Jimmy Carter Democrat 1977-1981 born: Oct 1, 1924 and still kickin!!! Vice prez: Walter Mondale From: Georgia

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Jimmy CarterDemocrat1977-1981born Oct 1,
1924and still kickin!!!Vice prezWalter
MondaleFrom Georgia
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I. Political Background
a. 1963-1967 Georgia state senator b.
1971-1975 Georgia governor c. 1977-1981
Thirty-ninth U.S. president d. 1980 Lost
presidential election to Ronald Reagan
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(1) Election of 1976

• D Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale
• R Gerald R. Ford/Robert Dole
• Very close election
• 1. Popular Vote 40,977,147 to 39,422,671
• 2. Electoral Vote 297 to 240
• d. Jimmy Carter's success in the election of 1976
  resulted in large part because he seemed to
  possess honesty, piety, and a D.C. outsider's
  skepticism of the federal government

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BlueCarter GreenFord
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• (2) Panama Canal
• 1. Pushed for
• ratification of a
• treaty that would
• return control
• of the Panama
• Canal to the
• Panamanian govt
• on Dec 31, 1999.
• (so we gave it back under
• Bill Clinton)
• (Unpopular - had just one vote more than the
  required for the 2/3rds majority!)

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• (3) Creation of Dept. of Energy
• a. created as a result of the severe
• energy crisis of the 1970s
• b. Carter called for conservation of
• fuel and use of alternative energy
• sources (sound familiar? Still talkin)
• c. Coal miners strike and the nuclear
• power plant accident at Three-Mile
• Island near Harrisburg, PA dealt
• blows to his energy policies

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• (8) Accident at Three-Mile Island
• a. March 28, 1979 a nuclear power plant in
  Pennsylvania experienced a severe
• core meltdown in one of the plants
  reactors
• b. Despite the scare that radioactivity would
  spread and damage people nearby, no one received
  a harmful amount.
• c. This accident led the U.S. to reform our
  nuclear power industry to improve safety!

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• (4) African apartheid The discovery of diamonds
  in South Africa caused issues between races.
• B) With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948,
  racial
• discrimination was institutionalized. Race laws
  touched
• every aspect of social life,
• including a prohibition
• of marriage between
• non-whites and whites,
• and the sanctioning of
• white-only'' jobs. In 1950,
• the Population Registration
• Act required that all South
• Africans be racially classified
• into one of three categories
• white, black (African), or colored (of mixed
  decent).

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• (5) Camp David Accords
• 1. Carter invited Egyptian president Anwar
  el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem
  Begin to the presidential retreat at Camp David,
  Maryland, to discuss peace between the two
  nations
• 2. Meeting lasted over 13 days during September,
  1978 was successful!

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• 3. Drafted and signed on March 26, 1979
• 4. Other Arab nations rejected the Camp David
  Accords

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(6) Iranian Hostage Crisis

• 1. Islamic Revolution in Iran occurred on
  November 4, 1979
• 2. America supported shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
  who was
• forced to leave Iran
• 3. Shah was very ill with
• cancer and was admitted
• to an American hospital

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• 4. Iranians believed that his presence in the
  U.S. would provide a base for the Shah to reclaim
  his throne
• 5. Ayatollah Khomeini, a radical Islamic leader
  and one
• of the Shahs most vocal
• opponents, became Irans
• leader and proclaimed
• Iran an Islamic Republic

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• Iran Hostage Crisis
• 6. Nov 4, 1979
• American
• embassy in
• Tehran, Iran
• was attacked and
• the American
• Staff was
• taken hostage

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• 7. Diplomatic efforts failed, and Carter froze
  all Iranian financial assets in the U.S.
• 8. Failed military attempt to rescue the hostages
  almost half of the helicopters developed
  mechanical problems another crashed (8 U.S.
  Soldiers died during Operation Eagle Claw, April
  1980)
• 9. HUGE embarrassment to the Carter
  Administration and the U.S.

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Downed American helicopter during Operation Eagle
Claw on a mission to rescue the hostages
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• 10. Carter eventually secured the release of the
  hostages
• 11. 52 men were held hostage for 444 days
  release time was scheduled for January 20, 1980,
  when Ronald Reagan became the next president

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• (7) China
• Carter Administration formally
• recognized the Peoples Republic as
• the sole government of China led
• to the establishment of normal
• relations
• with
• Communist
• China.

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• (9) Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
• a. Civil war in Afghanistan ?secular,
  communist govt vs. Muslims who wanted a
  more traditional govt that followed the
  religion
• b. Invasion of Soviets Dec, 1979 began
• a 9-year conflict claimed they were not
  invading the country but were supporting a
  legitimate government against terrorists. C.
  The US thought the muslims were a better choice
  than communism (can we say stoopid!)
• D. of course we all know Afghanistan is still a
  problem!!! Hellloooo Osama Bin Laden ring a bell?
  

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• (10) Boycott Olympics
• Carter withdrew
• American participation
• in the summer Olympics
• held in Moscow as a
• result of the invasion
• 60 nations boycotted in total
• (USSR retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Los
  Angeles Olympics)

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(11) Steven Jobs/Stephen Wozniak

• Co-founders of Apple Inc. on April 1, 1976
• Greatly increased the popularity of personal
  computers in the 1970s- making a HUGE impact on
  the business and communication
• world
• Apple II was 1st
• successful sale
• eclipsed by Mac

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(12) Sunbelt

• The states where
• their economies
• are based on
• sun and
• good weather.
• - travel
• -vegetation
• Very important
• to US economy
• as a whole

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• (13) Pork-barrel legislation
• - term used to describe bills of Congress that
  are loaded with special projects the govt will
  fund, courtesy of tax-payers. Congressmen work
  diligently for the acceptance of projects in
  their constituencies b/c it aids in their
  reelection!
• Ex getting Congress to appropriate funds for a
  dam over the Flowing River provides jobs (which
  !) to citizens living in Sen. Smiths district.
  People are happy about the 10 million he helped
  bring to their district through his work on the
  bill they happily re-elect him in the next
  election.

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• (14) Civil Service Reform Act 1978
• a. Included a wide variety of management
  reforms, including creation of the Office of
  Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems
  Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Labor
  Relations Authority (FLRA)
• (these agencies replaced the former U.S. Civil
  Service Commission).
• b. Aimed to reward highly efficient government
  workers and get rid of inefficient ones.

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(15) SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)

• 1. Carter attempted to negotiate a SALT II
  treaty with the Soviets,
• but some members of Congress felt
• it threatened American defense
• 2. When the Soviet Union invaded
  Afghanistan in 1979, all talk of
  ratifying the treaty was pushed aside

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V. Random Information about Life After Presidency

• a. Founded the Carter Center in Atlanta in 1982
  that promotes human rights, democracy, improved
  public health and advances in agriculture
• b. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his
  efforts in seeking peaceful solutions and
  promoting social justice

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• c. Will forever be known as the Peanut Farmer
  president from Georgia due to his peanut
  agricultural background before becoming involved
  in politics

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• d. Economic Troubles

1. Inflation and high unemployment were still
problems 2. High interest rates and a poor
home-mortgage market discouraged economic
expansion