When Ronald Reagan inflicted a humiliating defeat on Jimmy Carter in the landslide election of 1980, the latter looked set for “a postpolitical life in obscurity”, says The Conversation. After a tumultuous period, most Americans were happy to put the Carter years firmly behind them – a presidency marked by stagflation and persistent unemployment at home, and frightening events abroad.
The 1979 Iranian Revolution led to sharp increases in energy costs and the infamous American hostage crisis. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the following year “contributed to the atmosphere of chaos”. Carter’s seemingly handwringing response didn’t help. He struggled to deal with Congress, while efforts to push for social reform fell short. In that year’s presidential debate, Reagan summed up a nation’s frustration with Carter’s long-winded style with a sound-bite. “There you go again…”
Jimmy Carter's 100th: a nod to his legacy
Forty-four years ago, few would have predicted the outbreak of national affection that greeted Carter’s 100th birthday on 1 October. True, he has made history as the first former US president ever to achieve that milestone. And there’s “a fundamental decency about him” that “stands as an important legacy” – some argue Carter achieved more with his charity work after the White House than he ever did in office.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Yet current events are also forcing a reappraisal of his time in power. Arguably the greatest achievement of a president who sought “to implement a human rights-based foreign policy” was the 1978 Camp David peace accords, which established “normal and friendly relations” with Israel and Egypt after 31 years of hostilities. Historian Rick Perlstein paints him as a subtle negotiator. “He knew just when to risk a scathing remark and when to say nothing at all; when to horse-trade and when to hold fast, ever reassessing the balance between the visionary and the pragmatic.”
By any standards, Carter has enjoyed an extraordinary life, says historian Dominic Sandbrook in The Times, “from his early days as a peanut farmer, submariner and nuclear engineer to a much-photographed kiss with Leonid Brezhnev, defeat by Ronald Reagan and the Nobel peace prize”.
Born in 1924 in Plains, Georgia, he grew up without electricity or running water. But his cleverness and ambition saw him join the US Naval Academy, where he worked on the nuclear submarine programme. Carter returned home to farm, married his local sweetheart and eventually entered politics – becoming governor of Georgia in 1971. When he ran for president five years later, commentators joked about his “weirdo factor”. But, in the aftermath of Watergate, he turned his “unfashionable Southern Baptist background” into an asset as the antithesis of government corruption.
What's next for the centenarian?
Carter inherited an economy still reeling from the oil crisis of 1973, and critics contend his ineptitude exacerbated the impact of the subsequent 1979 oil shock – when a crippling shortage pushed the US economy into what was then the most severe recession since the Great Depression. It’s a moot point, says The Wall Street Journal, but Carter did have “one significant economic success”. His “deregulation agenda” – which broke government regulatory monopolies in trucking, airlines, railroads, natural gas and communications – is often overlooked, but was a fundamental step towards “making the economy more efficient”.
Now confined to a hospice in Plains, the former president was last seen in public in November last year, when he attended his wife Rosalynn’s funeral. The Carter family reports Jimmy is still “emotionally engaged” and nurtures one final political ambition: to make it to election day. “I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris.”
This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.
-
AI will maintain Moody’s market leadOpinion Veteran data provider Moody's has adapted well to the modern world, and is one of Warren Buffett’s longest-held investments
-
Larger homes drive house price growth – HalifaxThe average cost of a house in Britain is more than £10,000 higher than last year, according to the latest house price index
-
Kirill Dmitriev: from Wall Street banker to Putin’s emissary to TrumpworldProfile Kirill Dmitriev is a product of America’s finest institutions and has emerged as the Russian president’s point man in negotiations with Donald Trump
-
Aga Khan, spiritual leader and billionaire investor, dies at 88The Aga Khan was a religious leader to millions of Shia Ismaili Muslims and a billionaire investor with a love of horses. He saw no contradiction in his roles
-
Deepseek's Liang Wenfeng: the maths whizz who shook Big TechFew people had heard of Liang Wenfeng until the launch of his DeepSeek AI chatbot wiped a trillion dollars off US technology stocks. His pivot to AI was of a piece with his past exploits.
-
Donald Trump's tariffs spark a global game of thronesWe don’t know what Donald Trump intends or will do next. That is in itself damaging.
-
RedNote: the rise of the new TikTokRedNote, a Chinese rival to social-media app TikTok, has seen millions of US users flock to it in the wake of the US TikTok ban. That caught the company by surprise. What is RedNote and can its popularity last?
-
Australian tycoon Andrew Forrest battles it out with oil giant ExxonMobilIron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest made billions before committing himself to philanthropy. Now he is preparing for a showdown with ExxonMobil.
-
Remembering Sir David McMurtry: Renishaw founder and Concorde engineerSir David McMurtry, co-founder of Renishaw, made a unique contribution to Britain. We look back at his legacy
-
What does Big Tech's alliance with Donald Trump mean for the US?The alliance between Big Tech and the new US president Trump is causing concern
