Years marked by crisis — from gas shortages to Iran
Former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday, led the US through a tumultuous time of conflict in the Middle East, gas shortages, Cold War drama and the Iran Hostage Crisis, all of which cemented his legacy as America’s 39th commander-in-chief.
Carter — who was the longest-living president in US history by the time he died at 100 — took the national and global stage when he defeated Republican Gerald Ford in November 1976.
The former Georgia peanut farmer would only last a single term in office.
But those four years were some of the most eventful in US history as Carter worked to preserve peace in a time where war could erupt at any moment, efforts that eventually landed him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Former President Jimmy Carter was the longest-living president in US history by the time he died. AP
The Camp David Accords
Carter’s first test of leadership came in 1978 when he oversaw the historic Camp David Accords between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
The agreement was the first major treaty of its kind that established Arab-Israeli relations, with Carter hosting the two world leaders for 12 days to broker peace.
The pact represented Carter’s second win on the global stage, after signing a treaty with Panama the year before to return the Panama Canal back to the Central American nation by 1999.
The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
By 1979, Carter faced a new challenge in the Middle East when the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
Carter slammed then-Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev’s aggression and vowed that the US would protect Middle Eastern oil supplies from encroaching Soviet power as he levied heavy sanctions and trade embargoes against the Kremlin.
Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat (L), Israeli Premier Menachem Begin (R) and US President Jimmy Carter (C) shake hands after a press conference in the East Room of the White House, on September 18, 1978. FILES-CONSOLIDATED NEWS PICTURES/AFP via Getty Images
The president also canceled US participation in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow in a stunning symbolic gesture of disgust at the deadly Russian aggression.
Carter and Brezhnev would go on to sign the SALT II treaty, which set limits on America’s and Russia’s nuclear arms race.
The Iran Hostage Crisis
Carter’s biggest challenge came just months later, when Iranian militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages, who remained in captivity for 444 days.
A failed rescue effort by the US military in April 1980 led to the deaths of eight American service members in a helicopter crash and decimated Carter’s credibility on national security ahead of that year’s presidential election.
All the hostages were eventually freed just minutes after Carter left the White House in defeat in January 1981.
The Mariel Boatlift
As he dealt with the ongoing hostage situation, Carter faced another crisis closer to home when the Mariel Boatlift began in April 1980.
Carter worked to preserve peace in a time where war could erupt at any moment, efforts that eventually landed him the Nobel Peace Prize. BILL FITZ-PATRICK/JIMMY CARTER LIBRARY/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The boatlift saw tens of thousands of Cubans migrate to the US, many of whom were criminals and psychiatric patients freed by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Others were escaping the island nation’s economic plummet.
While Carter initially welcomed the wave of migrants as refugees escaping communist rule, the sheer number of people coming across forced him to declare a national emergency in the state of Florida.
The oil crisis and ‘stagnation’
Along with the setback of the Iran Hostage Crisis, Carter’s presidency quickly became overshadowed by the OPEC-induced fuel catastrophe of the early 1970s that helped lead to paralyzing “stagflation,” a combination of high inflation, high unemployment and stagnant demand for goods.
The situation was only made worse by the 1979 oil crisis, which was kicked off by the Iranian revolution and caused an energy debacle around the world.
Follow the latest on President Jimmy Carter’s death
That year, Carter gave his infamous “malaise” speech where he said the nation was going through a “crisis of confidence,” which was followed by the dismissal of six of his cabinet members.
The axed top aides included his attorney general, treasury secretary and energy secretary.
Humanitarian work post-presidency
After his tumultuous four-year term, Carter ran for re-election and lost handily to Ronald Reagan in one of the most crushing defeats at the polls ever, losing 44 of the 50 states.
After his exit from Washington, Carter turned his attention to humanitarian and charitable endeavors, notably his decades-long commitment to the Habitat for Humanity program, which developed housing for the poor, and the Carter Presidential Center to promote human rights.
Carter died at 100. Getty Images
Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
And on a personal note …
Carter’s image wasn’t helped by a few comical incidents, such as when the married dad and devout Baptist gave an interview to Playboy magazine just before the 1976 election in which he overshared by saying that at times, “I’ve committed adultery in my heart.”
There was also the time Carter told reporters he’d had to fight off a swamp rabbit while fishing in a canoe near his Georgia home, leading to jokes that he’d been attacked by “a killer rabbit.”
