What was the most important and complicated situation faced by Jimmy Carter during his presidency?

Question

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Answer 1

The economy.

I say this because he ran for office claiming he could fix the economy. He failed and was defeated in his bid for reelection. And it must have been complicated, because everything he tried made it worse.

When he ran for office, he introduced the misery index. It was a political ploy that bit him in the end, pretty harshly. He basically just added the inflation and unemployment rates together. Why? It gives a bigger number and makes the economy sound worse.

The numbers? When President Carter's predecessor, President Ford, took office in the midst of the oil embargo, the misery index was 16.9. It raised up to 19.9, but was dropping when he lost to President Carter. When President Carter took office, the misery index had fallen to 12.66.

What happened when President Carter took office? The misery index started going up. Five months before the 1980 election, the misery index was a whopping 21.98. Some say President Carter lost the election because of the Iran hostages. No. It was the economy was in the tank.

President Reagan was able to ask a question, "Are you better off than you were 4 year ago?" That answer must have been no, because President Carter lost big. The Middle East peace accords were also complex and important, but this was the result of a few weeks work. The economy was something he worked on the whole time.

Answer 2

Carter's administration identified the energy crisis as it's most dire situation. It crippled the US economy when the Arab oil embargo began in 1973, and while Carter wouldn't come to office for another three years, he was determined to ween the US economy off its oil dependency. It was an extremely complicated situation, as you are probably aware we are even more dependent on foreign energy sources today.

Carter was most troubled by the Iranian hostage crisis, and recession was an ever-important theme, but if one had to pick THE most important theme of the Carter administration, I would say it was energy policy.

Answer 3

There were possibly 3 answers here:

oil crisis
peace talks between Egypt and Israel
Iranian hostage crisis

Answer 4

The hostages in Iran

Answer 5

I'd say the Iranian hostage crisis.

However, the oil crisis was also pretty rough.