Mere minutes after President Jimmy Carter was out of office, the Iran Hostage Crisis, for which his presidency is most remembered, was over. Behind him was a disjointed foreign and confused domestic policy. When he left office, Carter’s approval rating was 34 percent, and his disapproval rating nearly twice that (Roper Center). Today, it seems that he is a better ex-President than he was a president, as evidenced in his founding of the Carter Center, his cultivation of his presidential library, his contributions to Habitat for Humanity, and his numerous other humanitarian efforts. During his term, he had a poor relationship with Congress, a low approval rating with the American people, and a lack of cohesive international or domestic policy. I believe his two greatest failures are also the two which marked his entire presidency and caused the drop in his approval ratings: the confused and faltering domestic and international policies which lasted throughout his presidency and the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Jimmy Carter was a one-term president who won on a campaign of being “not Washington” and “not Gerald Ford” (Hargrove, 1988). Shortly after entering office, his refusal to trade political favors with members of Congress, unwillingness to learn the rules of Washington politics and play by them, and the general lack of communication between his administration and Congress stalled any possible working relationship. This cannot be seen as a failure on the part of Congress, who
There were countless leaders during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, far too many to mention in just one project. Therefore, I have narrowed my topic to the Leadership of President Jimmy Carter. President Carter was a small-town Democrat from Georgia. Before he ran for president, he was virtually an unknown. Therefore he ran a “grassroots campaign,” which can be incredibly
At a time when most of the country was feeling pessimistic about the direction the nation was headed, Ronald Reagan easily won the 1980 presidential election over Jimmy Carter. America needed the type of leadership that a conviction politician could bring in order to remove the disparity and defeatism that was felt during the last years of Carter’s presidency (Sloan, 1996). The effects that Reagan’s national optimism had on the morale of the country were that he was able to bring hope to a nation that was once again struggling economically,
The election of 1980 marked a ‘new political era’ that was ushered in by President Reagan and that followed on through the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton. These presidents were inaugurated at different times and succeeded the successes and the failures of their predecessors. Having came from different political backgrounds and having unique political and social beliefs, Bush, Reagan, and Clinton can only be analyzed through their foreign policies, domestic policies, achievements as well as shortcomings, and legacies.
Reagan became president in 1981, which means that he was president of the U.S. during a time in which the Cold War began to draw to a close. (Fischer, 1997, p.477). Whereas his predecessors used détente, a more relaxed approach in order to reduce tension between the U.S. and USSR, Reagan and his advisers rejected this strategy (Authors, People and a Nation, p.833). This led to a turning point in the Cold War. Even though the Cold War ended in 1991, two years after Reagan’s presidency, Reagan is still known to have made a huge influence on ending the Cold War. This essay will investigate his actions and how they might have influenced the ending of the Cold War, by looking at how Reagan expressed his distrust toward the Soviet Union and communism, the ways in which Reagan expanded the arms race in order to bankrupt the USSR and other ways in which he tried to sabotage the Soviet economy, but also
November 4, 1979, seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran and the hostage of four hundred and forty-four days following, were the first steps leading up to the perpetual War on Terror. In the book Taken Hostage by David Farber informs about the Iran Hostage Crisis and the First Encounter with Radical Islam. United States and Iran got into conflict, leading to the Iranians holding American Embassy members hostage as revenge for them feeling betrayed by the United States. It also informs us about other events that occurred in a decade that caused the United States many problems. Farber believes the failure of American policymakers and more specifically from President Carter, to identify the severity of the crisis made for the prolonged crisis. The sheer ineptitude of the Carter administration was the cost of the US to lose it’s way economically, culturally, politically and even military. Carter struggled to respond to the impulses of Islamic fundamentalism within the prevailing Cold War paradigm. They saw the real problem as against modernism and they knew that the US was the major force spreading this belief throughout the world. The media misrepresentations of the struggle and mass media manipulation of Americans played on the peoples emotions. Although Carter was popular at the beginning of his presidency, this began to change when he was unable to solve economic problems and was unsuccessful in negotiating the release of the American hostages in Iran.
President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.
The United States history during 1977 to 1989 went through two presidencies and whirlwind of events happened. When President Jimmy Carter became president he wanted to lower the inflation rates to make life easier for the people of the United States. While that was his goal it got completely derailed. Near the end of Jimmy Carters presidency, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took people hostage. Over the course of the 444 days the hostages where held captive while the people of the United States voted for a new president to help lead them into a new direction. The people voted for Ronald Reagan. While he was president things didn’t go as he planned as well. The issues with Iran did not calm down and escalated to something bigger. After the Iran hostage crisis, the US had another issues with Iran and it was the Iran- Contra affair. During this essay I will be talking about the book called “Taken Hostage” by David Farber and the information in the book. The book is about the time frame of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the issues with Iran and the hostage crisis. The second half of my essay is towards President Ronald Reagan’s and the issues about the Iran- Contra affair and the lasting issues between Iran and the United states.
President Ronald Reagan, the man who is accredited with ended the forty six year cold war was elected on Nov. 4, 1980. Reagan won his election with fifty percent of the popular vote over former President Jimmy Carter who had forty one percent. While Reagan as a president is praised for such successes as strengthening the national defense, stimulating growth in the U.S. economically, and as mentioned before he is considered the President who ended the Cold War. President Reagan had achieved many things by the end of his administration, but just as he had many successes his presidency was plagued with shortcomings and a handful of what could be considered flat out failures. The purpose of this writing is to establish and identify the ‘cons’ or failures of the Reagan administration, and provide a brief description of each different aspect of the administration.
I decided to read the “Crisis of Confidence” speech by President Carter, as I was in high school during this period of history. As a young man, during this period of history, I along with my peers, was too busy with life (school, work, volunteering, sports, and girls) to really pay attention, or watch, read or listen to anything of a political nature. I recall the general mood of displeasure of the times, but have blocked much of it from my memory, choosing like most people, to only remember the good times.
Throughout the history of the United States, there has been many presidents, all of whom treated their individual presidencies differently. Each of them faced different altercations, lived in different times and were different people. However, a similarity amongst presidents is that each of them has one of four personality types as defined by James David Barber: passive-positive, passive-negative, active-positive and active-negative. This personality type defines who they are and how they choose to go about both their lives and their presidency. President Jimmy Carter falls into the category of active-positive, which means that he is someone that works actively towards their goals and enjoys doing so. From the beginning of his life to this
While in office Ronald Reagan had a disapproval rating that soared to 54% in 1983 (How the Presidents Stack Up). However, in 2001, his retrospective disapproval rating was a mere 27% (Newport). Often the focus of criticism while in office, Ronald Reagan has become known within the ranks of historians as one of the most influential American Presidents, ranking 10th in the Annual C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leaders in 2009 (C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership). Lauded as the “Great Communicator,” much has been said of Reagan and his oratorical skills, including his simplicity, clarity, and sincerity of speech (Thompson). While his speech at the Bradenburg Gate, with its famous line, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” has
The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.
Carter was known for aspiring to make the government “competent and compassionate”, although some perceived his presidency as a failure, historians still praise Carter highly. He strived to be responsive to the American people and their ever growing expectations. During his presidency Carter worked hard to fight the continuing economic anguishes of inflation and unemployment. By the end of his
During President Jimmy Carter's administration (1977-1981), he had seen a substantive decrease in unemployment and a reduction of the deficit, but the recession ultimately continued. Carter created the United States Department of Education and United States Department of Energy, established a national energy policy and pursued civil service and social security reform. Carter also started the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. His work to return the Panama Canal Zone to Panama received criticism from the American people for his decisions, which was seen as a U.S. weakness and of Carter's own habit of backing down when faced with confrontation. The final year of Carter’s presidential
During the election of 1980 most Americans eyes were fixed on two presidents. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Most Americans hearts were fixed on one issue. The Iranian hostage crisis. Jimmy Carter, the current president, had tried without success to end the crisis diplomatically. Ronald Reagan, an actor turned politician, had very little experience in a political position. Carter was not fit to handle the current crisis. His attempts to free the hostages had gone poorly both diplomatically and through use of force. Ronald Reagan was not very well known as a politician, he was known as an actor and many people believed that he would just act in office instead of being the