President Carter’s Accomplishments During Presidency
During his presidency, Jimmy Carter did a lot to change America. On January 20, 1977, President Carter’s first day in office, he achieved his campaign promise by declaring unconditional amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders. By this he means that all Americans who left the United States to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War would be able come back to the United States without any consequences. I have mixed feeling about this act. I think that it is a good thing that the people who left eventually got to go home, but I also think that it is unfair. These people who left broke the law. They were supposed to fight for their country, and by leaving, they were disrespecting all the people who got drafted and had to go to that terrible war. On the other hand, I know that there were terrible pictures and stories from and about the war in Vietnam. I am sure that many people were frightened. Overall, I am glad the draft evaders go to come back, but maybe there should have been a small consequence.
Also in 1977, Carter convinced the Democratic congress to create the United States Department of Energy. The main goal of act was to conserve energy in the United States. With this act, Carter set price controls for oil and natural gas. Carter even went as far as installing solar hot water panels on the roof of the White house. He also ordered the General Services Administration to turn off hot water in some federal facilities, and asked to keep all Christmas light decorations dark in 1979 and 1980. All over the United States, controls were put on thermostats in government and commercial building to prevent people from raising the temperature above 65 degrees in the winter, and lowering them below 78 degrees in the summer. With the concerns of energy conservation all around, growing concerns over air pollution started. With both concerns in mind, Carter signed the National Energy Act, and the Public Utilities Regulatory act. These acts were mad to encourage energy conservation, and the use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar energy. I think that these acts bettered our country a lot. Without these acts, we would probably have a lot more pollution in the United States then we do today. Personally I think that we should do more to prevent pollution. It makes me sad to think about how in some countries people have to wear masks because it is not safe to breathe the air. I also think that pollution is the main reason for to climate change. I hope we can do more in the future to try to prevent climate change and pollution.
President Carter also signed the Deregulation Act of 1978. This act was supposed to remove government control over fares, routes, and market entry (the creation of new airlines) from commercial aviation. This act allowed passengers to be introduced to new airline industries. However, this act did not stop the Federal Aviation Administration from reviewing all the aspects of air safety. He also enacted the deregulation in the trucking, rail communications, and finance industries.
Jimmy Carter was the first president to talk about gay rights. He was strongly against the Briggs Initiative, which was a California ballot measure, which would have banned gays and supporters of gay rights from being public school teachers. He also had the first administration that met with a group of gay rights activist. I really respect Jimmy Carter for supporting gay rights. People who are gay should be allowed to have the same rights as any other person. They should not have certain rights taken away from them just because they are different from others. I think it is great that because of him, gays are now allowed to be in the military. These should have the right to serve their country just like any other person. Anyway overall, I really respect him for helping those who were being unfairly treated.
On December 11, 1980, President Carter signed the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and the Liability Act of 1980. These were set up to clean up places that were contaminated with hazardous substances. On December 2, 1980, he signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. This act set up a lot of National Park Service properties in Alaska. Overall, this act designation over 100 million acres of public lands, with were made to be wilderness areas. Again, I think that the conservation of land is really important. I think that it is bad for our environment to have concrete everywhere and to be cutting down a lot of trees. Trees give us oxygen, which we need to breath. Therefore, for every tree we cut down, we need to plant a new one.
In 1978, Carter negotiated a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. This was called the Camp David Accords. After the negotiations had been completed, Carter invited Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, and Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, to Camp David to talk about further negotiations. At Camp David, they didn’t make any progress with the negations, but when all the men later returned to Camp David, they finally agreed to sign something. This was really important, because it really made Carter look like a people person.
Carter really did a lot to try and help the people. He especially was known trying to help the environment. He did not have a lot of accomplishments, because he only served one term, but I still think he tried his best to help the people. He did try and pass a lot of acts, but a lot of them were rejected. He also was very unpopular, but overall I think he did many things to help the U.S. Standing up for gay rights and helping the environment is really important, and I think that by doing these two things, he bettered life not only for his generation, but also for the future ones as well.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_National_Interest_Lands_Conservation_Act
Comments
Excellent job Jenna!