Carter, James Earl

Carter, James Earl ( ‘Jimmy’ Carter) (b. 1 Oct. 1924). 39th President of the USA 1977–81 Born in Plains, Georgia, he graduated with high honors from the Naval Academy as a nuclear engineer, became a successful farmer, was elected a State Senator and, in 1971, became governor of Georgia. He was successful at streamlining the state government administration, and actively promoted the advancement of minorities. Carter appeared to come from nowhere to win the Democratic nomination for presidency, and then won narrowly against the unpopular Ford. He projected an unpretentious, open image, and his reputation for moral rectitude became a crucial asset for a nation still shocked by the Watergate scandal.

Carter's election strategy which banked on him being an outsider to the political establishment in Washington became a crucial liability during his presidency. He failed to establish a working relationship with Congress and found little support for his policies, such as the energy strategy which he proposed as a solution to the oil crisis of the 1970s. Indeed, he was unable to contain inflation, which was above 10 per cent in 1978. Economic stagnation and inflation plagued his administration. In foreign affairs, Carter had two lasting successes. He secured the return of the Panama Canal against initial congressional opposition, while generally under his Presidency the US took a relatively non-interventionist stance in Central America. More remarkably, he achieved the Camp David agreement which established peace between Israel and Egypt, the most enduring act of reconciliation in the Middle East since the 1940s.

In other important areas, however, Carter's foreign policy was hampered by the contradictory appointments of the conciliatory Cyrus Vance as secretary of state, and the hawkish Zbigniew Brzezinski as national security adviser. He failed to get the SALT II agreement ratified by the Senate (see disarmament), while the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 started a new phase of the Cold War and brought the relationship between the two superpowers to a nadir. The Iran hostage crisis, compounded by a bungled rescue attempt authorized by Carter, dealt the final blow, precipitating a collapse in public regard for his abilities. His complaint that America was suffering from a ‘malaise’ only made the optimism of Ronald Reagan seem all the more attractive. Although he beat off a strong challenge from Edward Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic nomination, he lost the subsequent presidential election. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a mediator and head of the Carter Center in Atlanta. He had become involved in promoting low-cost housing developments, served as a UN election monitor in less developed countries, and served on various peace missions, e.g. to the, Uganda (1999), Sudan (1995) Haiti (1994) and Nicaragua (1990).

http://www.cartercenter.org