Name:   architect - Subject:   Speaking of Jimmy Carter Date:   8/23/2015 12:56:45 PM (updated 8/23/2015 1:01:45 PM)

He did not have a very successful run in the White House:

He failed to move many of his initiatves through a congress where liberals held him in contempt...he was a peanut farmer from the south after all.  Inflation, which began under Nixion and caused mainly by the spike in oil prices after the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars and reinforced by the Iranian Revolution, continued and worsened.  Near the end of his administration the economy turned down.  And of course the Iranian hostage crisis.

But there are some facts many do not remember or selectively forget:

There were more new jobs created per year during the Carter years (and we are talking real numbers rather than percentages here when we a population and work force only 2/3ds of todays) than for either Reagan or Clinton.  Carter restored much of the respect for the US that had been lost during the Johnson and Nixon years.  He appointed Paul Volker as Fed Chief who began to rein in the inflation.  Incomes grew faster than pretty much anytime before or since.  New defence programs including the build up of submarine forces and development of stealth aircraft were begun during the Carter years.  The Mid east Carter peace and diplomatic recognition treaties were between Israel and egypt and Israel and Jordan and they still survive today inspite of the rest of the area being a basket case.  When Carter left office we had the smallest budget deficit in real dollars and / or percentage seen in decades and which would not be seen again until the 2d Clinton admisistration.

Perhaps with hindsight history will treat President Carter more kindly than this forum.  Regardless, this man is likely as good a human being as any of us will see in our lifetime.