Jimmy Carter
By: Drew McAdams
Carter Election
-Carter was the democratic candidate and ran with Walter Mondale
-The election was very close and Carter won 297 electoral votes compared to the republican candidate Gerald Ford's 240 electoral votes
-Carter was the first President from the deep south since Zachary Taylor
Humanitarian Efforts
-On september 17th 1978, Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords
-These peace agreements were overseen by Carter and they turned out to be a great success
-In Africa, communist revolutions caused disheartenment and a large spread of fear
-Carter promised to return the Panama Canal to Panama 2000 and to resume full diplomatic relationships with China by 1979
-Roe V. Wade prompted abortion debates
Economic and Energy Issues
-America realized that they couldn't thrive without the help of other countries
-Carter declared that the source of their problems was Americas complete dependence on foreign oil
-He called legislation to improve energy conservation; this wasn't accepted well by the public
-In 1979, Iran's Mohammed Reza Pahlevi was installed by America as Iran's dictator but was overthrown and taken over by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
-Iranian fundamentalists were apposed to western and because of this, they raised the prices of oil and then stopped exporting it, which caused another oil/energy crisis
-President Carter criticized Americans for their obsession with material woes and he decided to fire four cabinet secretaries to tighten his circle of advisors
Iranian Hostage Crisis
-At first, Carter pushed for economic sanctions I'm return for the American hostages, but this method didn't work
-Next, Carter enacted a rescue mission, which eventually failed and was aborted
-The hostage situation lasted all of Carter's term and the hostages weren't released until January 20th 1981 which was the day of Reagan's inauguration