RIP President Carter



“… Perhaps the least understood dimension of Carter’s much-maligned, one-term presidency was that he dramatically changed the nature of the Cold War, setting the stage for the Soviet Union’s ultimate collapse. Carter did this with a tough but deft combination of soft and hard power. On one hand, he opened the door to Reagan’s delegitimization of the Soviet system by focusing on human rights; on the other hand, Carter aggressively funded new high-tech weapons that made Moscow realize it couldn’t compete with Washington, which in turn set off a panicky series of self-destructive moves under the final Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Carter thus teed up what came to be viewed, unfairly, as his successor’s sole triumph. His repeated avowals of human rights for people behind the Iron Curtain were seen by stunned Soviet leaders, at the time, as outrageous interference in internal matters. (“What kind of man is he with this ‘human rights,’” former Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko sputtered at one point. “He is always bringing up human rights, human rights, human rights. What for?”)

His policy was also criticized as dangerously simplistic by U.S. policy experts who preached realpolitik and detente, among them former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former U.S. diplomat George Kennan.

But to those behind the Iron Curtain, Carter’s words were a trumpet blast. In a personal note to the Soviet Union’s premier dissident, physicist Andrei Sakharov, in 1977, Carter wrote “human rights is the central concern of my administration.” Sakharov later took that message to then-Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Labeled an enemy of the state, Sakharov was eventually exiled to Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia). But that moment began a great internal battle that would culminate, ultimately, in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Long before Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech, it was Carter who transformed U.S. policy from Cold War containment and detente to one of subtle confrontation—changing the world of the last century and also setting the stage for this century.

“I believe historians and political observers alike have failed to appreciate the importance of Jimmy Carter’s contribution to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War,” Robert Gates, a former senior intelligence advisor to Reagan (and later Presidents George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s defense secretary) wrote in his 1996 memoir, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. “Carter prepared the ground for Reagan in the strategic arena, in confronting the Soviets and Cubans in the Third World, and in challenging the legitimacy of Soviet authority at home. He took the first steps to strip away the mask of Soviet ascendancy and exploit the reality of Soviet vulnerability. Unfortunately for Carter, until now hardly anyone has known.”

As historian Douglas Brinkley has written, Carter’s tough line on defense—he was the first president to propose missiles in Europe, a policy Reagan later took up—also has been largely forgotten. …”
 
The Presidency was just a prep, a prerequisite, for his real job, which was far more important and impactful. Some people play the wrong game and win. He played the right game and won. I really wish I was more like him.

It feels sacrilegious to even consider our next president right now, so I won't.
 
What always impressed me so much about Carter was what he did after he left the presidency in 1981. Most other ex-presidents just enjoy themselves and play golf and charge handsome fees to give commencement speeches and pile up their wealth via memoirs, serving on corporate boards, etc. But Carter still wanted to serve others and remain true to his religious faith, so he worked right alongside ordinary people, dressed in a hard hat and blue jeans, building homes for the poor in at least 14 different countries - he literally worked on building thousands of homes before old age and infirmity forced him to quit.

He also served as an election judge in foreign countries to ensure their elections were not rigged, and didn't shy from pointing out corruption where he saw it. He also traveled around the world repeatedly - sometimes at the invitation of US Presidents and foreign leaders - to try and mediate deals and peaceful solutions to conflicts or possible conflicts. He worked on helping people in the USA who had been affected by hurricanes, set up the Carter Center to "advance human rights" and end human suffering, and the Center worked with the World Health Organization to help eradicate disease, such as dracunculiasis. He founded the New Baptist Covenant Organization to work for social justice, and he taught Sunday School classes at his Baptist Church in Plains as late as 2019. Whatever one thinks of his presidency, he almost certainly will be remembered as one of the greatest ex-presidents in our history - few used their status as a former president for more positive and rewarding work. Godspeed, Mr. President, Godspeed.
 
Ford was President when I was born, but Carter was the first U.S. President I remember. I remember being surprised when he lost the election in 1980 (though I didn’t really understand what an election was at the time) because my parents supported him, and I didn’t get how someone they supported could have lost. I asked my mom what an election was and she told me it was like a fight. Based on that explanation, I was under her impression that the Presidency was decided by either a fistfight or a duel between the two candidates.
 
Icky Mettle said:
Ford was President when I was born, but Carter was the first U.S. President I remember. I remember being surprised when he lost the election in 1980 (though I didn’t really understand what an election was at the time) because my parents supported him, and I didn’t get how someone they supported could have lost. I asked my mom what an election was and she told me it was like a fight. Based on that explanation, I was under her impression that the Presidency was decided by either a fistfight or a duel between the two candidates.
Click to expand...
If it was a fist fight a coward like Trump would never have won.
 
Sharing this from The Bitter Southerner

Back in 2021, President Carter wrote our Letter From Home in The Bitter Southerner magazine, Issue No. 1.

He ended his letter with this:

“For me, as Rosalynn and I approach our 75th wedding anniversary coming up in July, my home is wherever she is, whether in South Georgia or South Sudan. Holding her hand, reading our Bible together each night, falling asleep next to her, that is my home.”

Tonight, they are reunited.
 
Counted Dylan and Willie among hismany friends. Says a lot abiut the man.
 
Carter was the first president that I can remember being elected. I was alive during the Nixon fiasco, but don't remember anything about it, so watching his election process as a 10 year old was something that I'll always remember. Unfortunately, and whether fairly or unfairly, the Iranian hostage crisis was the signature issue of his presidency, but he also did a ton of good things when he was president as well. And what life he lived after being voted out of office. The things that he's done as an ex president dwarf what his successors have done combined....
 
Carter tried very hard to be a diplomate after leaving office to promote peace. He often meddled in foreign affairs when he should not have. His efforts to convince foreign leaders to oppose the first gulf war were very problematic, his peace deal with North Korea was in contrast to the desires of the Clinton administration. He was never much of a friend to Israel also in opposition to official US policy. My view has always been former presidents need to go away from public policy and do charitable work which Carter did well. I think he was more of a political animal than most believe. His greatest accomplishments in my view were the beginning of the deregulation of many industries that Reagan finished.

Staggers Rail Act of 1980 Statement on Signing S. 1946 Into Law. | The American Presidency Project

www.presidency.ucsb.edu www.presidency.ucsb.edu


This act is the capstone of my efforts over the past 4 years to get the Federal Government off the backs of private industry by removing needless, burdensome regulation which benefits no one and harms us all. We have deregulated the airlines, a step that restored competitive forces to the airline industry and allowed new, innovative services. We have freed the trucking industry from archaic and inflationary regulations, an action that will allow the startup of new companies, encourage price competition, and improve service. We have deregulated financial institutions, permitting banks to pay interest on checking accounts and higher interest to small savers and eliminating many restrictions on savings institutions loans.
 
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