Why was Carter's foreign policy a failure?

Answer 1

Carter used diplomacy to promote human rights, especially with regard to the governments of South Korea, Iran, Argentina, South Africa, and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Efforts to continue the détente with the U.S.S.R. foundered as the Soviets supported revolutions in Africa, deployed medium-range nuclear weapons in Europe, and occupied Afghanistan. Relations with the People's Republic of China, on the other hand, improved, and full diplomatic recognition of the Communist government took effect on Jan. 1, 1979. In September 1977 the United States and Panama signed two treaties giving control of the Panama Canal to Panama in the year 2000 and providing for the neutrality of the waterway.

Carter's most noted achievement was to sponsor a great step toward peace in the Middle East. In September 1978 he met with Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at a two-week negotiating session at Camp David, Md., and on September 17 Carter announced that two accords had been signed establishing the terms for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Further torturous negotiations followed before the peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 1979.

But Carter's greatest defeat was administered by Iran. Following the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who had been supported by the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran was proclaimed in Iran on Feb. 1, 1979, under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In November militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held its occupants hostage. An attempt to rescue the hostages in April 1980 failed, and the hostages were not released until Carter left office in January 1981. Carter's inability to either resolve the hostage crisis or to manage American perceptions of it disabled him as a leader.

Answer 2

Well, he did broker the Camp David Accords, which has kept Israel and Egypt at peace since the late '70s.
But by and large, he was an appeaser, as evidenced by the Soviet Union getting stronger (see: Invasion of Afghanistan) and Islamists overthrowing the Western-friendly shah in Iran.
He did almost nothing, as even the rescue mission he authorized for the American hostages failed.

His domestic policy was even worse.

Answer 3

The cold war escalated. Iran kept Americans held hostage until after Carter left office and the middle east was still unstable. He did like Castro, though. He was the father of the "Let's all hold hands and get along" school of thought that people want to try to use with terrorists.

Answer 4

Carter, rightly or wrongly, was perceived as being weak and indecisive. When the leader of a superpower appears to be weak and indecisive, other nations are likely to take advantage of the situation.