot

1992  20  million votes  20  percent of the vote  0 electoral votes  Perot

1988  0.9 million votes  1.0 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes  Paul

1984  0.6 million votes  0.7 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes

1980  7.1 million votes  8.2 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes  Anderson

1976  1.6 million votes  1.9 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes  McCarthy

1972  1.4 million votes  1.8 percent of the vote  1 electoral vote    Hospers

1968  10  million votes  14  percent of the vote  46 electoral votes Wallace

1964  0.3 million votes  0.5 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes

1960  0.5 million votes  0.7 percent of the vote  15 electoral votes  unpledged Democratic

1956  0.4 million votes  0.7 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes

1952  0.3 million votes  0.5 percent of the vote  0 electoral votes

1948  2.6 million votes  5.4 percent of the vote  39 electoral votes Thurmond

I'm cool with that