Jimmy Carter and Human Rights

The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, was an American politician who served from 1977 to 1981. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming president, he served as the 76th Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. From 1963 to 1967, he was a state senator from Georgia.

Human rights

Jimmy Carter and human rights have been closely linked. His policies during his presidency sought to integrate human rights into U.S. foreign policy in an effort to heal the nation from the trauma of the Vietnam War. However, the historiography of Carter's human rights policies has been criticized by some, including Tony Smith, who argues that Carter stumbled upon the human rights theme by accident and took it upon himself to make it his own. Such skepticism about Carter's human rights policy undermines the value of the human rights policy he has implemented.

Carter's human rights policy was a middle-ground approach that aimed to address the needs of the Third World. It was based on a new conceptual framework that replaced the Cold War's East-West division. It sought to encourage human rights abusers to reform, incentivize the rest of the world to follow suit, and enhance America's image in the Third World.

Foreign policy

In the 1980s, Jimmy Carter's foreign policy was marked by two major changes: the elimination of aid to nations that violated human rights, and the implementation of a new approach to foreign policy. The hardline stance toward China and the Soviet Union were continued, but the president also gave in to geopolitical interests in the region. Moreover, Carter appointed advisers with varying convictions. For example, he discarded the previous administration's conciliatory stance with the Soviet Union after the Soviet-Afghan War. As a result, he began a military buildup and provided aid to the mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan.

As far as China is concerned, Carter favored a new approach to containment in the region. While the Soviet Union was still a major international power, the United States sought to make China a centrepiece in the region. This meant abandoning a policy of human rights violations in East Asia and seeking strategic geopolitical traction with China. This would make China an effective barrier against the Soviet Union.

Education

The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, received an education that helped him become a successful politician. He began his public service as a state senator in 1963 and later became governor of Georgia. Prior to becoming president, he served as state governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. Then, in 1963, he was elected to the Georgia State Senate.

After graduating from high school, Jimmy Carter studied engineering at Georgia Southwestern State University. He later transferred to Annapolis, a highly selective college. He was accepted into the school in 1943, and graduated in the top ten percent of his class in August 1946. He eventually decided to enter the military and served in the Navy.

After serving two terms in the Georgia State Senate, Jimmy Carter became involved in local boards, including the Sumter County Board of Education. In 1966, he ran for governor of Georgia, but lost to Lester Maddox. In 1971, he ran again, and became Georgia's sixth governor.

Energy

Jimmy Carter's energy policy was an attempt to change the way Americans used energy. During the mid-70s, the United States faced an energy crisis, primarily caused by a geopolitically-charged oil embargo from Arab countries. As a result, the new administration's energy policies were met with considerable opposition. But in the end, Carter managed to change the way Americans used energy. In 1977, he introduced a series of energy proposals that aimed to help America transition to a clean, renewable energy economy.

Despite the success of his energy program, Jimmy Carter received little credit for it. The energy crisis was widespread, and energy prices and taxes were going up. In addition to this, Carter's "malaise" speech aggravated his image crisis. He described the crisis as a failure of the American spirit, and blamed it on the American people. In response to the controversy, he fired four cabinet secretaries, transferred several more, and asked for the resignation of dozens of lower-level officials.

The crisis worsened in 1979, with the Iranian Revolution reducing the world's oil supplies. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced a dramatic price increase that summer. By the end of the decade, oil prices had risen more than a thousand percent. With the economy in disarray, Jimmy Carter was beginning to feel that his energy policy was failing. After all, he had gotten Congress to pass the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax, a tax that was supposed to go into the general Treasury, and the Energy Mobilization Board, which was meant to cut red tape.