The Legacy of President Jimmy Carter
The 39th President’s legacy is one of compassion and humanity which extends after President Carter left the White House.
With the recent news of President Jimmy Carter’s admission into hospice care and the passing of his wife First Lady Rosalynn Carter and now his 100th birthday, it is time to examine the legacy of the former president. Jimmy Carter may go down in history as one of America’s most underrated presidents because despite having a remarkable gift he was a one-term president who lost reelection in a landslide. President Carter is one of the few presidents who went through his presidency without starting new wars or escalating previous wars and remains the only president to successfully negotiate peace in the Middle East. The president’s legacy goes beyond his presidency and into his post-presidency with his humanitarian work. So with President Carter’s potentially final days on the horizon, it is time to examine his legacy.
Naval Service
Most people know that before entering politics James Earl Carter Jr. was a peanut farmer, but what they do not know he was also a nuclear engineer in the Navy. Yes, Jimmy Carter was a Lieutenant in the US Navy’s Atomic Energy Commission before he entered politics and even before becoming a peanut farmer. Carter worked with Nuclear Reactors in the Navy and learned how to operate them while he was in this program. That training prepared him for that fateful day on December 12, 1952, in Ottowa, Canada when a nuclear reactor began to melt down. Carter and a team of 22 other engineers lowered themselves into the reactors to prevent what could have been the worst Nuclear Meltdown in North America. After that event, Carter had to have his urine test for six months to make sure there was no more radiation in his body. Even before he entered politics the seeds of a nobleman and a hero were planted in Jimmy Carter.
Governorship
In 1970, Jimmy Carter was elected Governor of Georgia a position which he held from 1971–1975 before becoming the President of the United States. When he was sworn in he made Civil Rights a central part of his platform which was a betrayal to the Conservative Dixiecrats who supported his gubernatorial bid. Carter began his governorship by declaring “The time of racial discrimination is over." He stacked his advisor staff with black employees and added portraits of prominent black Georgians, including
Martin Luther King Jr., Lucy Craft Laney, and Henry McNeal Turner. He created the Georgia Human Rights Council to solve racial issues in the state and end discrimination. However, his stance on busing remains a black spot on his governorship with Civil Rights given that he supported measures to stop busing integration. Aside from his attempts to advance Civil Rights, he also tried to bridge class gaps between wealthy and poor Georgians. He did this by equally distributing aid to schools that catered to poor & rich Georgians, increasing education access to former convicts, and setting up community centers for disabled children. His governorship was good aside from his positions on busing and the death penalty which he has since acknowledged he was wrong about.
Presidency
Jimmy Carter’s presidency is often overlooked by many Americans despite all of the great things Carter did while in office. This is largely a product of conservatives defiling his legacy to rehabilitate the abysmal legacy of one Ronald Reagan, and liberals making little to no effort to defend Carter’s legacy. Carter has been unfairly blamed for the inflation rates of the 1970s, the fall of the US-backed Shah dictatorship in Iran, the rise of the Ayatollahs, and the Iran hostage crisis. However, none of that was Carter’s fault because all of that was out of his control, it just serves as an unreasonable reason to hate President Carter. So let’s look at the real legacy of Jimmy Carter.
Domestic Policy
When it comes to domestic policy Jimmy Carter had a wide array of good domestic policies involving the economy and civil rights as president. Carter had overseen the US recovery from a recession that began under the Nixon & Ford Administrations and witnessed a period of economic growth during his first two years in office. Unemployment fell under the Carter Administration as a result of the Administration’s Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) which created 9 million new jobs in the United States of America. Carter had also signed the Social Security Financing Amendments Act which reversed a Nixon-Era policy that raised Social Security taxes and reduced its benefits. Carter had also passed the Community Reinvestment Act to prevent banks from denying loans and credit to poor communities. Carter is also responsible for the creation of the Department of Education which helps fund public schools and Carter spent his presidency doubling education spending.
However, with these accomplishments under his belt, Carter spent most of his presidency battling Congress to pass these bills. Many of Carter’s boldest progressive proposals were defeated by Congress. These proposals included granting cost-effective aid to welfare recipients, a guaranteed minimum income, a federal jobs guarantee, and providing a national healthcare system. This led Carter to take more conservative fiscal policies like the Revenue Act of 1978 which granted a $19 billion tax cut that only ballooned the nation's debt & deficit. Carter would continue to embark on misguided policies like the Revenue Act to reduce the inflation rates that stemmed from the Energy Crisis which weren’t effective at reducing inflation. This misguided effort had the negative externality of shaping the Democratic Party to shift in a neoliberal direction which presidents like Bill Clinton would drive that direction home. Senator Ted Kennedy primaried President Jimmy Carter from the left to challenge the Carter Administration’s more neoliberal fiscal policies. However, Carter left office with the national debt at $900 billion which is much lower than the debt Reagan and other Republican Presidents like the Bushes left. Reagan inherited the $900 billion deficit from Carter and rose it to $1 trillion in his first year in office.
When it came to Civil Rights, Carter was a known proponent of the cause. Carter had championed efforts to improve racial relations in the United States and gender relations as well. One of Carter’s most significant civil rights laws was the Pregnancy Discrimination Act which prevented employers from discriminating against pregnant women and people from employment. This law also protected people developing medical conditions related to childbirth and pregnancy. Carter also championed the Black College Initiative which gave federal aid to historically black colleges and universities to help improve the quality of education for African American students. That addresses Carter’s domestic policies now it is time to address environmental & foreign policy.
Environmental Policy
President Jimmy Carter was one of the earliest proponents of moving to renewable energy. One of Carter’s first orders of business as president was putting solar panels on the White House. Those solar panels produce clean energy for the consumption of the White House. Reagan would unfortunately remove them when he took office. Carter also started the electric car program to get the United States on renewable energy for transportation. Tragically that program was axed by Reagan. Carter also signed the National Energy Act which created the Department of Energy to regulate emissions and encourage the development of renewable energy. He is also responsible for the passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act which regulated strip mining and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act which doubled the amount of land set aside for national parks and wildlife refugees.
Energy Crisis
Now one cannot discuss Carter’s environmental policies and legacy without addressing the Energy Crisis and the rising gas prices which Republicans and Conservatives have unfairly blamed on Carter. What caused the Energy Crisis? The Energy Crisis was caused by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raising oil prices on Israel and nations aligned with Israel to cripple Israel’s hegemonic power in the Middle East. The Iranian Revolution would exacerbate the Energy Crisis. This hit the United States particularly hard because of the complex price controls the Ford Administration implemented through the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). Carter’s initial instinct was a misguided one and it was to deregulate the oil industry and prices. This move did not have any impact on the inflation rates or oil prices. Carter would sign the Energy Security Act in another attempt to control the Energy Crisis. This law would create the Synthetic Fuels Corporation which was tasked with finding alternative cost-effective and eco-friendly sources of energy. Ultimately, many of Carter’s boldest environmental proposals were defeated in Congress like the Energy Mobilization Board which was a government agency Carter wanted formed to facilitate the creation of power plants. Even with these roadblocks, Carter’s environmental policies have been dubbed by many historians and scholars as some of the boldest in American history.
Foreign Policy
When it comes to foreign policy President Carter had one of the best foreign policies of any post-WWII president. Carter chose to handle most international problems the US faced using diplomacy. Jimmy Carter is the only post-WWII president to go through his entire presidency without firing a missile or dropping a bomb, to the chagrin of one John McCain. Not only was Carter able to go his entire presidency without bombing another country, but he was the only US President to successfully negotiate a peace agreement in the Middle East with the Egypt-Israel Pact.
Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty
Before signing the agreement, Egypt and Israel had been enemy states that repeatedly went to war with each other. The conflict between Egypt and Israel was part of the broader Arab-Israeli conflict Carter sought to end as president. Carter’s first effort to bring peace between the nations of Israel and Egypt was the Camp David Accords. President Carter had met with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Manachin Begin to agree to two frameworks. The first framework was a Framework for Peace in the Middle East which dealt with the broader Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian territories. This became a problem because the Carter Administration and negotiating parties failed to bring Palestinian representation to the table so they could negotiate terms that they would mutually agree to and the UN even condemned this decision. However, Carter insisted that the accords would recognize the “legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” and they would gain autonomy in five years. The second framework was a Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel which directly led to the 1979 treaty between the two nations.
Following the Camp David Accords, President Carter, President Sadat, and Prime Minister Begin negotiated the Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty to finally peacefully resolve disputes the nations have had since the Arab-Irsaeli War in 1948. The first term of the agreement was to have Israel withdraw from the Sinai Penninsula which they had occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, The next term of the agreement was to have Egypt remove its blockades in the Suez Canal, Strait of Tiran, and Gulf of Aqaba. Israel would have free passage through the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Tiran & the Gulf of Aqaba would become international waterways. The final set of terms in the agreement was an end to Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories and full autonomy for the Palestinian people, but unfortunately, these terms were never implemented and Israel continues to occupy these territories as of today. However, the broader goals of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty were successful and the two nations have remained at peace since. Israel and Egypt have become allies making Carter’s treaty the only successful peace treaty in the Middle East.
Iran Hostage Crisis
Of course, we can’t talk about Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy without addressing the Iranian hostage crisis. This happened during the Iranian Revolution when the Shah of Iran was deposed by the Ayaotallahs. During this conflict, militants who belonged to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line captured fifty-two American diplomats and citizens in 1980. This resulted in a diplomatic standoff between the Carter Administration and Iran where Carter had launched a few failed rescue attempts. One of these attempts included Operation Eagle Claw which had the US warships the USS Nimitz and USS Coral Sea to rescue these hostages but failed which resulted in one Iranian civilian casualty & Cyrus Vance resigning as Secretary of State. However, the Iraq-Iran War prompted negotiations between the United States and Iran which Algeria moderated. The Carter Administration had successfully negotiated their release until the Reagan campaign cut a deal with the Iranians to release the hostages until after the election so Reagan would get the credit for their release. This October surprise resulted in a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan and would lead to the Iran-Contra Affair where the Reagan Administration illegally sold weapons to Iran which Iran sent to the Contras in Nicaragua.
Post-Presidency
Jimmy Carter is one of the few presidents who hasn’t used his presidency to enrich himself after leaving office. Instead, he has chosen to pursue humanitarian work and build homes for homeless people largely in his home state of Georgia. Carter has stepped into the political sphere occasionally like to endorse politicians & legislation or for diplomatic causes. In May of 1994, Jimmy Carter as well as former presidents Ronald Reagan & Gerald Ford coauthored a letter to Congress calling for a ban on semi-automatic weapons. Carter and his former opponents Reagan & Ford wrote “We urge you to listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of these weapons.” Carter also was tasked by the Bill Clinton Administration to negotiate a denuclearization plan with the North Korean Dictator Kim Il Sung, and would later normalize relations with Taiwan under Clinton. Carter famously called the United States an “oligarchy” following Citizens United. Carter voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Primary because he believed in Bernie’s message. Ultimately, most of his post-presidency he’s spent doing humanitarian work through the Carter Center like curing diseases.
Guinea worm
Dracunculiasis also known as Guinea Worm Disease is a parasitic worm that is spread through natural sources of drinking water. The worms will eventually travel through the human body to exit sights leaving blisters in the human body which are prone to infection. Some hosts may suffer allergic reactions and arthritis from Dracunculiasis. In 1986, Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center took it upon themselves to treat Guinea Worm Disease. As Carter told Cenk Uygur in a 2014 interview the Carter Center chose to tackle that problem because no other research foundation had chosen to deal with the disease. The Carter Center had provided millions of homes throughout African states such as Ghana with water filters to prevent people from drinking water contaminated with larvae. The Carter Center also tethered animals such as dogs proactively to prevent them from eating fish with larvae to prevent the spread through animals. As a result of the efforts of Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center Dracunculiasis has been wiped out in 17 countries and there are a total of 13 cases left in the world as of 2022. It was the humanitarian efforts of Jimmy Carter through the Carter Center that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
In conclusion, Jimmy Carter leaves behind a remarkable legacy both in and out of politics. His tenures as both President of the United States of America and Governor of Georgia leave a legacy of supporting mostly progressive policies domestically and internationally. Even after leaving office Carter would still promote ideas of civil rights, peace, and humanitarianism. His legacy was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. However, most of Carter’s impacts on the world have positively affected it. So we should honor it in the former president’s final days of his life and wish him a happy 100th birthday to the former president.
Updated 10/8/2024
