Jimmy Carter: Mr. "Nice Guy" as U.S. President
1976
was also a presidential-election year – and a very unknown former
governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, was put forth by a small New York
political association, the Foreign Policy Institute, to run as the
Democratic candidate against the Republican Gerald Ford. A taste
of what was to come was when, during a series of televised debates,
Carter attacked Ford (and his Secretary of State Kissinger) for
practicing immoral politics which "linked" diplomacy with political
payoffs ... rather than with high moral ideals.
Carter was playing the "power is evil" card as the main feature of his
political campaign. During his campaign he promised to end
American "imperialism" and to pull the country’s support away from
foreign leaders who used immoral means to undergird their power.
He cited specifically the Shah of Iran who was known to put people in
prison merely for their political affiliations. Indeed – unlike
the previous Republican administrations (Nixon and Ford) – under his
Presidency, America would be restored to a morally clean agenda.
Carter was elected President – and the world stood in amazement as he
attempted to put his "power is evil" philosophy into effect. He
proposed to end American "imperialism" in Europe by bringing home the
American troops in Europe (part of the anti-Soviet NATO command) –
until panicked European leaders convinced Carter that this would
destabilize the very political structure that had brought peace to
Europe for over 30 years. Even the Soviets were not keen on this
because it would have destabilized the whole of Europe, their zone of
domination as well! When he similarly proposed to liberate South
Korea by bringing home the American troops positioned there since 1950,
the reaction was even louder: everyone knew that the very day after the
departure of such troops, North Korea would be invading the South
again. Carter backed down. He was beginning slowly to
acknowledge the key role of power in shaping world peace.
The "Camp David Accords" sponsored by Carter
In 1977 Sadat surprised the world by flying uninvited to Jerusalem and
meeting with Menachem Begin to push for a new peace accord between
Egypt and Israel. Carter then jumped into the initiative when it
began to stall up (Begin has no interest in any kind of a deal with
Sadat) and brought both Sadat and Begin to America and the presidential
retreat at Camp David (1978) to work out their differences.
Carter's warning that Begin had better come up with something or he
would find himself politically isolated ultimately led to the "Camp
David Accords." These officially ended Israeli-Egyptian
hostilities. He and Begin were then awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1978.
But this new Egyptian policy would begin Sadat’s troubles with the Arab
hardliners in the larger Arab world and in his own country.
Begin unsurprisingly did not hold up his part of the bargain concerning
self-government for the Palestinians – and the Arab League kicked Sadat
out for transacting this empty "separate peace" with Israel.
Things then grew worse for Sadat – especially as Begin further ignored
the Camp David Accords and instituted new Jewish settlements in what
the rest of the world (including America) understood to be Palestinian
lands.
The Arabs grew increasingly furious with Sadat’s sell-out – and in
October 1981 he was assassinated by Muslim fundamentalists.
However, his successor, Hosni Mubarak, seeking to maintain the new
working relationship with America, promised nonetheless to continue to
work toward the implementation of the Camp David Accords.
Grand Catastrophe in Iran
And tragically for Iran, the "Political Realist" lessons for Carter
came too late. Having spoken loudly and clearly about his views
on the Shah during his election campaign in 1976, Carter helped
galvanize Iranian opinion that their Shah was an evil man.
Actually he was merely a foolish man. The huge flow of new oil
money gushing into Iran (complements of the Arab-produced oil inflation
of 1973-1974) had succeeded in destabilizing Iranian society by
creating a huge, ugly gap in wealth between the small group of families
around the Shah who reaped most of Iran's oil gains ... and the larger,
still very rural population which had not shared in the wealth – and in
fact had watched their real wealth disappear under the inflation of
prices for even basic necessities, prices they could not afford to pay.
The Shah, once well-loved by his people for the very obvious material
progress he was bringing the country, was now being resented for the
way he had allowed this huge gap in wealth to come into being in his
own country. The Islamic clerics, who were once scorned as
lingering symbols of Iran’s former backwardness as a feudal Muslim
society, now began to be listened to as they gave religious judgments
on the hard economic times in Iran. Under their guidance, the
Shah was named as the cause of all evil in their lives. "The only
hope for Iran is the removal of this Evil – and the restoration of the
country to the holy ways of traditional Islam." The Iranians
started to listen attentively to the clerics.
Eventually Carter came to realize that what was going on in Iran was
truly a battle between modern Western civilization and a hostile
traditional Muslim civilization. The Shah needed help – counsel
in straightening out the growing economic mess in Iran – rather than
diplomatic isolation by the once biggest supporter of his modernization
reforms. But such awareness came too late to save the Shah.
Under the guidance of the Ayatollah Khomeini (located in Paris at the
time), a street revolution was organizing against the Shah, and the
belated efforts of Carter to come to the Shah’s aid only made clearer
to angry Iranians another part of the clerics' message: "behind the
Evil of the Shah stands the greatest Evil of all, America."
When the Shah was then driven from power in February of 1979 the
Ayatollah turned Iran to its next struggle: the destruction of the
Great Satan, America.
Throughout the year Iran grew more restless in its readiness to do
battle with the great Satan America. Then when Carter offered
shelter (in Egypt) to a very sick Shah, the Iranians grow angry. In
November a crowd stormed the American Embassy in Tehran and grabbed all
the American staff members. Americans watched from their TVs in
horror as the Iranians paraded bound and blindfolded Americans before
the screaming Iranian mobs. This vision touched the deep sense of
helplessness that Americans were beginning to feel in the face of
changes going on rapidly in their world.
Another humiliating gas shortage ... and hyper-inflation
This was in part due to the fact that in late 1979, for the second time
in the decade, due to the stoppage of oil exports from Iran, Americans
(and Europeans) were having to form very long lines at the gas stations
to get scarce gasoline whose cost was skyrocketing to ever new
heights. Once again Arab-dominated OPEC (and American oil
companies as well), was taking advantage of the shortage to run the
price of oil as high as possible.
Higher energy costs were in turn pushing ever-higher prices for
everything that the people are paying for. Inflation was running
rampant.
1980 – Carter's last year in office
By 1980 Americans are in a bitter, depressed mood. Carter is coming up for reelection and is in a quandary as to what to do.
In April he attempts a foolhardy military rescue of Americans held
hostage in Iran (his Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was opposed to the
mission and resigns when it fails) – which ends in failure in the
desert sands of southern Iran with the loss thankfully of only a
handful of lives (“thankfully” because had the effort reached Tehran,
the hostages most likely have been butchered, along with their
rescuers, and the American humiliation would have been all the greater).
As a result, Carter, who has finally learned “linkage” politics, begins
to negotiate with Iran in secret for the release of the American
hostages, holding over the Iranians the much needed financial assets
frozen in US banks – at a time when Iran is fighting to fend off an
Iraq attack (begun in September ) and needs those assets badly.
The negotiations result finally in the release of the American hostages
– but too late for Carter to get the credit.
Meanwhile Carter convinces Volcker to back off his high interest rate
strategy – and the economy begins to rebound, long enough for Carter to
be renominated by the Democrats as their presidential candidate.
But Volcker immediately sends the rates back up again and the economy
slumps back into recession – in time for the November elections.
Carter is not reelected President.
1981 – Reagan takes command
In January 1981 former actor, former California governor, Ronald
Reagan, takes office with a clear agenda to return America to its
former, stronger, traditional ways. The Liberal “saviors of
democracy” do not like this and see in Reagan a return to the White
House of “Nixon” in a new guise. But Reagan knows how to handle the
American press (unlike Nixon) and though returning to the type of
foreign policy Nixon exercised, Reagan knows how to handle domestic
politics as well. It is highly symbolic of a restored sense of
American strength and resolve that at the very moment Reagan is being
sworn into office, the American hostages have been finally released and
are in airplanes on their way home to America.
In March, two months into office, Reagan is shot in the chest by a
deranged young man; he recovers quickly – but press secretary Brady,
also shot, is permanently brain damaged. The shock of this event
inspires Congress to pass America’s first (still quite limited) gun
control law – known as the Brady Law.
Reagan immediately demonstrates that the Presidency intends to move
forward on the basis of strength – and not just merely good moral
intentions. He immediately confronts labor unions – who have been
helping drive inflation along with their constant round of wage
increases for their members (leaving non-union workers falling further
and further behind economically). When the public air traffic
controllers organization (PATCO) goes on strike for new benefits –
threatening to shut down all air traffic (and the nation’s economy) –
Reagan mobilizes the military air traffic controllers to take their
place. PATCO soon backs down – and most of America cheers (the
strongly pro-union Democrats fume – but sense that the nation is not
with them on this issue).
England's Margaret Thatcher demonstrates
the virtues of "tough" leadership
This is in keeping with what is going on in England under the lead of
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister since 1979. The English have
grown very tired of British unions shutting down the nation’s economy
every time one or another of them wants a new round of benefits. The
Conservative Prime Minister Thatcher confronts the unions (something
the Labour Party would never do), backs them down, and frees the
English economy for astonishing growth. Thatcher and Reagan,
sharing very similar outlooks on things, become close friends across
the Atlantic.
This toughness also shows up in their handling of foreign
affairs. In April 1982 the generals of Argentina, who have been
keeping a cruel and unpopular dictatorship going over the country,
decide that a bold foreign venture might restore some popularity to
them. They invade the British Falkland Islands east of Argentina
in the Atlantic Ocean and claim it as Argentinian land. At first
the Argentinians -- and all Latin Americans -- cheer the move. But
Thatcher (with Reagan’s strong approval) strikes back and sends British
troops to recapture the islands. By June the Argentinian defeat
is total. This topples Argentina’s military dictatorship, freeing
Argentina from years of oppression – and confirms Thatcher as the “Iron
Lady.”
Reagan's misstep in the Middle East
This is followed the next year (1983) by American military action in
Lebanon – which however turns out quite differently. Problems in
Lebanon had been going on since the mid-1970s when the huge influx of
mostly Muslim Palestinian refugees fleeing Israel’s wrath destabilized
the balance of power between Muslim Lebanese and Christian
Lebanese. Lebanon was transformed from the jewel of the Eastern
Mediterranean into a battle zone of various warlords and their private
armies. In 1982, Begin decided to send Israeli troops into
Lebanon – at first merely to clear the border regions with Israel with
PLO militants who used the area to launch raids into Israel. But
he quickly expanded his goals to include the invasion of the capital,
Beirut, to destroy the PLO base there, thrown out the Syrian troops
there (ostensibly to bring some kind of peace to the country) and to
set up a Christian Lebanese government there which would be presumably
an Israeli ally.
The US tried to broker a new peace between
Israel and the Arabs – and a UN peacekeeping force (which included
American soldiers) was set to Lebanon to stabilize the country.
But soon thereafter the Israelis turned two Palestinian refugee camps
over to Christian Lebanese and then stood by and watched as the
Christian proceeded to slaughter 800 (mostly women and children) of the
inhabitants of the Palestinian camps.
The world now reacts in
outrage. Although Israel forces Ariel Sharon to leave the cabinet
for his role in the affair – this hardly satisfies Arab Hizballah
militants who (in April) blow up the US embassy in Beirut, killing 40
people – then (in October) French and American military barracks, this
time killing 58 French and 241 American troops. Reagan – waiting a bit so that it would not look as if he was leaving
in defeat by a group of terrorists – withdraws the rest of the US
military forces in Lebanon the following February. Israel pulls
out in mid 1985 – and Lebanon plunges deeper into civil war.
But Reagan rebounds from the humiliation in Beirut by sending US
Marines only a few days later to a tiny Caribbean Island, Grenada, when
a leftist government there lets conditions in the country turn chaotic.
The Iran-Contra Affair
Reagan’s second term is caught up in a scandal known as the Iran-Contra
Affair. In 1985 his National Security Advisor – using Israel as a
go-between – worked a secret deal with Iran, promising to sell Iran
arms (it was involved in a ruinous war with Iraq and needed arms badly)
in exchange for Iran using its influence to gain the release of
Americans held hostage by Muslim fanatics in Lebanon. This is all
very illegal – as officially Americans are not allowed to negotiate
with kidnappers – and as Iran is supposed to be under an American
boycott. Further, the money Iran pays for the illegal arms is
being funneled secretly by the CIA through Marine Lieutenant Colonel
Oliver North to Nicaraguan expatriate soldiers, called the contras, who
are fighting to overthrow the Leftist Sandinista government in
Nicaragua. This too is illegal – as Congress has made it very
clear that the US is to stay out of Nicaragua’s civil war. In the
fall of 1986 this all comes before the notice of Congress and the
American public – and it looks as if the Reagan government might be
saddled with a scandal as big as Nixon’s Watergate Affair. But
Reagan fires a number of his officials – and by a year later seems
somehow to have kept himself out of impeachment danger. The American
public (with the exception of certain Democrats), it seems, is not
interested in a lynching the way it was in the days of the Watergate
Affair. And the year after that (1988), as Reagan finishes out
his last year in office, his approval rating is running at 63% – a very
high figure.
Indeed, to many Americans, it now seems that the powers of political,
economic and military diplomacy that Congress had taken away from the
Presidency in the wild days of Watergate need to be restored to the
President – and people such as Ollie North should be acknowledged as
patriots working in the best interest of the country – not as
criminals. The Liberal mood of the mid-1970s has definitely swung
during the Reagan 1980s back to a more Conservative mood in the country.
The rapid decline of the Soviet Union
Reagan pursues American foreign relations negotiating from strength
(not "moral purity"). Russia tries to keep up – but begins to
break down from built-in economic inefficiency.
Gorbachev tries to reform the Russian Communist system – but merely
collapses it instead not only in Russia but in all the former
Stalin-dominated countries of East Europe.
Meanwhile America initiates a veritable revolution in communications technology especially based on the personal computer.
The growing American cultural revolution (Liberals vs. Conservatives)
With the Boomers now in positions of social influence, a cultural
revolution takes place along a number of fronts – united by a
single vision of "the enemy": the straight, Anglo, Christian
White male who has so long directed American life.
Traditional (Christian) America fights back, with the issues of
abortion, prayer in public life, Christian schooling the major hot
buttons
1990s – The sole Superpower enjoys a decade of
incredible prosperity – and cultural hedonism
A Bush (Sr.) victory against Iraq in the Gulf or ‘Desert Storm’ War
(late 1990-early 1991) puts Vietnam defeatism behind America –
restoring a sense of America’s rightful place as a sole superpower
leading the world
But US economic difficulties (another economic bubble in the US housing
and banking bursts) undercuts Bush in his re-election bid – and brings
in the Boomer (former Arkansas governor) Clinton to the White House in
1993
Clinton undertakes a Liberal reform agenda (national health insurance
and open homosexuality in the military) which explodes in his face –
and he backs down
Gingrich’s Contract with America
turns into a Republican takeover of Congress (1994), based on the
promise to balance the budget, reduce Federal government spending
(especially endless welfare payments) and lower taxes.
To save his presidency, Clinton moves to take up Gingrich’s program
himself – as Gingrich himself self-destructs morally (divorce) and
politically (arrogance in front of a very critical press corps)
Towards the end of his presidency Clinton gets caught in a sex scandal
(Monica) – but manages to survive politically (and even morally)
Ethnic strife in Bosnia and Kosovo refine America’s role as world
policeman – separating the warring ethnic groups in the former
Yugoslavia and bringing some degree of peace to the region
Yeltsin’s Russia struggles with corruption in its effort to find
stability as a "democracy." The Russian love of Western culture
cools.
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