The Life of Jimmy Carter Part II

Jimmy Carter entered the presidency as a breath of fresh air, he walked the streets to the White House. His approval rating skyrocketed in the early days of his presidency however it wouldn't last long. This episode covers the presidency and post presidency of Jimmy Carter.

Topics Covered
Torrijos-Carter Treaties
Iranian Revolution
SALT II
Soviet-Afghan Invasion
Operation Desert Claw

Transcript

Jimmy Carter Part II

Carter championed Human rights, but he understood that America had an alliance system and it needed to be maintained. 

Today he is known as the president who put human rights first and foremost, however American intellectual Noam Chomsky has a different view on the matter-

-Insert Chomsky- 

This is why he oftentimes overlooked brutal things done by US allies such as the Shah of Iran.

The Shah was installed In a US backed coup in 1953 to overthrow the Prime Minister and soviet sympathizer, Mohammad Mossadegh. Over 25,000 political prisonsers were held in Irans jails. The SAVAK, the secret police of Iran, brutally oppressed the people of Iran into submission. The only place Iranian’s could hold anti-Shah meetings, were in mosques and religious places which the SAVAK couldn’t control… leading to a dogmatically religious revolution to begin.

On New years eve 1977 Carter went to Tehran to announce Americas continued support of the Shah, a week later Anti-Shah demonstrations broke out. The SAVAK fired on the demonstrators and killed several students, ignition a revolution.

Things at home turned against carter, by 1978 Inflation was getting out of control. Carters’ economy was the last economy to be affected by the Vietnam war. Сarter asked the people to keep wages and prices low to combat this event, he asked congress to cut back spending. The people didn’t listen.

Once again carter’s humility and directness caused him problems, he tried to speak honestly to the people and they didn’t like it. Carter lacked the Charisma of his successor Ronald Raegan. 

-Insert Raegan Cool thing- maybe later

CAMP DAVID ACCORDS

By 1978 Carter’s approval rating had dropped to 33% as time magazine put it “Carter has the potential to grow in office, but he doesn’t have much time left”

Carter floundering turned his attention to the Middle East, whereas a devout Christian he felt deeply about, he wanted to make peace in the Middle East, like the great Jared Kushner

Egypt and Isreal had been in a state of war since the creation of ISreal in 1948, and ISreal had occupied the Sinai peninsula from Egypt since the 1967 Arab-Isreali war. Gamel Abdel Nasser the Egyptian Demigod and architect of animosity between Isreal-Egypt, had died and his successor Anwar Sadat was looking for a fresh start with Isreal.

On November 17th 1977, Anwar Sadat became the first ever Egyptian leader to step foot on Isreali soil. A risky move after his attempt to retake the Sinai, during the Yom-Kuppur war he started, against Isreal a few years before. His goals were to debate the Israeli-Parliament on their own soil and come to peace with them over the Sinai.

Carter saw this and he acted, he invited Sadat and Isreali Prime minister Menachem Begin to meet at Camp David, the country retreat of the American president located in the mountains of Maryland.

Carter had formed an intimate relationship with Sadat, he considered him a personal friend even going so far as to posthumously calling him “the Greatest Leader I had ever met”,

 Menachem the conservative Isreali Prime minister he was more unfamiliar with.

Carter used his intellect and intellectual capabilities to mediate peace, 

He started with a blunder, he wanted to have Sadat and Begin just meet and get to know each other, assuming they would eventually spark a friendship and come to a compromise, after 3 days of the two men angrily debating the past. He realized it was the wrong approach

the two were not cooperating or discussing, Carter later recalled the two were brutal to each other. They argued deeply over biblical scriptures on whose land was whose what ancient text meant what, Carter realized if the two couldn’t speak to each other they would have to speak through him.

After this all meetings would be conducted through Carter, as one man rested Carter would meet with the other.

Carter’s honesty and integrity earned him the respect of both Sadat and Begin. He was making ground.

Carter one day proposed a trip to the famous battlefield of Gettysburg, under the conditions that nothing about the middle east or after 1865 would be spoken about. Both men agreed, the famous Isreali, Eyepatch wearing, victorious Arab Isreali Wars, General, Moshe Dayan approached Sadat, Dayan must have left a bad feeling because as the conversation concluded, Sadat infuriated declared he was leaving Camp David. 

Carter recalls’

I was wearing blue jeans, and so I put on more formal clothes. I went over to the window, and I looked out over the mountain side and said a silent prayer. Then I went over and confronted Sadat. It was the only harsh confrontation we ever had. I told him that he had betrayed me and broken his promise to me -- that if he left Camp David and left me and the Israelis there, the condemnation of the world would be on him. And eventually he decided to stay. He only made two demands of me and my negotiation role. One was that we have a comprehensive agreement on behalf of the Palestinians -- which is there. I hope all of you will read what was agreed in Camp David. And secondly, that all Israeli troops, all Israeli citizens had to leave Egyptian territory in the Sinai desert. Those were the only two. He said: "Anything else you negotiate, my good friend Jimmy (as he always said), I will accept it."

Through meticulous mediation eventually a peace treaty was reached, Israel would return the occupied Sinai Peninsula and Egypt would recognize Israel’s right to live in peace.

Camp David was the highpoint of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, it would go on to shape his post presidency.

Although his victory at Camp David was momentous, Carter had sunken too low in the eyes of the American public. His approval rating stayed the same.

Oil crisis

At home America was entering another Oil Crisis, similar to the one which happened 6 years earlier where Americans had to wait hours to fuel up. As the Iranian Revolution picked up Oil Prices started to rise rapidly.

On April 5 1979 the Average price of crude oil was about 15.00$ a barrel, over the next 12 months it would reach 40.00$ a barrel, the highest it would go until March 2008. As prices rose, people began panic buying. Gas lines filled up. 

Americans began questioning Carters ability to lead, abroad he was making progress.

In January 1979 he received the Chinese Vice Premier to celebrate the establishment of American-Chinese relations (which had recently been opened)

In June he met Leonid Breznev the Soviet Premier to negotiate and enact the SALT II arms treaty (a treaty meant at restricting nuclear weapons.)

The people saw him as abandoning the country, putting all his energy in stabilizing the rest of the world while the USA suffered.

Gas prices had more than doubled, mortgage rates pushed 20%, unemployment was rising, Inflation was also out of control surging to 14%.

Carter responded by cutting into social programs. This stirred up massive opposition from the liberal left, represented by figures such as the youngest Kennedy brother Ted Kennedy, who had assumed the mantle of leader of the liberal democratic wing. 

The Carter budget cuts were another blunder to his reputation. Carters’ analytical way of thinking would always be a hinderance on his political career.

Riots sparked all over the country. Polls showed Ted Kennedy was beginning to lead on Carter in the Democratic nomination. The republican nominee Ronald Reagan was also beginning to lead on Carter.        

Carter’s approval rating at this time was 25%, even lower than Nixon at the time of Watergate. Even Trump after the Captiol riots maintained a 29% approval rating.

Carter decided to take a break and clear his head, after a 10 day retreat at Camp David he gave the most controversial speech of his administration.

-Insert Speech on Energy dependence-

Include parts preachy parts

Carter the Southern Baptist came off as preachy like a sermon, people didn’t like being critiqued, they wanted to be led.

he came off even worse after this speech, he needed a rebranding so he asked his entire cabinet for their registrations.

It didn’t help, he appeared weak and desperate, his approval rating tanked more.

The liberal wing broke with Carter. Ted Kennedy was now the darling of the Democratic party

The stress began mounting on him and shortly after, Carter, who was an experienced lifelong runner collapsed during a 10k. It made him appear weak and caused quite a scandal.

On October 22nd 1979 the now abdicated, cancer ridden Shah of Iran requested Asylum in the USA. Carter granted it. It infuriated Iran and 2 weeks later on November 4th. 3500 Iranian students marched on the American Embassy in Tehran. They took it over and held 52 Americans hostage, demanding the Shah be returned to Iran. Ayatollah khomeni, the soon to be Supreme Islamist ruler of the new Islamic Republic of Iran, gave his blessing, calling the US embassy a den of spies.

It was a massive embarrassment to the USA, all over the world images of US flags being burnt were shown on television from protestors in Iran.
 Carter who was often times handicapped by his Christian Morales, feared human bloodshed, he called off all military operations as “too Risky”. He often saw the good in people and thought he could come to terms with the Iranians for a peaceful release of the hostages.

SOVIET AFGHAN INVASION

While Carter debated what to do about the Iranian Hostages, another important event occurred

-Insert Soviet Afghan declaration-

Carter feeling the pressure from the Iranian hostage Crisis reacted strongly, he instituted a trade embargo on the Soviet Union and Boyocotted the 1980 olympics in Moscow.

He also requested that the Senate postpone action on the SALT-II nuclear weapons treaty and recalled the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union.

It marked a drastic decline in Soviet-US relations

The age of Détente which had been the US’ foreign policy for the 1970’s had ended by the man who fought so hard to bring peace.

Finally Carter announced -Carter Doctrine-

The following key sentence, which was written by Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's National security advisor.

Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.

After months of fruitless negotiations with the Iranians, Carter decided now to act.

he initiated Operation Eagle Claw in response to the Iranian hostage Crisis

This would be the first mission from Delta Force, Americas new counter terrorist special forces, 

The plan was that 8 rescue helicopters named Bluebirds 1-8 would fly into Tehran, retake the US embassy, evacuate the hostages, smuggle them through Tehran to a captured Iranian Airbase and then fly them to safety.

The problem was that Tehran was too far away for the helicopters to land without refueling so after entering Iran from the Persian Gulf, they would have to land in a refueling station established in the desert, called Desert One.

The Refuelling airplanes would arrive first, they would land and establish the covert base Desert One, while waiting for the Bluebird rescue choppers,

As the Airplanes entered Iran, they encounted what the Iranians call a Haboob,

Haboobs are giant walls of dust created from high winds rushing out of a collapsing thunderstorm. Cold air in front of the storm rushes down at an incredible rate, picking up massive amounts of dust and sand and blowing them into the air

They called the Helicopter team to alert them

Even before the storm hit, one of the choppers, Bluebird 6 reported that a hydrogen leak had occurred. A possibly fatal incident. Bluebird 6 was forced to land and abandon the chopper. The crew was picked up by Bluebird 8

Meanwhile the refuelling Airplanes had landed at Desert One, an isolated location in the middle of the Iranian desert. Being the middle of the night the refueling team expected a discreet landing. However, the team spotted a semi-truck on the nearby highway, they decide to neutralize it to minimize their secrecy. However just as the US soldier approached the semi on a bike, in the opposite direction a bus full of civilians approached. The solider shot the engine in order to stop the bus and shot the semi as well, the semi turned out to be an oil tanker truck and it ignited causing a massive explosion. The driver of the truck managed to escape and retreated into a pickup truck following the tanker.

Back at the Bluebirds the mission continued to deteriorate. Caught in the middle of the massive Haboob, Bluebird 5, experiencing engine failure from the dust and critically low on fuel, retreated back to safety and returned to base. 6 helicopters remained.

The Bluebirds were completely blinded by the storm and the crews began to panic as they were scheduled to be passing a large mountain. The dust cleared just as the helicopters were about to hit said mountain, they pulled up barely missing it, leaving the crew shaken.

Arriving at Desert One late, the commander on the ground began refueling the remaining 6 bluebirds, when suddenly Bluebird 2 begins to malfunction. Too much dust was taken in and the helicopter would be unable to operate. 

The Commander calls Carter to ask what should be done. Having only 5 functional Bluebirds would mean that some men would have to be left behind,

Carter decided the mission was too risky at this point and called it off.

The equipment would be destroyed, and Fake Russian documents would be left there to confuse the Iranians. 

Carter responded by saying “at least there were no American casualties and NO innocent Iranians hurt”

Carter spoke too soon as the helicopters began takeoff, one of them lost control and crashed into the refueling plane, exploding killing 8 Americans.

The mission was a massive failure.

Carter took the blame for the rescue operation; it would go on to haunt him in the soon to come 1980s reelection campaign.

1980 camapign.

Carter came close to losing the democratic nomination to Ted Kennedy, an uncommon situation that shows turmoil within the party

This remains the last election in which an incumbent president's party nomination was still contested going into the convention.

President Carter's approval ratings at the time were very low—28% according to Gallup,[3] with some other polls giving even lower numbers

Carter still managed to narrowly defeat his competitor, senator Kennedy who was haunted by his infamous Chappaquiddick incident

Carter now would have to face up against Regan, the extremely charismatic ex Hollywood actor. He trailed Reagan by +20 points. 

Carter ran on the offensive, portraying Reagan as a trigger happy cowboy, who would start World War 3.
 his offensive was all but disproven in the first presidential debate where Reagan came off as calm and cool.

Carter lost massively only winning 6 states, including losing the democratic senate. One of the reasons Carter lost so massively and the paradoxes of the Carter administration is that Carter being possibly the most devout Christian of the the 20th century to hold the presidency, also saw the formation of today’s religious Right.

Events during the Nixon administration saw the formation of the Evangelical Right. Issues related to segregation, Taxing Churches and Roe VS Wade led to their formation and support of Reagan who was a far right, religious anti-big state pro-family values, conservative.

This election marked a social conservative shift known as the Raegan revolution.

The hippie culture of the 1970s gave way to a more conservative culture, Disco, freelove and anti materialism were replaced by Hedonism, Cocaine usage and a glorification of elitism

On the last day of his presidency a deal with the Iranian’s had finally been met, he was determined to get the hostages home.

As Reagan was sworn in, Carter waited for the hostages to be released. The minute after Reagan was sworn in Ayatolla Khomeini released the hostages as a slap in the face to Carter. Carter however was not deterred. He immediately went to Wiesbaden, West Germany Where the hostages would land on friendly soil, to greet the hostages. 

POST PRESIDENCY 

Shortly after his presidency Carter decided to create the Carter Center. Inspired by his accomplishments at the Camp David Accords, 

The Carter Center's goal is to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering,[3] including helping improve the quality of life for people in more than 80 countries.[4] The center has many projects including election monitoring, supporting locally led state-building and democratic institution-building in various countries, mediating conflicts between warring states, and intervening with heads of states on behalf of victims of human rights abuses. It also leads disease eradication efforts, spearheading the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, as well as controlling and treating onchocerciasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis, and malaria through awareness campaigns

The Carter Center was opened in 1986, 

Carter’s popularity has picked up in his post presidential years.

Carter has been an active volunteer and spokesperson for Habitat for Humanity for decades, an organization that has helped more than 35 million people construct, rehabilitate, or preserve homes.

Carter has perhaps been the best example of the title Public Servant

Carters presidency has been revised in recent years, before the 2000s his presidency was largely seen as a failure but many historians nowadays view him in a more positive light for his pioneering views such as Climate Change and Human rights.

In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace prize.

 Carter today is the longst living American president at age 97, he is the 6th oldest leader in the world. He is still happily married to the love of his life Rosalyn and in his free time he continues to writes books, teache Sunday school and volunteer at the ripe old age of 97.