I don't know enough to say that Carter was a great president. However, I am certain that he is the only president who has led a life I would be proud to have led myself.
Everything, except the scene with the wild rabbit. TLDR version: Carter’s in a boat. Rabbit being hunted on shore leaps into the water and swims to the boat. Carter and his boat mates swat at/push the desperate rabbit away. I don’t care about “times changing” and how people used to be really ignorant about animals, I cannot understand ever being fearful of an animal desperate for help.
I don't hold this against Carter. He was not acting ignorantly. Wild animals run away from humans; they only approach humans for rescue in fables. People raised in the country around wild animals are taught to respect the animals and be cautious of zoonotic diseases like rabies or Lyme disease. Remember that the Covid-19 pandemic may have started as a disease that jumped from wild bats to humans.
You've mistaken me for a typical watcher of The Dodo and someone unfamiliar with what I'm talking about. Maybe to the first, but no to the second; I was raised in the country where respecting animals is not the "but it'll bite me!!" whine of a townie when presented with something that isn't a dog or a cat or a budgie. It's recognizing that animals aren't all that interested in us, but do sometimes ask for intervention, and shame on those who don't provide it. We aren't all that cautious running around in bare feet, we (most of us) don't kill snakes simply for existing, and we do know that dogs with rabies go stupid while foxes and cats go mad. We should leave wild animals alone, peacefully, and stop seeing them as food or as foes.
The Trump thing isn't a good example. What made Trump bad wasn't just his policies, it was his approach to politics. Democracy is important, the norms of democracy are important. No one who flouts it, left or right, in first world countries, should be exempt from opprobrium.
"The whole thing that animates his (Trump's) policy views is antipathy towards Obama," according to Tommy Vietor, a former National Security Council spokesman. Our allies agreed.
Well done. Hopefully, Carter will be remembered as a good strategist as well as a good man. And we can still give Reagan credit as a communicator and motivator, also good leadership qualities.
I wasn't old enough to vote but I recall the main reasons Carter lost a second term was the the disastrous & unfortunate mess with Iran that was on the nightly TV news for an entire year right up till the election (certainly not instigated by Carter but it all fell apart on his watch) and the antics of his crazy family members, especially his brother Billy (RIP) who surely was a personal benefactor of the deregulated beer industry (hahahaha)
Kennedy only ran in the first place because Carter was a disaster from.the perspective of 1979-80. Carter was losing support on both his left and his right.
And remember when Iran released the hostages during Reagan’s inauguration, showing the world that they had been in cahoots all along. Or perhaps showing how terrified Iran was of Reagan, depending on how you wanted to see it.
I am in my 70s and have been an independent all my voting life. I believe I have been and continue to be well-versed in policy across the political spectrum. Having lived through the above, I will say that I am better informed and have modified quite a few views on the period. I also will comment that Jimmy Carter is a class act. He's walked the walk, talked the talk, and lived an exemplary life. I too would be proud to have led the life he has led.
One constant in American politics seems to be giving the president praise or blame for things that were initiated under the previous president, if of a different party.
In terms of policy, Kahn and Volcker -- both unelected mandarins who bucked all convention -- were very much to the right of Carter's politics, and were chiefly responsible for two of the successes above. Both would be pariahs to today's Democratic Party, as would Carter himself. It is also important to remember that Carter himself was a poltical maverick well to the right of the Democratic Party that had nominated George McGovern in 1972. On defense, even conventional accounts note that Carter began the arms buildup under Defense Secretary Harold Brown and took very strong positions against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the human-rights abuses of the era.
Reagan and Carter were both voter-driven reactions to the extremism that had infected the Democratic Party and the libertarian, egocentric culture of the late 1960s and early/mid1970s. Though his own positions evolved as he aged, Carter in his own time would be a moderate Republican on today's political spectrum (to the extent that is an identifiable point on the spectrum today). The chief difference between Carter and Reagan was leadership style. There was not substantial difference on the matters of policy that mattered most in that era.
Volcker would still be a dem. Obama literally appointed Volcker as an adviser after the GFC, and Volcker was a member of the Democratic party until he died.
And if Biden's not complaining about high interest rates from Powell, why would he treat Volcker any differently?
He was a feminist in that, by eliminating unions and cutting wages, he forced women into the workplace. He was a communist in that he was steadfast in his belief in the "invincible might of the Soviet Army". (That last phrase is from maybe 70% of all Politburo speeches of the era.)
McGovern proposed giving every American $1000 to get the country out of its slump. Trump actually did this to fight the COVID recession, and then Biden one upped home. Now cutting checks like that is a bipartisan thing. McGovern was ahead of his time here.
Someone should also mention that Carter took a lot of flak for vilifying the USSR. This was a reversal after Nixon's detente. Carter was against the Russian natural gas pipeline for a variety of reasons including that it was built with slave labor. He cut back US wheat exports to the USSR and that got the farmers to protest by blocking DC traffic with their tractor-cade. The farmers made it up to DC when it snowed and they used their tractors to clear the roads.
He had nothing to do with Skylab falling out of the sky or the Three Mile Island meltdown, though those were considered more bad news of the Carter era. He was a good man, but something of magnet for negative press.
I voted for Carter as a young man. I was only marginally aware of politics but all the points you make were clear to us at the time. Since then we’ve been subjected to an endless drumbeat of bs about Reagan from the Republicans. Reagan’s major accomplishment was breaking the Air Traffic Controllers union which crushed unionism in the US.
The unions were weakening under Nixon and Carter, but Reagan applied the death blow. Back in the 1960s, there was an old joke that the Teamsters Union was the second most powerful union in the world after the Soviet Union.
Couldn't agree more. At the Solidarity Day protest called to show support for the air traffic controllers, I walked for a time next to a veteran from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, if you can believe it. Wish I'd had the courage back then to talk to him.
It should give us all humility in trying to turn current events into history on the fly.
It also makes Carter's post-presidential life all the more impressive as he must have recognized the distortion of credit for successes during the Reagan presidency, but focused on being productive in activities he could control.
Re: "Debunking our narratives of the late 70s and early 80s" You're probably not old enough to remember Gomer Pyle going "surprise, surprise!". Believe me, the false narrative was more than evident to any one who cared to notice in real time. The impressive and frightening aspect was how carefully it was engineered and how overwhelming in scope. You left out Carter's understanding of the need for energy conservation (leading later to Drill, baby, drill), the importance of the aura of union busting for Reagan (flight controllers) and the rise of the "Moral Majority". Never forget how Carter was badgered into defending a cut off in abortion access for the disadvantaged by saying: "Nobody ever said life is going to be fair" (may not be an exact quote). Carter was adrift in a tsunami of narrative culminating in DJT. But don't believe me, just read Perlstein.
Jody Powell's "The Other Side of the Story" recounts how Carter was often maligned by groups who should have been natural allies. One hopes they reconsidered their treatment of Carter during the Reagan Administration.
Joking aside, I do wonder if that 'malaise forever' gag in the Simpsons really cemented the narrative about him. I'm actually quite curious how frequently we're basically 'off by one' and giving credit to completely the wrong people for things that were set in motion before they arrived, I suspect it might be the case the vast majority of the time. I definitely noticed this in the art world, where successful 'political' art is about stuff that's already happening but presents itself as a vanguard.
If you look at the four Presidents who served during the final quarter of the twentieth century, I think you could make a very strong case that the one-termers (Carter, Bush I) actually did a better job than the two-termers (Reagan, Clinton). I've long thought that Reagan and Clinton were both massively overrated.
Well done. I was there and agree. Even though Carter was not treated well he went on to give himself to America and the World. A great man in my opinion. Thank you for taking the time to write this. Not a fan of Trumps personality, however, his policies were generally sound. I believe that sometimes we need a non-politician for some of the policies he brought to light, China for example. Thanks again.
It does help to point out the the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives for the entire time of both Carter's and Reagan's Presidencies. That may have had a fair amount to do with what Reagan accomplished. Reagan did have the Senate for the first six years of his term, but besides judges, and presidential appointees, there is little it can do without the House.
As to credit for ending the cold war, Reagan gave a solid impression of a strong leader, whether he was or not. That matters, especially in his speech before the Brandenburg Gates in Berlin. Image matters, especially in politics. It also helped that a small number of Soviet leaders kept on dying, till he got to Gorbachev. Finding someone on the other side who was willing to break the standoff had as much to do with it as Reagan's image and aim.
Reagan had acting experience, so that's no surprise. He managed to keep the USSR in one piece until well after he left office. The place would have fallen apart in 1983 if Carter had been re-elected.
I saw some twitter posts saying basically if Carter had won in 1980 the world would be much different(better) place. In reality the major difference would probably just be the reputations of Carter and Reagan.
I don't know enough to say that Carter was a great president. However, I am certain that he is the only president who has led a life I would be proud to have led myself.
Well said.
Everything, except the scene with the wild rabbit. TLDR version: Carter’s in a boat. Rabbit being hunted on shore leaps into the water and swims to the boat. Carter and his boat mates swat at/push the desperate rabbit away. I don’t care about “times changing” and how people used to be really ignorant about animals, I cannot understand ever being fearful of an animal desperate for help.
I don't hold this against Carter. He was not acting ignorantly. Wild animals run away from humans; they only approach humans for rescue in fables. People raised in the country around wild animals are taught to respect the animals and be cautious of zoonotic diseases like rabies or Lyme disease. Remember that the Covid-19 pandemic may have started as a disease that jumped from wild bats to humans.
You've mistaken me for a typical watcher of The Dodo and someone unfamiliar with what I'm talking about. Maybe to the first, but no to the second; I was raised in the country where respecting animals is not the "but it'll bite me!!" whine of a townie when presented with something that isn't a dog or a cat or a budgie. It's recognizing that animals aren't all that interested in us, but do sometimes ask for intervention, and shame on those who don't provide it. We aren't all that cautious running around in bare feet, we (most of us) don't kill snakes simply for existing, and we do know that dogs with rabies go stupid while foxes and cats go mad. We should leave wild animals alone, peacefully, and stop seeing them as food or as foes.
The Trump thing isn't a good example. What made Trump bad wasn't just his policies, it was his approach to politics. Democracy is important, the norms of democracy are important. No one who flouts it, left or right, in first world countries, should be exempt from opprobrium.
"The whole thing that animates his (Trump's) policy views is antipathy towards Obama," according to Tommy Vietor, a former National Security Council spokesman. Our allies agreed.
Well done. Hopefully, Carter will be remembered as a good strategist as well as a good man. And we can still give Reagan credit as a communicator and motivator, also good leadership qualities.
I wasn't old enough to vote but I recall the main reasons Carter lost a second term was the the disastrous & unfortunate mess with Iran that was on the nightly TV news for an entire year right up till the election (certainly not instigated by Carter but it all fell apart on his watch) and the antics of his crazy family members, especially his brother Billy (RIP) who surely was a personal benefactor of the deregulated beer industry (hahahaha)
Ted Kennedy was very unhelpful, to say the least.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686186156/how-ted-kennedys-80-challenge-to-president-carter-broke-the-democratic-party
Kennedy only ran in the first place because Carter was a disaster from.the perspective of 1979-80. Carter was losing support on both his left and his right.
And remember when Iran released the hostages during Reagan’s inauguration, showing the world that they had been in cahoots all along. Or perhaps showing how terrified Iran was of Reagan, depending on how you wanted to see it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html
I am in my 70s and have been an independent all my voting life. I believe I have been and continue to be well-versed in policy across the political spectrum. Having lived through the above, I will say that I am better informed and have modified quite a few views on the period. I also will comment that Jimmy Carter is a class act. He's walked the walk, talked the talk, and lived an exemplary life. I too would be proud to have led the life he has led.
One constant in American politics seems to be giving the president praise or blame for things that were initiated under the previous president, if of a different party.
In terms of policy, Kahn and Volcker -- both unelected mandarins who bucked all convention -- were very much to the right of Carter's politics, and were chiefly responsible for two of the successes above. Both would be pariahs to today's Democratic Party, as would Carter himself. It is also important to remember that Carter himself was a poltical maverick well to the right of the Democratic Party that had nominated George McGovern in 1972. On defense, even conventional accounts note that Carter began the arms buildup under Defense Secretary Harold Brown and took very strong positions against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the human-rights abuses of the era.
Reagan and Carter were both voter-driven reactions to the extremism that had infected the Democratic Party and the libertarian, egocentric culture of the late 1960s and early/mid1970s. Though his own positions evolved as he aged, Carter in his own time would be a moderate Republican on today's political spectrum (to the extent that is an identifiable point on the spectrum today). The chief difference between Carter and Reagan was leadership style. There was not substantial difference on the matters of policy that mattered most in that era.
Volcker would still be a dem. Obama literally appointed Volcker as an adviser after the GFC, and Volcker was a member of the Democratic party until he died.
And if Biden's not complaining about high interest rates from Powell, why would he treat Volcker any differently?
"Both would be pariahs to today's Democratic Party, as would Carter himself."
Of course Reagan would have been a pariah in the modern Republican Party for being a lefty.
He was a feminist in that, by eliminating unions and cutting wages, he forced women into the workplace. He was a communist in that he was steadfast in his belief in the "invincible might of the Soviet Army". (That last phrase is from maybe 70% of all Politburo speeches of the era.)
McGovern proposed giving every American $1000 to get the country out of its slump. Trump actually did this to fight the COVID recession, and then Biden one upped home. Now cutting checks like that is a bipartisan thing. McGovern was ahead of his time here.
Someone should also mention that Carter took a lot of flak for vilifying the USSR. This was a reversal after Nixon's detente. Carter was against the Russian natural gas pipeline for a variety of reasons including that it was built with slave labor. He cut back US wheat exports to the USSR and that got the farmers to protest by blocking DC traffic with their tractor-cade. The farmers made it up to DC when it snowed and they used their tractors to clear the roads.
He had nothing to do with Skylab falling out of the sky or the Three Mile Island meltdown, though those were considered more bad news of the Carter era. He was a good man, but something of magnet for negative press.
vital context - thanks, Max
I voted for Carter as a young man. I was only marginally aware of politics but all the points you make were clear to us at the time. Since then we’ve been subjected to an endless drumbeat of bs about Reagan from the Republicans. Reagan’s major accomplishment was breaking the Air Traffic Controllers union which crushed unionism in the US.
The unions were weakening under Nixon and Carter, but Reagan applied the death blow. Back in the 1960s, there was an old joke that the Teamsters Union was the second most powerful union in the world after the Soviet Union.
Couldn't agree more. At the Solidarity Day protest called to show support for the air traffic controllers, I walked for a time next to a veteran from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, if you can believe it. Wish I'd had the courage back then to talk to him.
Great perspective. Thanks for this post
It should give us all humility in trying to turn current events into history on the fly.
It also makes Carter's post-presidential life all the more impressive as he must have recognized the distortion of credit for successes during the Reagan presidency, but focused on being productive in activities he could control.
Re: "Debunking our narratives of the late 70s and early 80s" You're probably not old enough to remember Gomer Pyle going "surprise, surprise!". Believe me, the false narrative was more than evident to any one who cared to notice in real time. The impressive and frightening aspect was how carefully it was engineered and how overwhelming in scope. You left out Carter's understanding of the need for energy conservation (leading later to Drill, baby, drill), the importance of the aura of union busting for Reagan (flight controllers) and the rise of the "Moral Majority". Never forget how Carter was badgered into defending a cut off in abortion access for the disadvantaged by saying: "Nobody ever said life is going to be fair" (may not be an exact quote). Carter was adrift in a tsunami of narrative culminating in DJT. But don't believe me, just read Perlstein.
Jody Powell's "The Other Side of the Story" recounts how Carter was often maligned by groups who should have been natural allies. One hopes they reconsidered their treatment of Carter during the Reagan Administration.
Carter? He's history's greatest monster!
Joking aside, I do wonder if that 'malaise forever' gag in the Simpsons really cemented the narrative about him. I'm actually quite curious how frequently we're basically 'off by one' and giving credit to completely the wrong people for things that were set in motion before they arrived, I suspect it might be the case the vast majority of the time. I definitely noticed this in the art world, where successful 'political' art is about stuff that's already happening but presents itself as a vanguard.
If you look at the four Presidents who served during the final quarter of the twentieth century, I think you could make a very strong case that the one-termers (Carter, Bush I) actually did a better job than the two-termers (Reagan, Clinton). I've long thought that Reagan and Clinton were both massively overrated.
Well done. I was there and agree. Even though Carter was not treated well he went on to give himself to America and the World. A great man in my opinion. Thank you for taking the time to write this. Not a fan of Trumps personality, however, his policies were generally sound. I believe that sometimes we need a non-politician for some of the policies he brought to light, China for example. Thanks again.
Very good!!
It does help to point out the the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives for the entire time of both Carter's and Reagan's Presidencies. That may have had a fair amount to do with what Reagan accomplished. Reagan did have the Senate for the first six years of his term, but besides judges, and presidential appointees, there is little it can do without the House.
As to credit for ending the cold war, Reagan gave a solid impression of a strong leader, whether he was or not. That matters, especially in his speech before the Brandenburg Gates in Berlin. Image matters, especially in politics. It also helped that a small number of Soviet leaders kept on dying, till he got to Gorbachev. Finding someone on the other side who was willing to break the standoff had as much to do with it as Reagan's image and aim.
Reagan had acting experience, so that's no surprise. He managed to keep the USSR in one piece until well after he left office. The place would have fallen apart in 1983 if Carter had been re-elected.
I saw some twitter posts saying basically if Carter had won in 1980 the world would be much different(better) place. In reality the major difference would probably just be the reputations of Carter and Reagan.