Jimmy Carter Continued
Jimmy Carter (D) 39th 1977-1981
Background
- born in small town Georgia
- Only president to be on Welfare, he grew up poor
- he joined the navy and fought in WW2
- He took over his father's peanut farm-it was successful and he ended up very wealthy
- He was Governor of Georgia before he became president
- strongly emphasized human rights
- has been a very active former president
- only president to receive a Nobel peace prize after being in office
- one term president
- went down in history as a bad president
Elections
- wanted to be the people's president.
- Carter (d) against Ford(R, president)
Accomplishments/Failure
- Observed elections in other countries
- Peace talks with other countries (after presidency). Most well known for peace talks in Middle east.
- Trained officials in Africa in medicine
- Did a lot for Africa
- Fail: gave full amnesty to draft dodgers
- Did a lot for the environment
- Signed the treaty to give the panama canal back to panama.
- signed the Camp David Accords-a peace deal between Israel and Egypt. "Land for Peace"
- Things heated up during the cold war when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979
- They wanted to help the Communist Gov to remain in control
- We sent money to mujaheddin to repel against communist government.
- Today mujaheddin are Al queda today. They were seen as the good guys at that period of time.
- Energy/oil crisis
- we ran out of supply, gas prices skyrocket.
- people blames Carter and got a lot of the blame
- Iran Hostage crisis
- Ayatollah Khomeini-supreme leader of Iran-In 1977 the Islamic revolution took place in Iran. The Islamic gov't took over the gov't in Iran that we supported. Islamic saw them as a puppet of the US. Khomeini overthrows the Shah. Church and state are one. ever since 1977 Iran has been a major problem for us.
- political crisis where US hostages were taken prisoner for 444 days by Iran, 52 of them. They were taken hostage
- Failed attempt to save them. Ended in 8 US dead,one Iran civilian
- If we gave Shah to Iran they would release prisoners
- They were released Jan. 20, 1981.
- Eventually Iraq invaded Iran-we supported Iraq because Iran was the worst of the 2 countries
- Jimmy Carter is best known for his failures as President: soft on communism, energy crisis
Ronald Reagan
1980 election. Reagan vs. Carter
- electorally, it was a blowout
- He won mainly because of Jimmy Carter's failures
- People wanted a strong anti-communist president.
1884 Elections Reagan vs. Mondale. It was a blowout
Backround
- born in Illonois
- Was a radio announcer in Davenport Iowa
- was an actor in Hollywood for 20 years
- married twice and has four kids
- Governor of California
Assassination attempts
- march 30 1981
- John Hinckley Jr. shot at the president to impress Jody Foster
- He stalked her and went to the same college as her
- He went to trial and was found innocent by reason of insanity
- He is still in the institution today
- He had a disease that makes you think that famous people were in love with you
- Reagan survived
Accomplishments
- Tax cuts
- reduce nuclear weapons
- During his second term he tried ending the cold war. He is most well known for ending Cold War
- Invasion of Grenada in 1983
- bombing Libya
- Publicly call the Soviet Union as an evil empire
- he opposes detente-believed that if we maintained it, how would we ever get rid of the Cold War
- Supported Anti-communist movements world wide
- Ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the USSR
- We went into massive debt in those years due to military build up, but it obviously worked
- Missile Defense system-we wouldn't have to worry about a nuclear attack. This broke a treaty signed in the 1970s against the USSR, to never make defense systems.
- It took 30 years to get this system opperational
Reagan and Gorbachev-Ending the cold war
- Had numerous meetings with Soviet Leader and Reagan
- Gorbachev was a hero in the US and was hated in the USSR
- We had close ties with our Allies and the USSR didn't
- China started siding with us after 1972
- The soviet economy was in shambles whereas the US's was flourishing.
- Huge deficite
- High inflation
- Corruption
- Social problems
- Shortage of basic needs (food, housing) they were struggling to survive.
- Strong anti-communist presidency of Reagan
- Gorbachev willingness for change and reform
- Glasnost and Perestroika- allowing people to have more say in gov't.
- admitted Soviet mistakes
- took blame for cold war
- said communist system has failed
- Allowed western Europe to do what they wanted
- Army reduction Talks
- Salt, INF, Reagan-Gorbachev meetings
- Leaders that tried to hold on to power in Western Europe were killed and change happened.
- Soviet mistakes
- invasion of Afghanistan
- ignoring social problems
- spent everything on military
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