Editing Jimmy Carter (section)

== Presidency (1977–1981) ==
{{main|Presidency of Jimmy Carter}}
{{hatnote group|
{{For timeline|Timeline of the Jimmy Carter presidency}}
{{see also|Inauguration of Jimmy Carter}}
}}
[[File:President Carter National Portrait Gallery.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A painting of Carter|Image of President Carter displayed in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]], Washington, D.C. Portrait by Robert Templeton.]]

Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president on January 20, 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/48th-inaugural-ceremonies/|title=48TH INAUGURAL CEREMONIES|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=September 2, 2021|archive-date=September 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913210846/https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/48th-inaugural-ceremonies/|url-status=live}}</ref> One of Carter's first acts was the fulfillment of a campaign promise by issuing [[Proclamation 4483]] declaring unconditional [[amnesty]] for [[Vietnam War]]–era [[draft evaders]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11967.html |title=Executive Orders |date=October 25, 2010 |access-date=September 8, 2021 |website=archives.gov |archive-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922131219/https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11967.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/vietnam_1-21-77.html |title=Online NewsHour: Remembering Vietnam: Carter's Pardon |publisher=[[PBS]] |access-date=September 8, 2021 |archive-date=February 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228161513/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/vietnam_1-21-77.html}}</ref> Carter's tenure in office was marked by an economic malaise, a time of continuing inflation and recession and the [[1979 energy crisis]]. Under Carter, in May 1980, the [[Federal Trade Commission]] became "apparently the first agency ever closed by a budget dispute", but Congress took action and the agency opened the next day.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/a-history-of-us-government-shutdowns-2013-9|title=A Complete Guide To Every Government Shutdown In History|last=Cass|first=Connie|date=September 30, 2013|website=Business Insider|access-date=October 2, 2024|archive-date=January 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119235018/https://www.businessinsider.com/a-history-of-us-government-shutdowns-2013-9|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Carter attempted to calm various conflicts around the world, most visibly in the Middle East with the signing of the [[Camp David Accords]];<ref name="achievement.org">{{cite web |title=Jimmy Carter Biography and Interview |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/#interview |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222200351/https://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car0bio-1#interview |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Torrijos–Carter Treaties|giving the Panama Canal]] to Panama; and signing the [[Salt II|SALT II nuclear arms reduction treaty]] with Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]]. His final year was marred by the [[Iran hostage crisis]], which contributed to his losing the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 election]] to [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_9-12-transitions-carter.html |title=Jimmy Carter and the Iranian Hostage Crisis |publisher=White House Historical Association |access-date=December 28, 2014 |archive-date=September 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903061159/https://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_9-12-transitions-carter.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Whistleblowers have alleged, most recently in 2023, that people working on the Reagan campaign's behalf [[October surprise conspiracy theory|convinced Iran to prolong the crisis]] to reduce Carter's chance of reelection.<ref>{{cite news |author-link1=Peter Baker (journalist) |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=A Four-Decade Secret: The Untold Story of Sabotaging Jimmy Carter's Re-election |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html |access-date=March 19, 2023 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318200201/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Domestic policy ===

====Holidays and proclamations====
In 1978, Carter signed into law a bill creating a celebration in May called Asian American Heritage Week. May 7 and 10 were designated for national observance and recognition of the contributions of Asian Americans and Asian immigrants to American society. In 1992, President [[George H. W. Bush]] signed a bill expanding the celebration into [[Asian American Heritage Month]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/jimmy-carter-asian-american-heritage-month-rcna71682|title=Jimmy Carter remembered for launching 1st Asian Pacific American Heritage Week|date=December 30, 2024|publisher=NBC News|access-date=January 6, 2025|archive-date=January 6, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250106180121/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/jimmy-carter-asian-american-heritage-month-rcna71682|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2021, President [[Joe Biden]] signed a bill renaming this celebration Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.<ref>{{cite web |title=Proclamation 10189—Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2021 |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-10189-asian-american-and-native-hawaiianpacific-islander-heritage-month-2021 |website=[[The American Presidency Project]] |access-date=January 6, 2025 |date=May 5, 2021 |archive-date=March 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326153417/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-10189-asian-american-and-native-hawaiianpacific-islander-heritage-month-2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Economy ====
[[File:Inflation Yen USD 1971-2009 de.svg|class=skin-invert-image|thumb|upright=1.35|left|alt=A chart regarding inflation|Inflation rate of [[Japanese yen|yen]] and USD, 1971–2009]]
The first two years of Carter's presidency were a time of intense [[stagflation]], primarily due to recovery from [[1973–1975 recession|a previous recession]] that had left fixed investment at extreme lows and unemployment at 9%.<ref name="stat 88">{{cite web |url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1988-04.pdf |title=1988 Statistical Abstract of the United States |publisher=Department of Commerce |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140458/https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1988-04.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Under Carter, the unemployment rate declined from 8.1% when he took office to 5.7% by July 1978,<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/spokane-chronicle-sharp-drop-noted-in-un/156447735/ Sharp Drop Noted In Unemployment]. [[Associated Press]]. ''Spokane Chronicle''. July 7, 1978. Retrieved October 2, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-patriot-news-jobless-level-up-slight/157880385/ Jobless Level Up Slightly]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. ''The Patriot-News''. October 7, 1978. Retrieved October 26, 2024.</ref> but during the [[Early 1980s recession in the United States|early 1980s recession]] it returned to its pre-1977 level.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-jobless-rate-cou/156448077/ Jobless Rate Could Reach 7.5% This Year, 8% In 1981, Kahn Predicts]. [[Associated Press]]. ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''. May 1, 1980. Retrieved October 2, 2024.</ref> His last two years were marked by double-digit inflation, very high interest rates,{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=447}} oil shortages, and slow economic growth.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/Is70sStyleStagflationComing.aspx |title=Is '70s-style stagflation returning? |author=Jim Jubak |work=Jubak's Journal |publisher=MSN |date=April 1, 2008 |access-date=October 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820042310/https://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/Is70sStyleStagflationComing.aspx |archive-date=August 20, 2011}}</ref> Due to economic stimulus legislation, such as the Public Works Employment Act of 1977, proposed by Carter and passed by Congress, real household median income had grown by 5.2%, with a projection of 6.4% for the next quarter.{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=422}}

The 1979 energy crisis ended this period of growth, and as inflation and interest rates rose, economic growth, job creation and [[consumer confidence]] declined sharply.{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=447}} [[Federal Reserve Board]] chairman [[G. William Miller]]'s relatively loose [[monetary policy]] had already contributed to somewhat higher inflation,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://econ161.berkeley.edu/econ_articles/theinflationofthes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970219022512/https://econ161.berkeley.edu/Econ_Articles/theinflationofthes.html |archive-date=February 19, 1997 |title=The Inflation of the 1970s: November 21, 1978 |date=December 19, 1995 |publisher=[[University of California at Berkeley]] and National Bureau of Economic Research |access-date=March 18, 2012}}</ref> rising from 5.8% in 1976 to 7.7% in 1978. The sudden doubling of [[crude oil]] prices<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www-cta.ornl.gov/cta/Publications/Reports/ORNL-6873%20.pdf |title=The Outlook for U.S. Oil Dependence |publisher=U.S. Department of Energy |access-date=October 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513154741/https://www-cta.ornl.gov/cta/Publications/Reports/ORNL-6873%20.pdf |archive-date=May 13, 2017}}</ref> forced inflation to double-digit levels, averaging 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980.<ref name="stat 88" /> The sudden shortage of gasoline as the 1979 summer vacation season began exacerbated the problem and came to symbolize the crisis to the general public;{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=447}} the acute shortage, originating in the shutdown of [[Amerada Hess]] refining facilities, led the federal government to sue the company that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://md.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.%5CFCT%5CC04%5C1979%5C19791226_0040006.C04.htm/qx |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628221218/https://md.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.%5CFCT%5CC04%5C1979%5C19791226_0040006.C04.htm/qx |archive-date=June 28, 2012 |access-date=September 9, 2021 |title=United States v. Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America}}</ref>

==== Environment ====
During his 1976 campaign, Carter promised to sign into law any bills Congress passed to regulate [[strip mining]].<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-journal-ford-defends-vetoing/162054331/ Ford defends vetoing limits on strip mines]. ''[[The Courier-Journal]]''. October 23, 1977. Retrieved January 1, 2025.</ref> In 1977, Carter signed the [[Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977]], which regulated strip mining.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-union-coal-strip-mining-bill/162054756/ Coal strip mining bill signed into law by Carter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112020742/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-union-coal-strip-mining-bill/162054756/ |date=January 12, 2025 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]''. August 4, 1977. Retrieved January 1, 2025.</ref>

In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the [[Love Canal]] neighborhood of [[Niagara Falls, New York]]. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which was on top of a [[toxic waste]] landfill. The [[Superfund]] law was created in response to the situation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v751AwAAQBAJ&q=carter+Love+Canal+in+the+city+of+Niagara+Falls,+New+York.+More+than+800+families+were+evacuated&pg=PT1417|title=Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society|first1=Robert|last1=W. Kolb|publisher=SAGE Publications|date=2008|page=1305|isbn=978-1-4522-6569-8|access-date=March 21, 2022|archive-date=April 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407065100/https://books.google.com/books?id=v751AwAAQBAJ&q=carter+Love+Canal+in+the+city+of+Niagara+Falls%2C+New+York.+More+than+800+families+were+evacuated&pg=PT1417|url-status=live}}</ref> Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish about 500 houses and two schools built atop the dump, and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous waste. This was the first time such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dump sites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUTkicMAXuQC&q=one+of+the+grimmest+discoveries+of+our+modern+era+carter&pg=PR15|title=Risks of Hazardous Wastes|first1=Paul|last1=E. Rosenfeld|first2=Lydia|last2=Feng|first3=William|last3=Andrew|date=2011|publisher=William Andrew|isbn=978-1-4377-7843-4|access-date=March 21, 2022|archive-date=April 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407071456/https://books.google.com/books?id=eUTkicMAXuQC&q=one+of+the+grimmest+discoveries+of+our+modern+era+carter&pg=PR15|url-status=live}}</ref>

In December 1978, Carter used the [[1906 Antiquities Act]] and his executive order power to designate {{convert|56000000|acre}} of land in Alaska as a national monument. This executive order protected the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]] until Congress codified it into law with the [[Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980]], which doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/president-jimmy-carter-death-100-environmental-legacy-conservation-solar-energy-alaskan-national-wildlife-refuge/ | title=The bold environmental vision of President Jimmy Carter | access-date=January 1, 2025 | archive-date=January 1, 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101184520/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/president-jimmy-carter-death-100-environmental-legacy-conservation-solar-energy-alaskan-national-wildlife-refuge/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>See [https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/02/archives/carter-designates-us-land-in-alaska-for-national-parks-56-million.html Seth S. King, "Carter Designates U.S. Land In Alaska For National Parks," ''The New York Times'', December 2, 1978] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706164558/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/02/archives/carter-designates-us-land-in-alaska-for-national-parks-56-million.html |date=July 6, 2019 }}</ref>

==== U.S. energy crisis ====
{{Further|1979 oil crisis}}
[[File:Carter leaving Three Mile Island.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Carter at [[Three Mile Island]] [[Three Mile Island accident|nuclear accident]], April 1979]]

Moralism typified much of Carter's action.<ref>Kenneth Earl Morris, ed. ''Jimmy Carter, American Moralist'' ( University of Georgia Press, 1996).</ref> On April 18, 1977, he delivered a televised speech declaring that the energy crisis was the "moral equivalent of war". He encouraged [[energy conservation]] and installed [[Solar power at the White House|solar water heating panels on the White House]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unity.edu/news/solar1004.htm |title=Maine college to auction off former White House solar panels |date=October 28, 2004 |access-date=January 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122051251/https://www.unity.edu/News/solar1004.htm |archive-date=January 22, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Dave |last=Burdick |url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/white-house-solar-panels_n_160575.html |work=HuffPost |title=White House Solar Panels: What Ever Happened To Carter's Solar Thermal Water Heater? (VIDEO) |date=January 27, 2009 |access-date=January 31, 2010 |archive-date=September 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904023005/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/white-house-solar-panels_n_160575.html |url-status=live}}</ref> He wore a [[cardigan (sweater)|cardigan]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/president-jimmy-carter-death-100-environmental-legacy-conservation-solar-energy-alaskan-national-wildlife-refuge/|title=The bold environmental vision of President Jimmy Carter|first=Kai|last=Bird|access-date=January 1, 2025|archive-date=January 1, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101184520/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/president-jimmy-carter-death-100-environmental-legacy-conservation-solar-energy-alaskan-national-wildlife-refuge/|url-status=live}}</ref> to offset turning down the heat in the White House.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/days-of-malaise-and-jimmy-carters-solar-panels|title=Days of 'Malaise' and Jimmy Carter's Solar Panels|first1=Craig|last1=Shirley|date=October 8, 2010|access-date=August 30, 2021|publisher=Fox News|archive-date=November 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141122031809/https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/10/08/craig-shirley-jimmy-carter-white-house-energy-crisis-solar-panels-ronald-reagan/|url-status=live}}</ref> On August 4, 1977, Carter signed the [[Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977]], forming the Department of Energy, the first new cabinet position in eleven years.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Relyea |first1=Harold |title=The executive branch, creation and reorganization |year=2003 |publisher=Nova Publishers |page=29 |last2=Carr |first2=Thomas P. |isbn=978-1-59033-610-6}}</ref>

Carter emphasized that the House of Representatives had "adopted almost all" of the energy proposal he had made five months earlier and called the compromise "a turning point in establishing a comprehensive energy program."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-125 |title=The President's News Conference (29 September 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816115250/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-125 |url-status=live}}</ref> The next month, he called energy "the most important domestic issue that we will face while I am in office".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-122 |title=The President's News Conference (13 October 2021) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=November 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105040157/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-122 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On January 12, 1978, Carter said the continued discussions about his energy reform proposal had been "long and divisive and arduous".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-1008 |title=The President's News Conference (12 January 1978) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140632/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-1008 |url-status=live}}</ref> In an April 11, 1978, news conference, Carter said his biggest surprise "in the nature of a disappointment" since becoming president was the difficulty Congress had in passing legislation, citing the energy reform bill in particular.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-1006 |title=The President's News Conference (11 April 1978) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140501/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-1006 |url-status=live}}</ref> After much deliberation and modification, Congress approved the Carter energy legislation on October 15, 1978. It deregulated the sale of natural gas, dropped a longstanding pricing disparity between intra- and interstate gas, and created tax credits to encourage energy conservation and the use of non-fossil fuels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Burton Ira |title=The Presidency of James Earl Carter, Jr. |date=1993 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-0572-9 |location=Lawrence, Kansas |page=108 |oclc=26359258}}</ref>

On March 1, 1979, Carter submitted a standby [[Rationing in the United States|gasoline rationing plan]] per the request of Congress.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/standby-gasoline-rationing-plan-message-the-congress-transmitting-the-plan-0 |title=Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan Message to the Congress Transmitting the Plan. (1 March 1979) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140613/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/standby-gasoline-rationing-plan-message-the-congress-transmitting-the-plan-0 |url-status=live}}</ref> On April 5, he delivered an address in which he stressed the urgency of energy conservation and increasing domestic production of energy sources such as coal and solar.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/energy-address-the-nation |title=Energy Address to the Nation. (5 April 1979) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140452/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/energy-address-the-nation |url-status=live}}</ref>

On July 15, 1979, Carter delivered a nationally televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a "[[s:The Crisis of Confidence|crisis of confidence]]" among American people,<ref name="millercenter1979">{{cite web |url=https://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3402 |title="Crisis of Confidence" Speech (July 15, 1979) |publisher=Miller Center, University of Virginia |format=text and video |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090721024329/https://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3402 |archive-date=July 21, 2009 |date=October 20, 2016}}</ref> under the advisement of pollster [[Pat Caddell]] who believed Americans faced a crisis in confidence from events of the 1960s and 1970s, before his presidency.<ref name="crisis speech">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-crisis-speech/ |publisher=PBS |series=American Experience |title=Jimmy Carter |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=October 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019101602/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-crisis-speech/}}</ref> Some later called this his "[[malaise]] speech",<ref name="millercenter1979" /> memorable for mixed reactions<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eoearth.org/article/Jimmy_Carter%27s__malaise_speech_ |publisher=The Encyclopedia of Earth |title=Jimmy Carter's "malaise speech" |author=Cutler Cleveland |date=January 24, 2007 |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=July 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100711161737/https://www.eoearth.org/article/Jimmy_Carter%27s__malaise_speech_ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0611F8395D12728DDDA10994DF405B898BF1D3 |title=Speech Lifts Carter Rating to 37%; Public Agrees on Confidence Crisis; Responsive Chord Struck |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 18, 1979 |access-date=August 30, 2021 |author=Adam Clymer |author-link=Adam Clymer |page=A1 |archive-date=May 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517074931/https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0611F8395D12728DDDA10994DF405B898BF1D3 |url-status=live}}</ref> and his use of rhetoric.<ref name="crisis speech" /> The speech's negative reception centered on a view that he did not emphasize his own efforts to address the energy crisis and seemed too reliant on Americans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weintraub |first=Walter |title=Political Psychology 7: Profiles of American Presidents as Revealed in Their Public Statements: The Presidential News Conferences of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan |year=1986 |publisher=International Society of Political Psychology |pages=285–295}}</ref>

==== Relations with Congress ====
[[File:President Carter addresses a Joint Session of Congress.jpg|thumb|Carter addressing members of the U.S. Congress on September 18, 1978]]

Carter typically refused to conform to Washington's rules.{{sfn|Zelizer|2010|pp=53–55}} He avoided phone calls from members of Congress and verbally insulted them. He was unwilling to return political favors. His negativity led to frustration in passing legislation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/georgia-mafia/ |title=The 'Georgia Mafia'. Jimmy Carter |work=WGBH American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=March 13, 2017 |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215065641/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/georgia-mafiahttps://}}</ref> During a press conference on February 23, 1977, Carter stated that it was "inevitable" that he would come into conflict with Congress and added that he had found "a growing sense of cooperation" with Congress and met in the past with congressional members of both parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-119 |title=The President's News Conference (23 February 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=August 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815112634/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-119 |url-status=live}}</ref> Carter developed a bitter feeling following an unsuccessful attempt at having Congress enact the scrapping of several water projects.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/zelizer.hundred/index.html |publisher=CNN|title=Commentary: New president's 100 days of pressure – CNN.com |date=October 28, 2008 |access-date=May 22, 2010 |archive-date=December 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203002100/https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/zelizer.hundred/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

As a rift ensued between the White House and Congress afterward, Carter noted that the Democratic Party's liberal wing opposed his policies the most ardently, attributing this to [[Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign|Ted Kennedy's wanting the presidency]].<ref>Carter, Jimmy ''Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis'', p. 8, (2005), Simon & Schuster</ref> Thinking he had support from 74 Congressmen, Carter issued a "hit list" of 19 projects that he claimed were "pork barrel" spending that he said he would veto if they were included in legislation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143163782.html?dids=143163782:143163782&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+1%2C+1977&author=By+Walter+Pincus+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post+(1974-Current+file)&edition=&startpage=A1&desc=When+a+Campaign+Vow+Crashes+Into+a+Pork+Barrel |last=Pincus |first=Walter |title=When a Campaign Vow Crashes into a Pork Barrel |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=April 1, 1977 |access-date=July 5, 2008 |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525152206/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143163782.html?dids=143163782:143163782&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+1,+1977&author=By+Walter+Pincus+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post+(1974-Current+file)&edition=&startpage=A1&desc=When+a+Campaign+Vow+Crashes+Into+a+Pork+Barrel}}</ref> He found himself again at odds with Congressional Democrats, as [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]] [[Tip O'Neill]] found it inappropriate for a president to pursue what had traditionally been the role of Congress. Carter was also weakened by signing a bill that contained many of the "hit list" projects he had intended to veto.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6799 |publisher=presidency.ucsb.edu |title=Jimmy Carter: Water Resource Projects Message to the Congress |access-date=March 13, 2017 |archive-date=August 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828215048/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6799}}</ref>
[[File:President Jimmy Carter with Senator Joe Biden.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A monochrome image of Carter shaking hands with Joe Biden|President Carter meeting with U.S. Senator and future president [[Joe Biden]] in 1978]]
In an address to a fundraising dinner for the Democratic National Committee on June 23, 1977, Carter said, "I think it's good to point out tonight, too, that we have evolved a good working relationship with the Congress. For eight years we had government by partisanship. Now we have government by partnership."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/democratic-national-committee-dinner-remarks-the-fundraising-dinner-new-york-city |title=Democratic National Committee Dinner Remarks at the Fundraising Dinner in New York City. (23 June 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012010116/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/democratic-national-committee-dinner-remarks-the-fundraising-dinner-new-york-city |url-status=live}}</ref> At a July 28 news conference, assessing the first six months of his presidency, Carter spoke of his improved understanding of Congress: <blockquote>I have learned to respect the Congress more in an individual basis. I've been favorably impressed at the high degree of concentrated experience and knowledge that individual members of Congress can bring on a specific subject, where they've been the chairman of a subcommittee or committee for many years and have focused their attention on this particular aspect of government life which I will never be able to do.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-104 |title=The President's News Conference (28 July 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140513/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-104 |url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

On May 10, 1979, the House voted against giving Carter authority to produce a standby gas rationing plan.{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=436}} The following day, Carter described himself as shocked and embarrassed for the U.S. government by the vote and concluded "the majority of the House Members are unwilling to take the responsibility, the political responsibility for dealing with a potential, serious threat to our Nation." He added that most House members were placing higher importance on "local or parochial interests" and challenged the House to compose its own rationing plan in the next 90 days.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32325 |title=Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan Remarks on the House of Representatives Disapproval of the Plan (10 May 1979) |date=May 11, 1979 |publisher=American Presidency Project |first=Jimmy |last=Carter |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=September 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926085905/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32325 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Carter's remarks were met with criticism by House Republicans, who accused his comments of not befitting the formality a president should have in their public remarks. Others pointed to 106 Democrats voting against his proposal and the bipartisan criticism potentially coming back to haunt him.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/15/archives/carters-clash-with-congress-on-gas-plan-news-analysis-some.html |title=Carter's Clash With Congress on Gas Plan |date=May 15, 1979 |access-date=August 30, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=May 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531084739/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/15/archives/carters-clash-with-congress-on-gas-plan-news-analysis-some.html |url-status=live}}</ref> At a news conference on July 25, 1979, Carter called on believers in the future of the U.S. and his proposed energy program to speak with Congress as it bore the responsibility to impose his proposals.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32653 |title=The President's News Conference (25 July 1979) |date=July 25, 1979 |publisher=American Presidency Project |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=September 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926090001/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32653 |url-status=live}}</ref> Amid the energy proposal opposition, ''The New York Times'' commented that "as the comments flying up and down Pennsylvania Avenue illustrate, there is also a crisis of confidence between Congress and the President, sense of doubt and distrust that threatens to undermine the President's legislative program and become an important issue in next year's campaign."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/05/archives/carter-and-the-congress-doubt-and-distrust-prevail.html |title=Carter and the Congress: Doubt and Distrust Prevail |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |date=August 5, 1979 |access-date=August 30, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817111437/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/05/archives/carter-and-the-congress-doubt-and-distrust-prevail.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Deregulation ====
{{Main|Airline Deregulation Act}}

[[File:Jimmy Carter signs Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 - NARA - 182032.tif|thumb|alt=Carter surrounded by a crowd of people as he signs the Airline Deregulation Act.|Carter signing the [[Airline Deregulation Act]], 1978]]

In 1977, Carter appointed [[Alfred E. Kahn]] to lead the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] (CAB). He was part of a push for deregulation of the industry, supported by leading economists, leading think tanks in Washington, a civil society coalition advocating the reform, the head of the regulatory agency, Senate leadership, the Carter administration, and even some in the airline industry. This coalition swiftly gained legislative results in 1978.<ref>{{cite book |title=Contrived Competition: Regulation and Deregulation in America |last=Vietor |first=Richard H. K. |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-43679-4 |oclc=897163998}}</ref>

Carter signed the [[Airline Deregulation Act]] into law on October 24, 1978. The main purpose of the act was to [[Airline deregulation|remove government control]] over fares, routes and market entry (of new airlines) from [[commercial aviation]]. The Civil Aeronautics Board's powers of regulation were to be phased out, eventually allowing market forces to determine routes and fares. The Act did not remove or diminish the [[Federal Aviation Administration]]'s regulatory powers over airline safety.<ref>{{cite book |title=Practical Applications in Business Aviation Management |isbn=978-1-60590-770-3 |last1=Cannon |first1=James R. |last2=Richey |first2=Franklin D. |year=2012|publisher=Government Institutes}}</ref>

In 1978, Carter signed a bill into law "allowing homebrewing and small-scale craft brewing to operate legally".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/money/business/small-business/maine-craft-brew-industry-president-jimmy-carter-homebrewing-small-scale-breweries/97-44c37318-3b14-447c-a92b-cbbbb33f929b#:~:text=In+1978,+Carter+signed+HR,first+licensed+craft+brewery+opened.|title=From White House to brew houses: How Jimmy Carter sparked a craft beer revival|date=December 31, 2024|website=newscentermaine.com}}</ref> The new law deregulated the American beer industry by making it legal to sell [[malt]], [[hops]], and [[yeast]] to American [[Homebrewing|home brewers]] for the first time since the 1920 beginning of [[prohibition in the United States]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/08/beer-charts |title=Beer Charts of the Day |first=Tom |last=Philpott |work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=August 17, 2011 |access-date=December 10, 2011 |archive-date=December 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218221821/https://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/08/beer-charts |url-status=live}}</ref> This deregulation led to an increase in home brewing that by the 2000s had developed into a strong craft [[Microbrewery|microbrew]] culture in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 5, 2022 |title=Brewers Association Releases Annual Craft Brewing Industry Production Report and Top 50 Producing Craft Brewing Companies for 2021 |work=Brewers Association |url=https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-releases-annual-craft-brewing-industry-production-report-and-top-50-producing-craft-brewing-companies-for-2021/ |access-date=February 19, 2023 |archive-date=February 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209063838/https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-releases-annual-craft-brewing-industry-production-report-and-top-50-producing-craft-brewing-companies-for-2021/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Chrysler bailout ====
{{Further information|Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979}}
In the late 1970s, the [[Chrysler|Chrysler Cooperation]]—one of the "[[Big Three (automobile manufacturers)|Big Three]]" automakers in the U.S.—faced near-certain bankruptcy as it projected a loss of $1{{spaces}}billion.<ref name="derg55">[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-chrysler-aid-plan/161339133/ Chrysler Aid Plan Signed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226111753/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-chrysler-aid-plan/161339133/ |date=December 26, 2024 }}. ''[[The Kansas City Times]]''. January 8, 1980. Retrieved December 22, 2024.</ref> Carter proposed that the company forgo salary increases and bonuses, saying that it might be done "without decimating the company or putting it on its knees", but the company had already frozen wage increases and bonuses months before, to no avail.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hamilton-spectator-auto-firm-says-sa/161338413/ Auto firm says sacrifices made] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226103638/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hamilton-spectator-auto-firm-says-sa/161338413/ |date=December 26, 2024 }}. ''[[The Hamilton Spectator]]''. August 13, 1979. Retrieved December 22, 2024.</ref> In 1979, Congress began working on a [[bailout]] plan for Chrysler, led by Congressman [[James J. Blanchard]]. Carter assembled a team that included Vice President Mondale and Assistant Domestic Policy Adviser [[David Rubenstein]] to secure a $1.5&nbsp;billion loan guarantee.<ref name="vr55b">Howard, Phoebe Wall (December 31, 2024). [https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2024/12/31/jimmy-carter-jim-blanchard-chrysler-bailout/77347439007/ Chrysler rescue of 80,000 jobs during Carter administration almost didn't happen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101234706/https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2024/12/31/jimmy-carter-jim-blanchard-chrysler-bailout/77347439007/ |date=January 1, 2025 }}. ''[[Detroit Free Press]]''. Retrieved January 1, 2025.</ref>

In December, Congress passed the [[Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979]] to bail Chrysler out with $3.5{{spaces}}billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|3.5|1980|r=1}}{{spaces}}billion in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}) in aid.{{sfn|Kaufman|Kaufman|2006|p=183}} The bill turned over $162&nbsp;million in stock to Chrysler's workers, eliminated around $125&nbsp;million in wage increases, and gave Chrysler $500&nbsp;million in bank loans.<ref name="derg55"/> Carter, who had initially opposed the bailout of corporations,<ref name="vr55b"/> signed it into law in January, saying that the bill saved thousands of jobs.<ref name="derg55"/> The bailout was successful at the time, but Chrysler would eventually file for bankruptcy during the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref name="vr55b"/>

==== Healthcare ====
During his presidential campaign, Carter embraced healthcare reform akin to the [[Ted Kennedy]]–sponsored bipartisan universal [[national health insurance]].<ref>Multiple sources * {{cite news |last=Reinhold |first=Robert |date=April 17, 1976 |title=Carter proposes U.S. health plan; says he favors mandatory insurance financed from wage and general taxes |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30717FD3E5F167493C5A8178FD85F428785F9 |quote=Although Mr. Carter left some details a bit vague today, his proposal seemed almost identical to the so-called Kennedy-Corman health security plan. His position on the issue is now substantially the same as that of his chief rivals, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Senator Henry M. Jackson and Representative Morris K. Udall. All three are co-sponsors of the Kennedy-Corman bill. |access-date=September 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521003608/https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30717FD3E5F167493C5A8178FD85F428785F9 |archive-date=May 21, 2013}} * {{cite news |last=Auerbach |first=Stuart |date=April 17, 1976 |title=Carter gives broad outline for national health plan; cost unknown |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A1 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/120359627.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI |quote=The outlines of Carter's program are close to one sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and strongly supported by organized labor. |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=January 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130082012/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/120359627.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI}} * {{cite news |agency=United Press International |date=April 17, 1976 |title=Carter urges universal health plan |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=4 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/613101652.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI |quote=Although Carter didn't provide an estimate of what his health plan would cost taxpayers, it features many proposals similar to plans suggested by others, including Sen. Edward Kennedy [D., Mass.] which are estimated to cost at least $40 billion annually. |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=January 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130082000/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/613101652.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI}}</ref> Carter's proposals on healthcare while in office included a 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal,<ref>{{cite book |year=1978 |section=Hospital cost control |title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 95th Congress 1st Session....1977 |volume=33 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |pages=499–507 |issn=0095-6007 |oclc=1564784}}</ref> and a 1979 proposal that provided private health insurance coverage.<ref>{{cite book |year=1980 |section=National health insurance |title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 96th Congress 1st Session....1979 |volume=35 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |pages=536–540 |issn=0095-6007 |oclc=1564784}}</ref> The 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal was passed in the Senate,<ref>{{cite book |year=1979 |section=Hospital cost control legislation dies |title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 95th Congress 2nd Session....1978 |volume=34 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |pages=619–625 |issn=0095-6007 |oclc=1564784}}</ref> but later defeated in the House.<ref>{{cite book |year=1980 |chapter=House kills Carter hospital cost control plan |title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 96th Congress 1st Session....1979 |volume=35 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |pages=512–518 |issn=0095-6007 |oclc=1564784}}</ref> During 1978, he met with Kennedy over a compromise healthcare law that proved unsuccessful.{{sfn|Zelizer|2010|p=78}} He later said Kennedy's disagreements thwarted his plan to provide a comprehensive American health care system.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jimmy |last=Carter |author-link=Jimmy Carter |title=Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-553-05023-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/keepingfaithmemo00cart/page/86 86–87] |url=https://archive.org/details/keepingfaithmemo00cart/page/86}}</ref>

In 1980, Carter signed into law the [[Mental Health Systems Act of 1980|Mental Health Systems (MHSA) Act]], which allocated [[block grant]]s to states to bolster community health services and provided funding to states to create and implement community-based health services. The MHSA was considered landmark legislation in mental health care.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/hattiesburg-american-mental-health-syste/156446002/ Mental Health Systems Act 'landmark' legislation, state MH director says] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007091413/https://www.newspapers.com/article/hattiesburg-american-mental-health-syste/156446002/ |date=October 7, 2024 }}. ''Hattiesburg American''. October 30, 1980.</ref> By September 1981, the Reagan administration had repealed most of the law.<ref>Walker, Joe (September 18, 1981). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-paducah-sun-mental-health-boss-focus/156446169/ Mental health boss focuses help call on the public] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007091308/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-paducah-sun-mental-health-boss-focus/156446169/ |date=October 7, 2024 }}. ''The Paducah Sun''. Retrieved October 2, 2024.</ref>

==== Education ====
[[File:Jimmy Carter speaks at the Democratic Mid-Term Convention - NARA - 182660.tif|thumb|upright=1.15|Jimmy Carter speaks at the Democratic Mid-Term Convention in 1978.]]
Early into his term, Carter collaborated with Congress to fulfill his campaign promise to create a cabinet-level education department. In an address from the White House on February 28, 1978, Carter argued "Education is far too important a matter to be scattered piecemeal among various government departments and agencies, which are often busy with sometimes dominant concerns."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/elementary-and-secondary-education-remarks-announcing-the-administrations-proposals-the |title=Elementary and Secondary Education Remarks Announcing the Administration's Proposals to the Congress. (28 February 1978) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818211940/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/elementary-and-secondary-education-remarks-announcing-the-administrations-proposals-the |url-status=live}}</ref> On February 8, 1979, the Carter administration released an outline of its plan to establish an education department and asserted enough support for the enactment to occur by June.<ref>{{cite news |title=Department of Education Outlined |agency=Associated Press |date=February 9, 1979 |access-date=August 30, 2021 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IkwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5661,1224804 |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012023354/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IkwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5661,1224804&dq=department+of+education |url-status=live}}</ref> On October 17, the same year, Carter signed the [[Department of Education Organization Act]] into law,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/department-education-organization-act-statement-signing-s-210-into-law |title=Department of Education Organization Act Statement on Signing S. 210 Into Law. (17 October 1979) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=September 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902142407/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/department-education-organization-act-statement-signing-s-210-into-law |url-status=live}}</ref> establishing the [[United States Department of Education]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Kosar |first=Kevin |title=Kill the Department of Ed.? It's been done |website=[[Politico]] |date=September 23, 2015 |access-date=October 1, 2024 |url=https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/09/department-of-education-history-000235/ |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007090954/https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/09/department-of-education-history-000235/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Carter added 43,000 children and families to the [[Head Start (program)|Head Start]] program,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ilheadstart.org/about-ihsa/history-goals-and-values/head-start-a-historical-perspective/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220025932/https://ilheadstart.org/about-ihsa/history-goals-and-values/head-start-a-historical-perspective/ |archive-date=December 20, 2013 |website=ilheadstart.org |title=A Historical Perspective |access-date=March 13, 2017}}</ref> while the percentage of nondefense dollars spent on education was doubled.<ref>{{cite book |title=American Presidents and Education |author=Berube, M.R. |date=1991 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-27848-8 |url={{GBurl|id=CZ18F-KzLREC|p=49}} |page=49 |access-date=March 13, 2017}}</ref> In a speech on November 1, 1980, Carter stated his administration had extended Head Start to migrant children.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/brownsville-texas-remarks-rally-with-area-residents |title=Brownsville, Texas Remarks at a Rally With Area Residents. (1 November 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140544/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/brownsville-texas-remarks-rally-with-area-residents |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== LGBTQ rights ====
During Carter's administration, the United States Foreign Service "lifted its ban on gay and lesbian personnel". In 1977, the Carter administration became the first U.S. presidential administration to invite gay and lesbian rights activists to the White House to discuss federal policy with regard to ending employment discrimination in the federal government on the basis of sexual orientation and related issues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/jimmy-carter-has-died-at-the-age-of-100-he-invited-the-first-gay-activists-to-the-white-house/|title=Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. He invited the first gay activists to the White House|first=John|last=Gallagher (he/him)|date=December 29, 2024|website=LGBTQ Nation}}</ref>

=== Foreign policy ===
{{main|Foreign policy of the Jimmy Carter administration}}

[[File:Camp David, Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, 1978.jpg|thumb|alt=Sadat, Carter, and Begin together during the Camp David accords|Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter, and Menachem Begin meet at Camp David on September 6, 1978.]]

==== Israel and Egypt ====
{{main|Presidency of Jimmy Carter#Camp David Accords|Camp David Accords}}

[[File:Dan Hadani collection (990045970050205171).jpg|thumb|alt=Carter standing alongside Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, during his 1979 visit|Carter standing alongside Israeli prime minister [[Menachem Begin]], during his 1979 visit]]

From the onset of his presidency, Carter attempted to mediate the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]].{{sfn|Alter|2020|pp=388–417}} After a failed attempt to seek a comprehensive settlement in 1977 (through reconvening the [[Geneva Conference (1973)|1973 Geneva conference]]),{{sfn|Kaufman|Kaufman|2006|pp=53–56}} Carter invited the Egyptian president [[Anwar Sadat]] and Israeli prime minister [[Menachem Begin]] to the presidential lodge Camp David in September 1978, in hopes of creating a definitive peace. While the two sides could not agree on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the negotiations resulted in Egypt formally recognizing Israel, and the creation of an elected government in the West Bank and Gaza. This resulted in the Camp David Accords, which ended the war between Israel and Egypt.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=841–842}}

The accords were a source of great domestic opposition in both Egypt and Israel. Historian Jørgen Jensehaugen argues that by the time Carter left office in January 1981, he was "in an odd position—he had attempted to break with traditional U.S. policy but ended up fulfilling the goals of that tradition, which had been to break up the Arab alliance, sideline the Palestinians, build an alliance with Egypt, weaken the Soviet Union and secure Israel."<ref>Jørgen Jensehaugen. ''Arab–Israeli Diplomacy under Carter: The US, Israel and the Palestinians'' (2018) p. 178, quoted [https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/4083976/h-diplo-roundtable-xx-36-j%C3%B8rgen-jensehaugen-arab-israeli on H-DIPLO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704131441/https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/4083976/h-diplo-roundtable-xx-36-j%C3%B8rgen-jensehaugen-arab-israeli |date=July 4, 2019}}</ref>

==== Africa ====
[[File:Carter Nyerere, August 1977 - NARA 175790.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The Carters and Julius Nyerere standing next to each other outside.|First Lady [[Rosalynn Carter]], Tanzanian leader [[Julius Nyerere]], and Carter, 1977]]

In an address to the African officials at the United Nations on October 4, 1977, Carter stated the U.S.'s interest to "see a strong, vigorous, free, and prosperous Africa with as much of the control of government as possible in the hands of the residents of your countries" and pointed to their unified efforts on "the problem of how to resolve the Rhodesian, Zimbabwe question."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6745 |title=United Nations Remarks at a Working Luncheon for Officials of African Nations |publisher=American Presidency Project |date=October 4, 1977 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=March 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311140601/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6745 |url-status=live}}</ref> At a news conference later that month, Carter said the U.S. wanted to "work harmoniously with South Africa in dealing with the threats to peace in Namibia and in Zimbabwe in particular", to do away with racial issues such as apartheid, and to work for equal opportunities in other facets of society in the region.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6849 |title=The President's News Conference |date=October 27, 1977 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |publisher=American Presidency Project |archive-date=October 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023115834/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6849 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite human rights concerns, Carter continued U.S. support for [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] of [[Zaire]].<ref>John Soares, "Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 48.4 (2018): 865–866.</ref> Zaire received nearly half the foreign aid Carter allocated to sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>Lamb, David (1987) ''The Africans'', Vintage, {{ISBN|0394753089}}, p. 46</ref> Under Carter an alliance with Liberia's [[Samuel Doe]], who had come to power in a [[1980 Liberian coup d'état|1980 coup]], was pursued.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gershoni |first1=Yekutiel |title=Liberia Under Samuel Doe, 1980–1985 The Politics of Personal Rule |date=2022 |publisher=Lexington Books |page=301}}</ref>
[[File:Olusegun Obasanjo and Jimmy Carter-02.jpg|thumb|alt=Carter standing alongside Olusegun Obasanjo outside.|Carter with Nigerian leader [[Olusegun Obasanjo]] on April 1, 1978|left]]

Carter visited Nigeria from March 31 to April 3, 1978, to improve relations,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/31/archives/carter-trip-to-nigeria-culminates-long-effort-to-improve-relations.html |title=Carter Trip to Nigeria Culminates Long Effort to Improve Relations |first=Michael T. |last=Kaufman |date=March 31, 1978 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=May 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531063017/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/31/archives/carter-trip-to-nigeria-culminates-long-effort-to-improve-relations.html |url-status=live}}</ref> the first U.S. president to do so.<ref name="history.state.gov">{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/nigeria |title=Presidents' Travels to Nigeria (31 March — 3 April) |publisher=U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818133750/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/nigeria |url-status=live}}</ref> He reiterated interest in convening a peace conference on Rhodesia that involved all parties.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/03/archives/new-jersey-pages-carter-seeks-talks-including-all-sides-in-rhodesia.html |title=Carter Seeks Talks Including All Sides in Rhodesia Conflict |date=April 3, 1978 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012042353/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/03/archives/new-jersey-pages-carter-seeks-talks-including-all-sides-in-rhodesia.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The elections of [[Margaret Thatcher]] as [[prime minister of the United Kingdom]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/04/archives/conservatives-win-british-vote-margaret-thatcher-first-woman-to.html |title=Conservatives Win British Vote; Margaret Thatcher First Woman to Head a European Government |date=May 4, 1979 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907191715/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/04/archives/conservatives-win-british-vote-margaret-thatcher-first-woman-to.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Abel Muzorewa]] for [[Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/25/archives/muzorewa-party-wins-in-rhodesia-with-bare-majority-in-parliament.html |title=Rhodesian Election Ends with Turnout Put at 65 Percent |date=April 25, 1979 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816194436/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/25/archives/muzorewa-party-wins-in-rhodesia-with-bare-majority-in-parliament.html |url-status=live}}</ref> South Africa turning down a plan for [[South West Africa]]'s independence, and domestic opposition in Congress were seen as a heavy blow to the Carter administration's policy toward South Africa.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/14/archives/fight-over-rhodesia-sanctions-reflects-carter-bid-to-save-africa.html |title=Fight Over Rhodesia Sanctions Reflects Carter Bid to Save Africa Policy |date=May 14, 1979 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703000906/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/14/archives/fight-over-rhodesia-sanctions-reflects-carter-bid-to-save-africa.html |url-status=live}}</ref> On May 16, 1979, the Senate voted in favor of lifting economic sanctions against [[Rhodesia]], seen by some Rhodesians and South Africans as a potentially fatal blow to joint diplomacy efforts and any compromise between the Salisbury leaders and guerrillas.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/17/archives/rhodesia-south-africa-hail-move-in-senate-to-end-curb-on-salisbury.html |title=Rhodesia, South Africa Hail Move In Senate to End Curb on Salisbury |date=May 17, 1979 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012010116/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/17/archives/rhodesia-south-africa-hail-move-in-senate-to-end-curb-on-salisbury.html |url-status=live}}</ref> On December 3, Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] promised Senator [[Jesse Helms]] that when the British governor arrived in [[Harare|Salisbury]] to implement an agreed Lancaster House settlement and the electoral process began, the President would take prompt action to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/04/archives/carter-promises-to-stop-sanctions-after-rhodesia-political.html |title=Carter Promises to Stop Sanctions After Rhodesia Political Settlement |date=December 4, 1979 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818111344/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/04/archives/carter-promises-to-stop-sanctions-after-rhodesia-political.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== East Asia ====
[[File:Carter DengXiaoping (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=Carter standing next to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping|[[Deng Xiaoping]] with Carter in 1979]]

Carter sought closer relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), continuing the Nixon administration's drastic policy of rapprochement. The two countries increasingly collaborated against the Soviet Union, and the Carter administration tacitly consented to the [[Sino-Vietnamese War|Chinese invasion of Vietnam]]. In December 1978, he announced the United States' intention to formally recognize and establish full diplomatic relations with the PRC starting on January 1, 1979, while severing ties with [[Taiwan]], including revoking a mutual defense treaty with the latter.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wachman |first=Alan M. |year=1984 |title=Carter's Constitutional Conundrum: An Examination of the President's Unilateral Termination of a Treaty |journal=The Fletcher Forum |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=427–457 |jstor=45331164 |issn=0147-0981}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Walsh |first=Edward |date=December 16, 1978 |title=U.S. to Normalize Ties With Peking, End Its Defense Treaty With Taiwan |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/12/16/us-to-normalize-ties-with-peking-end-its-defense-treaty-with-taiwan/7d53f81a-865d-4a87-8c32-a0f6f343502c/ |access-date=December 11, 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514161904/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/12/16/us-to-normalize-ties-with-peking-end-its-defense-treaty-with-taiwan/7d53f81a-865d-4a87-8c32-a0f6f343502c/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1979, Carter extended formal diplomatic recognition to the PRC for the first time. This decision led to a boom in trade between the United States and the PRC, which was pursuing economic reforms under the leadership of [[Deng Xiaoping]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=839–840}} Carter supported the China-allied [[Khmer Rouge]] regime in [[Democratic Kampuchea|Cambodia]] fighting the Soviet-backed [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War|Vietnamese invasion]].<ref>John W. Garver, ''China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic'' (2016) pp 383–400.</ref> 
[[File:Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Deng Xiaoping during the state dinner for the Vice Premier of China. - NARA - 183214.tif|thumb|Carter speaking with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and [[Richard Nixon]] at the White House]]
After the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], Carter allowed the sale of military supplies to China and began negotiations to share military intelligence.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=855–856}} In January 1980, Carter unilaterally revoked the [[Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty]] with the [[Republic of China]] (ROC). Conservative Republicans challenged Carter's abrogation of the treaty in court, but the Supreme Court ruled that the issue was a non-justiciable [[political question]] in ''[[Goldwater v. Carter]]''. The U.S. continued to maintain quasi-diplomatic contacts with the ROC through the 1979 [[Taiwan Relations Act]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Strong|first1=Robert A.|title=Jimmy Carter: Foreign Affairs|url=https://millercenter.org/president/carter/foreign-affairs|website=Miller Center|date=October 4, 2016|publisher=University of Virginia|access-date=November 21, 2017|archive-date=December 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031100/https://millercenter.org/president/carter/foreign-affairs|url-status=live}}</ref>

During Carter's presidency, the U.S. continued to support [[Indonesia]] under [[Suharto]] as a Cold War ally, despite [[East Timor genocide|human rights violations]] in [[East Timor (province)|East Timor]]. The violations followed Indonesia's [[Indonesian invasion of East Timor|December 1975 invasion]] of East Timor. Under Carter's administration military assistance to Indonesia increased, peaking in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/indoarms.html|title=Report: U.S. Arms Transfers to Indonesia 1975–1997|work=World Policy Institute|date=March 1997|access-date=September 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226181104/https://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/indoarms.html|archive-date=February 26, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dumbrell |first=John |title=The Carter Presidency: A Re-evaluation |year=1995 |edition=2nd |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, England, UK |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GK7AAAAIAAJ&q=Indonesia&pg=PA187 |pages=187, 191 |isbn=978-0-7190-4693-3 |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=April 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410051130/https://books.google.com/books?id=2GK7AAAAIAAJ&q=Indonesia&pg=PA187 |url-status=live}}</ref> This was antithetical to Carter's stated policy of "not selling weapons if it would exacerbate a potential conflict in a region".<ref>{{cite interview |last=Carter |first=Jimmy |subject-link=Jimmy Carter |interviewer=[[Amy Goodman]] |title=Fmr. President Jimmy Carter on "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," Iraq, Greeting the Shah of Iran at the White House, Selling Weapons to Indonesia During the Occupation of East Timor, and More |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/10/fmr_president_jimmy_carter_on_palestine |date=September 10, 2007 |work=Democracy Now! |access-date=July 30, 2019 |archive-date=July 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730232155/https://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/10/fmr_president_jimmy_carter_on_palestine |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ball |first1=Nicole |last2=Lettenberg |first2=Milton |title=The foreign arms sales of the Carter administration |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=February 1979 |volume=35 |issue=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GgsAAAAAMBAJ&q=Carter+weapons+sales+Indonesia&pg=PA31 |pages=31–36 |publisher=Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science |doi=10.1080/00963402.1979.11458586 |bibcode=1979BuAtS..35b..31B |access-date=October 28, 2019 |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206211240/https://books.google.com/books?id=GgsAAAAAMBAJ&q=Carter+weapons+sales+Indonesia&pg=PA31 |url-status=live |issn=0096-3402}}</ref> In the [[History of the Philippines (1965–1986)|Philippines]], Carter supported the regime of President [[Ferdinand Marcos]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Carter Asks for No Cut in Arms Aid to Marcos Despite Negative Human-Rights Report |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/06/archives/carter-asks-for-no-cut-in-arms-aid-to-marcos-despite-negative.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 6, 1978}}</ref>

During a news conference on March 9, 1977, Carter reaffirmed his interest in having a gradual withdrawal of American troops from [[Fourth Republic of Korea|South Korea]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-117 |title=The President's News Conference (9 March 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=October 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011221451/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-117 |url-status=live}}</ref> On May 19, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' quoted Chief of Staff of U.S. forces in South Korea [[John K. Singlaub]] as criticizing Carter's withdrawal of troops from the Korean peninsula.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/20/archives/carter-summons-general-in-korea-over-criticism-of-withdrawal-plan.html |title=Carter Summons General in Korea Over Criticism of Withdrawal Plan |date=May 20, 1977 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816120219/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/20/archives/carter-summons-general-in-korea-over-criticism-of-withdrawal-plan.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Carter relieved Singlaub of his duties on May 21.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/22/archives/carter-disciplines-gen-singlaub-who-attacked-his-policy-on-korea.html |title=Carter Disciplines Gen. Singlaub, Who Attacked His Policy on Korea |first=Bernard |last=Weinraub |work=The New York Times |date=May 22, 1977 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816085328/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/22/archives/carter-disciplines-gen-singlaub-who-attacked-his-policy-on-korea.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914937,00.html |title=Armed Forces: General on the Carpet |date=May 30, 1977 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |magazine=Time |archive-date=October 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014033517/https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914937,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

During a news conference on May 26, 1977, Carter said South Korea could defend itself with reduced American troops in case of conflict.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/27/archives/carter-defends-plan-to-reduce-forces-in-korea-carer-defends-plan-to.html |title=Carter Defends Plan to Reduce Forces in Korea |date=May 27, 1977 |access-date=September 9, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=July 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702233520/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/27/archives/carter-defends-plan-to-reduce-forces-in-korea-carer-defends-plan-to.html |url-status=live}}</ref> From June 30 to July 1, 1979, Carter held meetings with [[president of South Korea]] [[Park Chung Hee]] for a discussion on relations between the U.S. and South Korea as well as Carter's interest in preserving his policy of worldwide tension reduction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/seoul-republic-korea-joint-communique-issued-the-conclusion-meetings-with-president-park |title=Seoul, Republic of Korea Joint Communiqué Issued at the Conclusion of Meetings With President Park. (1 July 1979) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140609/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/seoul-republic-korea-joint-communique-issued-the-conclusion-meetings-with-president-park |url-status=live}}</ref> On April 21, 1978, Carter announced a reduction in American troops in South Korea scheduled to be released by the end of the year by two-thirds, citing lack of action by Congress in regard to a compensatory aid package for the South Korean government.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/22/archives/carter-cuts-total-of-us-troops-to-leave-south-korea-this-year.html |title=Carter Cuts Total of U.S. Troops To Leave South Korea This Year (21 April 1978) |first=Terence |last=Smith |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 22, 1978 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816183234/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/22/archives/carter-cuts-total-of-us-troops-to-leave-south-korea-this-year.html |url-status=live}}</ref> He supported South Korean President [[Chun Doo-hwan]] during the suppression of the [[Gwangju Uprising]] in May 1980.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kim |first1=In Jeong |last2=Shorrock |first2=Tim |title=2 Days in May That Shattered Korean Democracy |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/world/two-days-in-may-that-shattered-korean-democracy/ |access-date=August 21, 2023 |work=The Nation |date=May 28, 2020 |archive-date=March 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331014141/https://www.thenation.com/article/world/two-days-in-may-that-shattered-korean-democracy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> South Korean pro-democracy activist [[Kim Dae-jung]] was sentenced to death in September 1980, but his sentence was commuted after the intervention of presidents Carter and Reagan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//dc.html?doc=3696543-Document-16-Memorandum-of-Conversation-National|title=The National Security Archive|website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu|access-date=November 21, 2019|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309055036/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//dc.html?doc=3696543-Document-16-Memorandum-of-Conversation-National|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Iran ====
{{main|Iran hostage crisis}}
[[File:Jimmy Carter with King Hussein of Jordan the Shah of Iran and Shahbanou of Iran - NARA - 177332 04.jpg|thumb|alt=Carter standing alongside King Hussein and the Shah of Iran|Carter with [[King Hussein]] of Jordan, the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] and [[Farah Pahlavi|Shahbanou]] of [[Pahlavi Iran|Iran]] in 1977]]
On November 15, 1977, Carter pledged that his administration would continue positive relations between the U.S. and Iran, calling its contemporary status "strong, stable and progressive".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/16/archives/carter-lauds-shah-on-his-leadership-assures-visitor-us-will.html |title=Carter Lauds Shah On His Leadership |date=November 16, 1977 |access-date=August 30, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=July 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702235156/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/16/archives/carter-lauds-shah-on-his-leadership-assures-visitor-us-will.html |url-status=live}}</ref> On December 31, 1977, he called Iran under the Shah an "island of stability".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vandvreader.org/jimmy-carter-toasts-the-shah-31-december-1977/|title=Jimmy Carter Toasts the Shah|date=December 31, 1977|work=Voices and Visions|access-date=March 24, 2023|archive-date=March 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324205948/https://vandvreader.org/jimmy-carter-toasts-the-shah-31-december-1977/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Making of US Foreign Policy |date=1997 |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=72}}</ref> Carter praised the Shah's "great leadership" and spoke of "personal friendship" between them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gill Guererro |first1=Javier |title=The Carter Administration and the Fall of Iran's Pahlavi Dynasty US-Iran Relations on the Brink of the 1979 Revolution |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |page=57}}</ref> American support for the unpopular Shah increased anti-American sentiment in Iran, which intensified after the Shah, who was dying of cancer, [[Iranian revolution#Revolution (late 1978–1979)|left Iran]] for the last time in January 1979 and Carter allowed him to be admitted to the [[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center]] in New York on October 22, 1979.{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=454}}

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students took over the [[U.S. Embassy in Tehran]]. The students belonged to the [[Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line]] and supported the [[Iranian revolution]].{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=452}} Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for the next 444 days. They were freed immediately after Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president on January 20, 1981. During the crisis, Carter remained in isolation in the White House for more than 100 days.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://forward.com/articles/120124/how-hanukkah-came-to-the-white-house/|title=How Hanukkah Came To The White House|first1=Jonathan|last1=D. Sarna|date=December 2, 2009|access-date=August 30, 2021|publisher=The Forward|archive-date=March 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319162202/https://forward.com/articles/120124/how-hanukkah-came-to-the-white-house/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A month into the affair, Carter announced his commitment to resolving the dispute without "any military action that would cause bloodshed or arouse the unstable captors of our hostages to attack them or to punish them".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/american-hostages-iran-remarks-state-department-employees |title=American Hostages in Iran Remarks to State Department Employees. (7 December 1979) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140657/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/american-hostages-iran-remarks-state-department-employees |url-status=live}}</ref> On April 7, 1980, he issued Executive Order 12205, imposing economic sanctions against Iran,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-12205-economic-sanctions-against-iran |title=Executive Order 12205—Economic Sanctions Against Iran (7 April 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140558/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-12205-economic-sanctions-against-iran |url-status=live}}</ref> and announced further government measures he deemed necessary to ensure a safe release.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/sanctions-against-iran-remarks-announcing-us-actions |title=Sanctions Against Iran Remarks Announcing U.S. Actions. (7 April 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818212038/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/sanctions-against-iran-remarks-announcing-us-actions |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/4/8/carter-cuts-ties-with-iran-ppresident/ |title=Carter Cuts Ties With Iran |date=April 8, 1980 |access-date=August 30, 2021 |newspaper=The Harvard Crimson |archive-date=August 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809084016/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/4/8/carter-cuts-ties-with-iran-ppresident/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

On April 24, 1980, Carter ordered [[Operation Eagle Claw]] to try to free the hostages. The mission failed, leaving eight American servicemen dead and two aircraft destroyed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-nation-the-rescue-attempt-for-american-hostages-iran |title=Address to the Nation on the Rescue Attempt for American Hostages in Iran (24 April 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818152309/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-nation-the-rescue-attempt-for-american-hostages-iran |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/rescue-attempt-for-american-hostages-iran-white-house-statement |title=Rescue Attempt for American Hostages in Iran White House Statement. (25 April 1980) |publisher=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818152313/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/rescue-attempt-for-american-hostages-iran-white-house-statement |url-status=live}}</ref> The failure led Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the mission, to resign.{{sfn|Bourne|1997|p=460}}

Released in 2017, a declassified memo produced by the CIA in 1980 concluded "Iranian hardliners—especially [[Ayatollah Khomeini]]" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about President Carter's defeat in the November elections." Additionally, Tehran in 1980 wanted "the world to believe that Imam Khomeini caused President Carter's downfall and disgrace."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Declassified CIA memo predicted the 1980 October Surprise|url=https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/jul/24/declassified-cia-memo-predicted-1980-october-surpr/|access-date=November 13, 2021|publisher=MuckRock|date=July 24, 2017 |archive-date=November 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113103809/https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/jul/24/declassified-cia-memo-predicted-1980-october-surpr/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Soviet Union ====
[[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|alt=Carter and Brezhnev sitting next to each other.|Carter and [[Leonid Brezhnev]] signing the SALT II treaty at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, June 18, 1979]]
On February 8, 1977, Carter said he had urged the Soviet Union to align with the U.S. in forming "a comprehensive test ban to stop all nuclear testing for at least an extended period of time", and that he was in favor of the Soviet Union ceasing deployment of the [[RSD-10 Pioneer]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-112 |title=The President's News Conference (8 February 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=November 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105040225/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-112 |url-status=live}}</ref> At a June 13 press conference, he announced that the U.S. would "work closely with the Soviet Union on a comprehensive test ban treaty to prohibit all testing of nuclear devices underground or in the atmosphere", and that [[Paul Warnke]] would negotiate demilitarization of the Indian Ocean with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-114 |title=The President's News Conference (13 June 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818111344/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-114 |url-status=live}}</ref>

At a December 30 news conference, Carter said that during "the last few months, the United States and the Soviet Union have made great progress in dealing with a long list of important issues, the most important of which is to control the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons", and that the two countries sought to conclude SALT II talks by the spring of the next year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-115 |title=The President's News Conference (30 December 1977) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817111526/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-115 |url-status=live}}</ref> The talk of a comprehensive test ban treaty materialized with the signing of the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II]] by Carter and Leonid Brezhnev on June 18, 1979.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/19/archives/us-and-soviet-sign-strategic-arms-treaty-carter-urges-congress-to.html |title=U.S. And Soviet Sign Strategic Arms Treaty; Carter Urges Congress To Support Accord |date=June 19, 1979 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817175614/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/19/archives/us-and-soviet-sign-strategic-arms-treaty-carter-urges-congress-to.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/this-day-in-politics-june-18-1979-119113 |title=Jimmy Carter signs Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, June 18, 1979 |first=Andrew |last=Glass |newspaper=Politico |date=June 18, 2015 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212140451/https://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/this-day-in-politics-june-18-1979-119113 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Nlc02585cs.jpg|thumb|Carter meeting with Chilean leader [[Augusto Pinochet]], in Washington, D.C., September 6, 1977. Pinochet was an ally of the United States in the [[Operation Condor|fight]] against Soviet-backed [[Central American crisis|communist movements]] in Latin America.]]
In 1979, the Soviets intervened in the [[Second Yemenite War]]. The Soviet backing of [[South Yemen]] constituted a "smaller shock", in tandem with tensions that were rising due to the Iranian Revolution. This played a role in making Carter's stance on the Soviet Union more assertive, a shift that finalized with the impending Soviet-Afghan War.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jimmy Carter and the Second Yemenite War: A Smaller Shock of 1979?|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/jimmy-carter-and-second-yemenite-war-smaller-shock-1979|access-date=November 21, 2021|publisher=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]|archive-date=November 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122053035/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/jimmy-carter-and-second-yemenite-war-smaller-shock-1979|url-status=live}}</ref>

In his [[1980 State of the Union Address]], Carter emphasized the significance of relations between the two regions: "Now, as during the last 3½ decades, the relationship between our country, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union is the most critical factor in determining whether the world will live at peace or be engulfed in global conflict."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=33079 |title=The State of the Union Address Delivered Before a Joint Session of the Congress. (January 23, 1980) |access-date=August 31, 2021 |publisher=The American Presidency Project |archive-date=September 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911122002/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=33079}}</ref>

===== Soviet invasion of Afghanistan =====
Communists under the leadership of [[Nur Muhammad Taraki]] [[Saur Revolution|seized power in Afghanistan]] on April 27, 1978.<ref name="Kaplan">{{cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Robert D. |title=Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-307-54698-2 |pages=115–117}}</ref> Due to the regime's improvement of secular education and redistribution of land coinciding with mass executions and political oppression, Taraki was deposed by rival [[Hafizullah Amin]] in September.<ref name="Kaplan" /><ref name="Kepel">{{cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84511-257-8 |pages=138–139, 142–144}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Blight |first1=James G. |title=Becoming Enemies: U.S.-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979–1988 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4422-0830-8 |pages=69–70}}</ref> Amin was considered a "brutal psychopath" by foreign observers and had lost control of much of the country, prompting the Soviet Union to [[Soviet–Afghan War|invade Afghanistan]] on December 24, 1979, execute Amin, and install [[Babrak Karmal]] as president.<ref name="Kaplan" /><ref name="Kepel" />

[[File:Carter and Begin, September 5, 1978 (10729514294).jpg|thumb|alt=Carter, Begin, and Brzezinski walking together outside.|Carter, Begin, and [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] in September 1978]]In the West, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was considered a threat to global security and the oil supplies of the [[Persian Gulf]], as well as the existence of Pakistan.<ref name="Kepel" /><ref name="Riedel">{{cite book |author-link=Bruce Riedel |last=Riedel |first=Bruce |title=What We Won: America's Secret War in Afghanistan, 1979–1989 |publisher=[[Brookings Institution]] Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-8157-2595-4 |pages=ix–xi, 21–22, 93, 98–99, 105}}</ref> These concerns led Carter to expand collaboration between the CIA and Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI), which had begun in July 1979, when the CIA started providing $695,000 worth of non-lethal assistance to the [[Afghan mujahideen]].<ref name="Tobin 2020" /> The modest scope of this early collaboration was likely influenced by the understanding, later recounted by CIA official [[Robert Gates]], "that a substantial U.S. covert aid program" might have "raise[d] the stakes", thereby causing "the Soviets to intervene more directly and vigorously than otherwise intended."<ref name="Riedel" /><ref name="Gates">{{cite book |last=Gates |first=Bob |title=From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4165-4336-7 |pages=145–147}} When asked whether he expected that the revelations in his memoir would inspire the conspiracy theories surrounding the U.S. aid program, Gates replied: "No, because there was no basis in fact for an allegation the administration tried to draw the Soviets into Afghanistan militarily." See Gates, email communication with John Bernell White Jr., October 15, 2011, as cited in {{cite thesis |last=White |first=John Bernell |url=https://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04252012-175722/unrestricted/WHITE_THESIS.pdf |title=The Strategic Mind Of Zbigniew Brzezinski: How A Native Pole Used Afghanistan To Protect His Homeland |date=May 2012 |pages=45–46, 82 |access-date=September 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304022857/https://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04252012-175722/unrestricted/WHITE_THESIS.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016}} cf. {{cite book |author-link=Steve Coll |last=Coll |first=Steve |title=Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 |url=https://archive.org/details/ghostwarssecreth00coll |url-access=registration |publisher=Penguin |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-59420-007-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ghostwarssecreth00coll/page/581 581] |quote=Contemporary memos—particularly those written in the first days after the Soviet invasion—make clear that while Brzezinski was determined to confront the Soviets in Afghanistan through covert action, he was also very worried the Soviets would prevail.{{spaces}}... Given this evidence and the enormous political and security costs that the invasion imposed on the Carter administration, any claim that Brzezinski lured the Soviets into Afghanistan warrants deep skepticism.}}</ref>[[File:King Khaled (10168117694).jpg|thumb|alt=Carter standing next to King Khalid|King [[Khalid of Saudi Arabia]] and Carter in October 1978|left]]

According to a 2020 review of declassified U.S. documents by Conor Tobin in the journal ''[[Diplomatic History (journal)|Diplomatic History]]'': <blockquote>The primary significance of this small-scale aid was in creating constructive links with dissidents through Pakistan's ISI that could be utilized in the case of an overt Soviet intervention ... The small-scale covert program that developed ''in response'' to the increasing Soviet influence was part of a contingency plan ''if'' the Soviets did intervene militarily, as Washington would be in a better position to make it difficult for them to consolidate their position, but not designed to induce an intervention.<ref name="Tobin 2020">{{cite journal|last=Tobin|first=Conor|title=The Myth of the 'Afghan Trap': Zbigniew Brzezinski and Afghanistan, 1978–1979|journal=[[Diplomatic History (journal)|Diplomatic History]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|volume=44|issue=2|date=April 2020|pages=237–264|doi=10.1093/dh/dhz065|doi-access=free}}</ref></blockquote>

On December 28, 1979, Carter signed a presidential finding explicitly allowing the CIA to transfer "lethal military equipment either directly or through third countries to the Afghan opponents of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan" and to arrange "selective training, conducted outside of Afghanistan, in the use of such equipment either directly or via third country intermediation."<ref name="Tobin 2020" /> His finding defined the CIA's mission as "harassment" of Soviet troops; at the time, "this was not a war the CIA expected to win outright on the battlefield," in the words of [[Steve Coll]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=[[Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001]]|publisher=[[Penguin Group]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-59420-007-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/ghostwarssecreth00coll/page/58 58]|author-link=Steve Coll}}</ref>

Carter was determined to respond harshly to what he considered a dangerous provocation. In a televised speech on January 23, 1980, he announced sanctions on the Soviet Union, promised renewed aid and registration to Pakistan and the [[Selective Service System]], and [[Carter Doctrine|committed the U.S. to the Persian Gulf's defense]].<ref name="Riedel" /><ref name="Gates" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=James |title=Jimmy Carter State of the Union Address 1980 (23 January 1980) |url=https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015134701/https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml |archive-date=October 15, 2004 |website=Selected Speeches of Jimmy Carter |publisher=Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum |access-date=May 30, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jimmy Carter: The State of the Union Address Delivered Before a Joint Session of the Congress |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=33079 |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-date=December 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161214111712/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=33079 |url-status=live}}</ref> Carter imposed an embargo on grain shipments to the USSR, tabled SALT II, requested a 5% annual increase in defense spending,{{sfn|Zelizer|2010|p=103}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leuchtenburg |first1=William E. |title=The American President |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-517616-2 |page=577 |chapter=Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter}}</ref> and called for a boycott of the [[1980 Summer Olympics]] in Moscow, which was ultimately joined by 65 other nations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eaton|first1=Joseph|date=November 2016|title=Reconsidering the 1980 Moscow Olympic Boycott: American Sports Diplomacy in East Asian Perspective|journal=Diplomatic History|volume=40|issue=5|pages=845–864|doi=10.1093/dh/dhw026|jstor=26376807}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Treadaway |first=Dan |date=August 5, 1996 |title=Carter stresses role of Olympics in promoting global harmony |url=https://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1996/August/ERaug.5/8_5_96carter.html |journal=Emory Report |volume=48 |issue=37 |access-date=April 12, 2023 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622182355/https://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1996/August/ERaug.5/8_5_96carter.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Toohey |first=Kristine |title=The Olympic Games: A Social Science Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywy9aslk3M8C&pg=PA100 |date=November 8, 2007 |publisher=CABI |isbn=978-1-84593-355-5 |page=100 |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705120119/https://books.google.com/books?id=ywy9aslk3M8C&pg=PA100 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In early 1980, Carter determined the thrust of U.S. policy for the duration of the war: he initiated [[Operation Cyclone|a program to arm the mujahideen through Pakistan's ISI]] and secured a pledge from Saudi Arabia to match U.S. funding for this purpose. Despite huge expenditure, the Soviet Union was unable to quell the insurgency and [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|withdrew from Afghanistan]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite book | last = Gaddis|first = John Lewis | title = We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History | date = 1997 | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-878070-0}}</ref><ref name="Riedel" /> The routing of U.S. aid through Pakistan led to some controversy, as weapons sent to [[Karachi]] were frequently controlled by Pakistan, whose government influenced which rebels received assistance. Despite this, Carter has expressed no regret over his decision to support what he considered the Afghan freedom fighters.<ref name="Riedel" />

==== International trips ====
{{further|List of international presidential trips made by Jimmy Carter}}
[[File:US President Jimmy Carter Presidential Trips.PNG|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Every country visited by Carter as president, highlighted in purple.|Countries visited by Carter during his presidency]]

Carter made twelve international trips to 25 countries as president.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/carter-jimmy |title=Travels of President Jimmy Carter |work=U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=December 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231091716/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/carter-jimmy |url-status=live}}</ref> He was the first president to make a state visit to Sub-Saharan Africa when he went to Nigeria in 1978.<ref name="history.state.gov" /> He made several trips to the Middle East to broker peace negotiations. His visit to [[Pahlavi Iran|Iran]] from December 31, 1977, to January 1, 1978, took place less than a year before the overthrow of [[Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.realclearworld.com/lists/presidential_visits/carter_iran.html |title=Most Important Presidential Visits: No. 7 Jimmy Carter – Iran |website=realclearworld |access-date=May 24, 2016 |archive-date=June 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601144811/https://www.realclearworld.com/lists/presidential_visits/carter_iran.html |url-status=live}}</ref> 
Carter gave his "[[Island of Stability (speech)|Island of Stability]]" speech during this visit.

=== Allegations and investigations ===
On September 21, 1977, the Carter administration's OMB director [[Bert Lance]] resigned amid allegations of improper banking activities before his tenure.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/politics/bert-lance-carter-adviser-dies-at-82.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/politics/bert-lance-carter-adviser-dies-at-82.html |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Bert Lance, Carter Adviser, Dies at 82|first1=Robert D. Jr.|last1=Hershey |date=August 15, 2013|access-date=September 1, 2021|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[United States Attorney General]] [[Griffin Bell]] appointed [[Paul J. Curran]] as a special counsel to investigate loans made to the peanut business Carter owned by a bank controlled by Lance,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916712-1,00.html |title=I Have a Job to Do |date=April 2, 1979 |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025175059/https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916712-1,00.html|archive-date=October 25, 2012 |access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref>{{efn|Curran also investigated President Jimmy Carter's family peanut business for the Justice Department in 1979, and thus became the first lawyer to examine a sitting president under oath.}} and Carter became the first sitting president to testify under oath as part of an investigation of him.<ref>{{cite news |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |author-link=Robert D. McFadden |date=September 6, 2008 |title=Paul Curran, 75, Corruption Foe, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/nyregion/07curran.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425033130/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/nyregion/07curran.html |archive-date=April 25, 2009 |access-date=September 6, 2008 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Paul J. Curran, Special Counsel, Litigation, Kaye Scholer. |url=https://www.kayescholer.com/web.nsf/sl/96D840B79AF05CE785256CE20076DA99 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051018150259/https://www.kayescholer.com/web.nsf/sl/96D840B79AF05CE785256CE20076DA99 |archive-date=October 18, 2005 |access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref> In October 1979, Curran announced that no evidence had been found to support allegations that funds loaned from the National Bank of Georgia had been diverted to Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, ending the investigation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Carter's Business Cleared in Inquiry on Campaign Funds |last=Pound |first=Edward T. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/17/archives/carters-business-cleared-in-inquiry-on-campaign-funds-indictments.html |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A1 |date=October 17, 1979 |access-date=September 7, 2008 |archive-date=July 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722223222/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/17/archives/carters-business-cleared-in-inquiry-on-campaign-funds-indictments.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 1980 presidential campaign ===
{{main|Jimmy Carter 1980 presidential campaign|1980 United States presidential election}}
[[File:Presidential Debate with Ronald Reagan and President Carter, October 28, 1980.webm|thumb|Carter and Reagan debating in [[Cleveland]], Ohio, on October 28, 1980]]
Carter's reelection campaign was based primarily on attacking Ronald Reagan. The campaign frequently pointed out and mocked Reagan's proclivity for gaffes, using his age and perceived lack of connection to his native California voter base against him.{{sfn|Zelizer|2010|pp=112–113}} Later, the campaign used similar rhetoric as [[Lyndon B. Johnson 1964 presidential campaign|Lyndon Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign]], portraying Reagan as a warmonger who could not be trusted with the nuclear arsenal.{{sfn|Zelizer|2010|p=115}} Carter attempted to deny the [[Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign|Reagan campaign]] $29.4&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|29,400,000|1980|r=-6}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in campaign funds, due to dependent conservative groups already raising $60&nbsp;million to get him elected—an amount that exceeded the limit of campaign funds. Carter's attempt was later denied by the [[Federal Election Commission]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Md1JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yx0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=2024%2C3677501|title=Bid by Carter to deny Reagan funds rejected|date=July 25, 1980|access-date=September 5, 2021|work=The Michigan Daily|archive-date=May 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525125539/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Md1JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yx0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=2024%2C3677501|url-status=live}}</ref>

Carter announced his reelection campaign in December 1979.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bismarck-tribune-president-set-to-to/156390552/ President Set to Toss Hat in Ring]. [[Associated Press]]. ''The Bismarck tribune''. December 4, 1979. Retrieved October 1, 2024.</ref> A month earlier, Senator Ted Kennedy had announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/18/chapter_4_sailing_into_the_wind/ |title=Chapter 4: Sailing into the Wind: Losing a quest for the top, finding a new freedom |author=Allis, Sam |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=February 18, 2009 |access-date=October 24, 2017 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174031/https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/18/chapter_4_sailing_into_the_wind/ |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries|Democratic presidential primaries]], questions about Kennedy were a frequent subject of Carter's press conferences.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-975 |title=The President's News Conference (13 February 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818021455/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-975 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-973 |title=The President's News Conference (14 March 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=August 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815070107/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-973 |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite winning key states such as California and New York, Kennedy surprised his supporters by running a weak campaign. Carter won most of the primaries and secured renomination. He later wrote that the strongest opposition to his policies came from the Democratic Party's liberal wing, which he attributed to Kennedy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carter |first=Jimmy |title=Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis |url=https://archive.org/details/ourendangeredv00cart |url-access=registration |year=2005 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=[https://archive.org/details/ourendangeredv00cart/page/8 8] |isbn=978-0-7432-8457-8}}</ref> Kennedy had mobilized the liberal wing, which weakened Carter's support in the general election.{{sfn|Hayward|2009|p=497}}

Carter and Mondale were formally nominated at the [[1980 Democratic National Convention]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-accepting-the-presidential-nomination-the-1980-democratic-national-convention-new |title=Remarks Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York (14 August 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=October 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011214303/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-accepting-the-presidential-nomination-the-1980-democratic-national-convention-new |url-status=live}}</ref> Carter delivered a speech notable for its tribute to the late [[Hubert Humphrey]], whom he initially called "Hubert [[Horatio Hornblower]]",<ref>{{cite news |title=Carter Blows the Horn Of the Wrong Horatio |work=The New York Times |date=August 15, 1980 |access-date=September 5, 2021 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03E2DB113BE732A25756C1A96E9C94619FD6CF |archive-date=March 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317003621/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03E2DB113BE732A25756C1A96E9C94619FD6CF |url-status=live}}</ref> and Kennedy made "[[The Dream Shall Never Die]]" speech, in which he criticized Reagan and did not endorse Carter.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/08/13/kennedy-rips-reagan-electrifies-convention/e095b296-247a-425d-8ef4-05bdfed24c9a/|title=Kennedy Rips Reagan, Electrifies Convention|first1=T. R.|last1=Reid|first2=David S.|last2=Broder|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 13, 1980|access-date=February 18, 2023|archive-date=August 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828171503/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/08/13/kennedy-rips-reagan-electrifies-convention/e095b296-247a-425d-8ef4-05bdfed24c9a/|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:ElectoralCollege1980.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|alt=Results for the 1980 United States presidential election. Almost all the states are Red.|Carter was defeated in the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]] by [[Ronald Reagan]].]]
Along with Reagan and Kennedy, Carter was opposed by centrist [[John B. Anderson]], who had previously contested the [[1980 Republican Party presidential primaries|Republican presidential primaries]], and upon losing to Reagan, reentered the race as an independent. Anderson advertised himself as a more liberal alternative to Reagan's conservatism.<ref>{{cite news|date=December 4, 2017|title=John Anderson, Independent Who Ran for President, Dies at 95|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-04/john-anderson-third-party-candidate-for-president-dies-at-95|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204215128/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-04/john-anderson-third-party-candidate-for-president-dies-at-95|archive-date=December 4, 2017|access-date=December 4, 2017|newspaper=Bloomberg.com}}</ref> As the campaign went on, Anderson's polling numbers dropped and his base was gradually pulled to Carter or Reagan.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 30, 2017|title=Gallup Presidential Election Trial-Heat Trends, 1936–2004 Gallup|url=https://www.gallup.com/poll/110548/gallup-presidential-election-trialheat-trends-19362004.aspx#4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630070844/https://www.gallup.com/poll/110548/gallup-presidential-election-trialheat-trends-19362004.aspx#4|archive-date=June 30, 2017|access-date=May 25, 2021}}</ref> Carter had to run against his own "stagflation"-ridden economy, while the hostage crisis in Iran dominated the news. He was attacked by conservatives for failing to "prevent Soviet gains" in less-developed countries, as pro-Soviet governments had taken power in countries including Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Galster|first=Steve|date=October 9, 2001|title=Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB57/essay.html|url-status=live|access-date=September 1, 2021|website=The National Security Advisor|archive-date=September 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906203727/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB57/essay.html}}</ref> His brother, Billy Carter, caused controversy due to his association with [[Muammar Gaddafi]]'s regime in [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|Libya]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/billy.htm|title=Billygate – 1980|access-date=September 5, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-date=August 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810085616/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/billy.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Carter alienated many liberal college students, who were expected to be one of his strongest support bases, by reactivating the Selective Service System on July 2, 1980, reinstating registration for the military draft. His campaign manager, [[Timothy Kraft]], stepped down five weeks before the general election amid what turned out to be an uncorroborated allegation of [[cocaine]] use.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952778,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308003653/https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952778,00.html |archive-date=March 8, 2008 |title=Nation: Kraft Drops Out |magazine=Time |date=September 29, 1980 |access-date=June 29, 2013}}</ref>

On October 28, Carter and Reagan participated in the sole presidential debate of the election cycle in which they were both present, due to Carter refusing to participate in debates that included Anderson.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-debate-cleveland |title=Presidential Debate in Cleveland (28 October 1980) |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=October 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009082657/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-debate-cleveland |url-status=live}}</ref> Though initially trailing Carter by several points,<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Harwood |title=History Suggests McCain Faces an Uphill Battle |date=October 12, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13caucus.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 24, 2017 |archive-date=November 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104061104/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13caucus.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Reagan experienced a surge in polling after the debate.<ref>{{cite news |first=John F. |last=Stacks |title=Where the Polls Went Wrong |date=December 1, 1980 |url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924541,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009152724/https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924541,00.html |archive-date=October 9, 2008 |magazine=Time |access-date=October 24, 2017}}</ref> This was in part influenced by Reagan deploying the phrase "[[There you go again]]", which became the election's defining phrase.<ref>{{cite news|title=Other stars emerge other than those on the presidential ticket|work=Gannett News Service|date=November 4, 2008|url=https://www.news-press.com/article/20081104/NEWS0107/81104001/1075|access-date=September 5, 2021}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> It was later discovered that in the final days of the campaign, Reagan's team [[Debategate|acquired classified documents]] Carter used to prepare for the debate.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/10/new-book-pins-debategate-on-dem-028317?o=1|title=New book pins 'debategate' on Dem|work=Politico|access-date=September 5, 2021|archive-date=May 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517041941/https://www.politico.com/story/2009/10/new-book-pins-debategate-on-dem-028317?o=1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Reagan and his running mate (George H. W. Bush) defeated Carter and Mondale in a landslide, winning 489 electoral votes. The Senate [[1980 United States Senate elections|went Republican]] for the first time since 1952.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kazin |first1=Michael |last2=Edwards |first2=Rebecca |last3=Rothman |first3=Adam |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History. (Two volume set) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4hqpJEJp7cUC&pg=PA311 |date=November 9, 2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-3356-6 |page=311 |access-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705120117/https://books.google.com/books?id=4hqpJEJp7cUC&pg=PA311 |url-status=live}}</ref> Carter's 49 electoral votes were the second-fewest for an incumbent president seeking reelection. In his concession speech, Carter admitted that he was hurt by the election's outcome but pledged "a very fine transition period" with President-elect Reagan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1980-presidential-election-remarks-the-outcome-the-election |title=1980 Presidential Election Remarks on the Outcome of the Election |website=The American Presidency Project |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-date=September 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901212451/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1980-presidential-election-remarks-the-outcome-the-election |url-status=live}}</ref>