Posted on 10/01/2005 2:31:21 AM PDT by lunarbicep
Jimmy Carter aspired to make Government "competent and compassionate," responsive to the American people and their expectations. His achievements were notable, but in an era of rising energy costs, mounting inflation, and continuing tensions, it was impossible for his administration to meet these high expectations.
Carter, who has rarely used his full name--James Earl Carter, Jr.--was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Peanut farming, talk of politics, and devotion to the Baptist faith were mainstays of his upbringing. Upon graduation in 1946 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. The Carters have three sons, John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), and a daughter, Amy Lynn.
After seven years' service as a naval officer, Carter returned to Plains. In 1962 he entered state politics, and eight years later he was elected Governor of Georgia. Among the new young southern governors, he attracted attention by emphasizing ecology, efficiency in government, and the removal of racial barriers.
Carter announced his candidacy for President in December 1974 and began a two-year campaign that gradually gained momentum. At the Democratic Convention, he was nominated on the first ballot. He chose Senator Walter F. Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate. Carter campaigned hard against President Gerald R. Ford, debating with him three times. Carter won by 297 electoral votes to 241 for Ford.
Carter worked hard to combat the continuing economic woes of inflation and unemployment. By the end of his administration, he could claim an increase of nearly eight million jobs and a decrease in the budget deficit, measured in percentage of the gross national product. Unfortunately, inflation and interest rates were at near record highs, and efforts to reduce them caused a short recession.
Carter could point to a number of achievements in domestic affairs. He dealt with the energy shortage by establishing a national energy policy and by decontrolling domestic petroleum prices to stimulate production. He prompted Government efficiency through civil service reform and proceeded with deregulation of the trucking and airline industries. He sought to improve the environment. His expansion of the national park system included protection of 103 million acres of Alaskan lands. To increase human and social services, he created the Department of Education, bolstered the Social Security system, and appointed record numbers of women, blacks, and Hispanics to Government jobs.
In foreign affairs, Carter set his own style. His championing of human rights was coldly received by the Soviet Union and some other nations. In the Middle East, through the Camp David agreement of 1978, he helped bring amity between Egypt and Israel. He succeeded in obtaining ratification of the Panama Canal treaties. Building upon the work of predecessors, he established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and completed negotiation of the SALT II nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union.
There were serious setbacks, however. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the suspension of plans for ratification of the SALT II pact. The seizure as hostages of the U. S. embassy staff in Iran dominated the news during the last 14 months of the administration. The consequences of Iran's holding Americans captive, together with continuing inflation at home, contributed to Carter's defeat in 1980. Even then, he continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages. Iran finally released the 52 Americans the same day Carter left office.
TB, plague,and syphilis, like Jimmy Carter, bad things that hang around forever. I wish that this bumbling boob and the enemy of a free peoples worldwide would have croaked thirty years ago and spared us and the world much suffering and death.
How do you say STFU! in dementian?
Leni
LOL!
For being so early on a weekend morning, Miss M, you are remarkably sharp!
***Bingo*** Very well said and bulls-eye accurate!
Time to get busy with actual work.
Bless you.
He's actually 66 years and 7 months old.
That's because I have created the special Carter Legacy Calendar where each year is 444 days long.
May your Metamucil give you prolonged diarrhea on your birthday.
Regards,
mass55th
Who could forget 21 1/2 percent interest ? By the time we got rid of this dunce, the American dollar was worth $.25.
Well his biggest achievement was getting Ronald Reagan elected. I do thank him for that. He should however, stick to driving nails in the shacks he builds and leave anything more complicated alone.
I admire your viewpoint, but I cannot get to that level myself. I am a very forgiving person, and I do believe that I could forgive even Osama Bin Laden for what he has done, if he were genuinely contrite and admitted the error of his ways.
So it would be with Jimmah. But he has done and is doing more damage to the office of the presidency than any other former president in history, and that includes Bill Clinton.
One of the great cornerstones of the presidency has been that former occupants do not involve themselves in partisan politics. None of them have done it in the past before him, I assume because they all knew the burden carried by the President was heavy enough without backbiting by former Presidents.
I love the way Ann Coulter describes him (and I paraphrase) "People look at Jimmy Carter as being stupid and incompetent so much that they forget that he was (and is) mean, petty and vengeful." This describes him to a "T".
I gave up the "Habitat for Humanity" facade years ago...
Great! I got in post # '79!
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