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.
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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.”
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