Burning Middle East, Radical Political Islam, Greenbelt, Destroyed Relation with Iran, Collapsed Afghanistan: Jimmy Carter Turns 95
In April 1979, US President Jimmy Carter decided to take a break from government affairs while fishing. Carter was fishing in the hometown of Plains. Taking the boat ashore, the president loaded the gear into it and sailed away. Of course, security guards vigilantly monitored his safety, but they carefully disguised themselves, and Carter had a complete illusion of loneliness.
The President enjoyed his vacation when he heard a strange noise nearby. Turning around, he saw a large rabbit approaching the boat. The animal’s eyes were furious, as if he had long had a personal dislike of Jimmy Carter.
When it became clear that the rabbit was about to jump into the boat, the president decided to avoid an unpleasant meeting. He picked up the oar, he poured eared water. The rabbit snorted indignantly, but hesitated and turned toward the shore. Obviously, the beast decided that Carter could not only douse, but also hit the paddle on the head.
In the view of the inhabitants, the rabbit is something harmless, cowardly and eared. Zoologists and hunters, however, are well aware that a large individual of this species can deliver a lot of unpleasant minutes to a person, especially if he is reckless.
Unfortunately for Jimmy Carter, the story of the rabbit leaked to the press at the moment when he was about to run for a second term. Opponents turned the story to the fullest, showing the holder of the White House as a person unable to cope even with a herbivore.
Carter, from a politician criticized for mistakes, turned into a comedic character, which led to disastrous consequences.
Perhaps this happened because behind his back was not a powerful clan with rich political traditions and unlimited financial opportunities. The very appearance of Jimmy Carter in the White House was the result of a combination of many circumstances.
His father has been growing peanuts in Georgia, and Jimmy decided to continue his family business. But just before Carter Jr. joined peanuts business, he graduated from the Naval Academy and served in the Navy for seven years.
Gradually, the retired military was drawn into the social life of his native places. In 1962, he was first elected to the Senate of the State of Georgia, and four years later he swung to the post of governor. In 1966, Carter failed, but four years later he became the 76th governor of Georgia.
The Watergate scandal dealt a severe blow to American politics in general and to the Republican Party in particular. President Richard Nixon was forced to resign because of the threat of impeachment, and succeeding him, Gerald Ford, greatly angered fellow citizens, providing the predecessor with immunity from criminal prosecution.
In the 1976 election, Carter, acting as a new face in politics, aroused much more sympathy for Americans than Ford. The advantage of the candidate from the Democratic Party in absolute numbers was not so great, but the superiority in the number of electors (297 against 240) did not leave room for doubts about victory.
In January 1977, Carter took the oath of office, becoming the 39th president in United States history.
“We are committed to perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the arsenals of weapons on Earth to those limits that are necessary to ensure the security of each country. The United States alone cannot rid the world of the terrible specter of nuclear destruction, but we can and will cooperate in this with others, ”he said in a speech on the day of the inauguration.
Jimmy Carter’s plans were really great in both domestic and foreign policy. He was going to defeat the American bureaucratic apparatus, give citizens more affordable health care, and drastically reduce unemployment. Trying to communicate with the Americans directly, he took part in the radio program “Ask President Carter”.
However, rising oil prices, which inflicted a very serious blow on the American economy, reduced most of Carter’s endeavors to nothing.
Carter was able to secure a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which greatly improved the situation in the Middle East. Carter signed an SALT-2 treaty with the Soviet Union, which continued the previously begun policy of detente in relations between the two countries. But the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in December 1979 forced Carter to change course in relations with the Soviet Union. The boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow marked the beginning of a new phase of the Cold War.
The Islamic revolution in Iran, as a result of which anti-American forces came to power, was a blow to the authority of the Carter team. And the hostage taking of the US Embassy in Tehran and the subsequent failure of the rescue operation turned Jimmy Carter in the eyes of the Americans into a “wimp” and a “loser.”
“Where does this guy fight with Brezhnev or Ayatollah Khomeini if not even a rabbit is afraid of him?” political opponents sneered.
In the 1980 election, Carter was opposed by former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, who skillfully used all the failures and shortcomings of the president in his speeches.
“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, depression is when you lose your job, and economic recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job,” Reagan scoffed at his rival.
Carter lost deafeningly and without options. He managed to gain the upper hand in only five states and received 49 electoral votes against 489 from Reagan.
Talking to everyone
He left the White House as a “loser.” The paradox is that this reputation helped Carter in the future.
Returning to his native Georgia, Carter founded the non-governmental Carter Center, whose goal is the implementation of human rights and charitable activities.
He traveled around the world with humanitarian missions, helping solve the problems of those in need. Carter acted as a mediator in negotiations where others could not cope.
The 39th president of the United States did not cause irritation in the world, unlike those who were in the White House before him, and those who came after him. Almost everything was ready to speak with the “loser,” which allowed Carter to solve the most sensitive issues.
He came to the DPRK, talking with North Korean leaders, and took the Americans convicted in North Korea home. In 2015, he came to Russia to Vladimir Putin and, after talking with him, stated in an interview that he considered the annexation of Crimea to Russia “inevitable and irreversible,” suggesting building new relations in the light of this circumstance.
In 2002, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for decades of work to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, strengthen democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development.”
None of the American presidents lived for so long with the prefix “ex” like him. Carter’s experience in this capacity is over 38 years. Today, he is not only the oldest living president, but also the absolute “Methuselah” – not one of the owners of the White House has managed to live to be 95 years old.
And the Americans are now well aware that Jimmy Carter is far from the worst of the presidents.
