The legacy of former President Jimmy Carter

2024-10-02 19:22:53, Kosova & Bota CNA

Former President Jimmy Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 years old, while historians are reassessing his achievements and failures during his one term as president of the United States. VOA correspondent Kane Farabaugh reports further on the legacy of the first former US president to reach 100 years of age.

When he returned to Plains, Georgia in 1981, former Democratic President Jimmy Carter had just lost. He was rejected by the voters, who elected Ronald Reagan.

"His mandate was a political failure. But he had significant and visionary successes," says Jonathan Alter, publicist and historian.

He points to what many people remember former President Carter for today—for humanitarian work with the Carter Center, "establishing peace, fighting disease and creating hope" around the world.

"It did an excellent job observing elections in over 100 countries. But former presidents don't have as much power as presidents, and the list of his achievements as president that were neglected, minimized or completely forgotten was very long," says Mr. Alter.

The Iran hostage crisis, rising inflation and the oil embargoes of the 1970s damaged former President Carter's legacy in the White House.

However, his biography of former President Jimmy Carter is among several publications that assess that his four years in the White House were far from a failure.

"Not only the agreements reached at Camp David and the opening of relations with China, but also a long line of legislative achievements on the environment and other issues," says Mr. Alter.

In 1980, President Carter signed into law protecting 40.5 million acres in Alaska.

Mr. Alter says this is already considered one of the most important environmental laws ever passed.

"I think we will remember President Carter as a president who served in extremely difficult times, who had to deal with circumstances that were beyond his control," says Joe Crespino, a professor at Emory University.

Former President Carter often met with students at Emory University in Atlanta to discuss the good and bad decisions he made while president.

"Place human rights at the center of American foreign policy. No president accomplished this like Jimmy Carter. And it was an important moment to shift the balance of power during the Cold War," says Professor Crespino.

He cites some of the more forgotten domestic policy achievements, such as reorganizing the federal government and easing legal restrictions on airlines, trucking and brewing.

"We often attribute free-market economics to the conservative wave that started with Ronald Reagan, but in fact Jimmy Carter worked before Reagan to reduce legal restrictions," says Professor Crespino.

Members of his cabinet, such as former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, are grateful for former President Carter's long life, during which he was given the opportunity to experience more sympathetic interpretations of his legacy.