Chapter 39 The Stalemated Seventies Part-4

The Bicentennial Campaign and the Carter Victory In 1976, as the USA celebrated its 200 th birthday, Jimmy Carter barely squeezed by Gerald Ford (297 to 240) to win the presidency. Promising to never lie to the American public, voters decided to give the Democratic candidate a chance. Carter also had the advantage of Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. Carter had risen to prominence by capitalizing on being a “Washington outsider,” therefore being untainted by the supposed corruption of D.C. bureaucracy (He’d previously been governor of Georgia.) Despite an early spurt of popularity, Carter soon lost it as the economy continued sinking…..

Carter’s Humanitarian Diplomacy

On the other hand, Carter was a champion for human rights and proceeded to obtain notable successes in foreign policy. For example, in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) and South Africa, he championed for black rights and privileges. Perhaps his most notable accomplishment occurred on September 17, 1978, when President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel signed peace accords at Camp David. –Mediated by Carter after relations between the 2 nations had been strained since Israel’s birth 30 years prior, this peace accord was Carter’s greatest foreign policy success. –Israel agreed to withdraw from territory gained in the 1967 war, while Egypt would respect Israel’s territories.

In Africa, though, several Communist revolutions took place—not all successful, but disheartening and threatening still to our never-ending fear of the “Domino Effect.” Carter also pledged to return the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000, and resumed full diplomatic relations with China in 1979 (for the 1 st time since 1949 when it became communist) as well.

Economic and Energy Woes Inflation had been steadily rising, and by 1979, it was at a huge 13%. Americans would learn that they could no longer hide behind their ocean moats and live happily insulated from foreign affairs when it came to cheap energy. Carter diagnosed America’s problems as stemming primarily from the nation’s costly dependence on foreign oil, which was true (what’s new?!). He called for legislation to improve energy conservation, but the gas-guzzling American people, who had already forgotten about the long gas lines of 1973, weren’t exactly ready to cooperate with his vision.

Energy problems continued to escalate under Carter: –In, 1979, Iran’s Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi (who had been installed by America in 1953 and had ruled his land as a dictator), was overthrown and succeeded by the Ayatollah Khomeini. –Iranian fundamentalists were very much against Western/U.S. customs, and Iran stopped exporting oil; OPEC also again hiked up oil prices, thus ushering in another oil crisis. –Thus, as it does today in 2011, turmoil in the Middle East will drive oil prices sky high……

–In July 1979, Carter retreated to Camp David and met with the best minds available (his “thinktank”) to advise and counsel him on how to resolve the energy crisis. –When he returned on July 15, 1979, he delivered what has been called the “malaise” speech in which he chastised the American people on live TV for their obsession with materialistic comforts (“If it’s cold, turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater!”) This tough talk stunned the nation. –A few days later, he fired four cabinet secretaries and tightened the circle around his Georgian advisors even more tightly, thus alienating himself from most traditional Washing ton insiders…..

Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Imbroglio Back to foreign affairs, Carter signed the SALT II agreements (limiting nuclear weapons) with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, but the U.S. Senate wouldn’t ratify it. THEN, on November 4, 1979, anti-American Muslim militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took the people inside hostage, demanding that the U.S. return the exiled shah who had arrived in the U.S. two weeks earlier for cancer treatments. THEN, in December 27, 1979, the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan, which later turned into their version of Vietnam. –This action further disrupted the Middle East and threatened precious U.S. oil supplies. In protest, Carter put an embargo on the Soviet Union and boycotted the Olympic games in Moscow. –He also proposed a “Rapid Deployment Force” that could respond to crises anywhere in the world in a quick manner.

In the end, after seemingly defeat after defeat, President Carter and America fell into an Iran hostage mess, the worst crisis yet of his troubled presidency. –The American hostages languished in cruel captivity while nightly TV news reports showed Iranian mobs burning the American flag and spitting on effigies of Uncle Sam. –At first Carter tried economic sanctions, but that didn’t work. –Later, he tried a daring commando rescue mission (the previously mentioned Rapid Deployment Force), but when due to bad weather it had to be aborted, two military helicopters collided, killing eight of the would-be rescuers. –t was a humiliating failure for the U.S. and for Carter especially. The stalemated hostage situation dragged on for the rest of Carter’s term, and the hostages were not released until January 20, 1981—the inauguration day of Ronald Reagan – just as Carter left office, well over a year after its beginning. The nation’s confidence was at an all-time low…………