whats the story of jimmy carter?

Answer 1

There are at least three Carter stories--all of them inspiring when placed beside the Bush Clan Extravaganza:

(1) The president. On the basis of intelligence, honesty, insight, and foresight, Carter was one of the most capable and most responsible US presidents since FDR and Truman, maybe THE best one. If for nothing else, he should be remembered as the engineer of the ONLY lasting peace in the Middle East in at least a century: the Israeli-Egyptian accords, still in effect over a quarter of a century later.

The only problem was the enemies who chose to undermine Carter's successes; namely,

(a) Teddy Kennedy, still blistering from the scandal of his cowardice, dishonesty, immorality, and perhaps criminal behavior at Chappaquidick, could not forgive Carter his success, so he opposed him at every turn and led Congressional resistance;

(b) the Ayatollah Khomeini who held the hostages even though Carter had NOT sided with the Shah , long a Western ally but a dictator. Instead, Carter had chosen to let the Iranis choose their own leadership;

(c) and George Bush the First, who used his CIA and Saudi connections to negotiate with Iran to hold the hostages past the 1980 elections, thus achieving Carter's defeat and the beginning of the Reagan/Bush regime--and consequently the triumph of the military/industrial complex that Eisenhower had warned against.

(2) The peacemaker. Unwilling to sulk in defeat or to retreat from action, Carter has become the best ex-president since John Quincy Adams. His support of Habitat for Humanity, the work of the Carter Center in support of world health, honest elections worldwide, and negotiations for peace, and his recognition with the Nobel Peace Prize--all these achievements distinguish him as a leading American statesman with little or no support from or recognition in Washington, DC. His recent book Palestine: Peace or Apartheid, simply continues his work with the honesty, intelligence, insight, and foresight that characterized his presidency. He should be placed alongside Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, and George C. Marshall as a great American apostle of peace and non-violence.

See, for example, Douglas Brinkley's The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Quest for Global Peace.

(3) The published writer. I almost said poet, but let's be honest, his poetry is, well, just OK. But he is a distinguished man of letters, having tried his hand at memoirs (both political and personal), history, current affairs, outdoor sports, religious faith, morality, ageing, children's literature, and yes fiction and poetry. He is certainly one of our most knowledgeable informers about the Arab-Israeli conflict writing today.

And, take it from one who knows, he's still one of the best Sunday school teachers anywhere around. A good Baptist (as opposed to a Southern fundamentalist Baptist), he still teaches his regular class every Sunday that he's in Plains--with literally hundreds of people in attendance, usually representing most parts of the US and several foreign countries. One of these days, I hope he gets around to publishing his notes from those lessons. They are thoughtful and down-to-earth, sometimes profound.

Eventually there will be a good comprehensive biography of the three Carters. All three of these stories need to be told.

Answer 2

Jimmy Carter would not have the USA in the mess it has today and is one of the few Americans who may be called a free thinker.

He wondered why the USA still had an embargo on Cuba and no other country has?

He also wondered why other countries are holding $$ back from the Palestines if they had free elections. Apparently, he feels that we should respect their right to elect who they want.

He certainly has my respect and I am not a Republican nor and I a Democrat.

Answer 3

He is a God-fearing, well-meaning incompetent. Unfortunately, the first two qualities do not contribute to being a good president.

He epitomizes the third quality about as well as we could expect anyone to do. He set a standard there which will be hard to beat.

There must certainly be presidents who were equally or more inept, but nobody jumps to mind in modern times. John Kerry might have had a good shot at it but he didn't get elected.

Answer 4

a president with some good ideas. if we had listened to some of his ideas(alternate energy),we wouldn't have some of the problems we have today. he is blamed for problems he inherited from ford,who inherited them from nixon. oil shortages,high inflation and high unemployment. he is blamed for amnesty,which only took fords pardons further. he is blamed for the hostages although reagan undermined his authority and negotiated behind carters back,using the hostages as a political tool. he formed a lasting treaty in the ME. isreal and egypt. camp david

Answer 5

A horrifcally unqualified socialist weasel mysteriously pummeled through the wall of common sense to become the biggest disaster of a president in my lifetime. Living proof that the president the CFR wants, the CFR gets.