Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States
Election of 1976
Democrat Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale v. Republican Gerald Ford and Bob Dole
297 v. 240 electoral votes
Former President Ford was blamed with the poor economy and how he dealt with the Vietnam War, as well as Nixon’s pardon
Faced huge opposition even from his own party
Very close election, Carter had many votes from South, where he was from
First president from Deep South since Zachary Taylor
Carter ran as a ‘clean’ man who wasn’t involved in any scandals in the government
- Ford ran as an established leader who had the power to make things happen
Democrat Electoral - 297 Popular - 40,831,881
Republican Electoral - 240 Popular - 39,148,634
Humanitarian Efforts
Carter regarded as successful because of his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts
Carter and UN ambassador Andrew Young fought for the black minorities in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa
In September 1978, Carter organized a meeting between President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel in the Camp David Accords to discuss peace as hostile conditions between them heightened
Israel agreed to pull back troops from land gained in the 1967 war, and Egypt agreed to respect Israel’s borders
Carter also made treaties which turned over complete control of the Panama canal over to the Panamanians by year 2000
- On the other side, detente was also contested as Cuban troops with the Soviets started to heat up rebellions around the world
Economic and Energy Issues
- Economy was failing as the people kept spending without any repercussions
- Carter passed an act that cut $18 billion from tax in 1978
- Inflation increasing by more than 10% every year
- Debt increased exponentially as imports greatly outnumbered exports
- Too dependent from foreign oil
- Shah of Iran was overthrown by an Iranian fundamentalist, very anti-Western
- OPEC, or Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, started charging more for their exclusive rights which the US had no answer to, leading to an energy crisis
- Carter warns of Americans being too materialistic in response
- Fires four cabinet members and takes more tighter control
Iranian Hostage Crisis
- 1979, anti-American Muslim protestors stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran
- Demanded their Shah come back and took hostages
- The USSR invades Afghanistan, causing a threat to oil supplies
- Carter embargoed Soviet goods and boycotted the Moscow Olympics in response
- Carter tried to rescue these hostages, but dragged on until Ronald Reagan's inauguration, in which the US were wholly embarrassed and scrutinized