Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0388/03889.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 36KB | 572 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03889}
$Pretitle{444}
$Title{United States of America
Chapter 8D.   Carter, Reagan and Bush}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{United States Information Service}
$Affiliation{United States Government}
$Subject{states
united
reagan
president
administration
american
new
bush
carter
government}
$Date{1991}
$Log{}
Country:     United States of America
Book:        An Outline of American History
Author:      United States Information Service
Affiliation: United States Government
Date:        1991

Chapter 8D.   Carter, Reagan and Bush

Jimmy Carter's Presidency

     Jimmy Carter was a new face on the American political horizon. Rising
from relative obscurity to the Presidency during a two-year campaign
characterized by its hard work and attention to detail, Jimmy Carter excited a
large portion of the electorate. Carter seemed to appeal to those outside of
the mainstream of American politics, asking them in countless speeches and
gatherings, to send an "outsider" to Washington.

     Carter's religious beliefs also struck a responsive chord in large
numbers of Americans. Other American leaders have felt deep religious
convictions, but none had ever before been so successful in integrating those
beliefs into a political program. This moral approach was refreshing to many,
although others tended to distrust a politician who claimed he would "never
tell a lie."

     President Carter's first year brought him face to face with the everyday
realities of American politics. On the plus side, Congress enacted, with some
changes, the Administration's revision of the Social Security system,
increasing both the wage base and rate of taxation, in an effort to generate
the revenue needed to continue the program. On the other hand, he sent a
comprehensive energy program to Congress, hoping for prompt approval, but
instead it became the subject of a continuing congressional debate. But before
his second year was over he could count among his important successes a bill
to deregulate natural gas, a part of his original energy package, and a
measure to help him reorganize the Federal Civil Service.

     Although the U.S. economy continued to improve, the growth rate appeared
to be stuck at around five percent of GNP and unemployment continued to nag.
Inflation, a stubborn problem over the past 10 years, worsened. Carter
initiated a comprehensive anti-inflation program, placing heavy emphasis on
voluntary cooperation between government, business and labor to restrict price
and wage rises. In another move to strengthen the U.S. dollar, the Carter
Administration set up a $30,000 million coordinated market intervention
facility in cooperation with three other countries. He urged expansion of U.S.
exports and congressional approval of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations.

     In his foreign policy, Mr. Carter stunned many diplomats by announcing
that United States relations with other nations would be based on a concern
for the rights of humans-the Carter "human rights" doctrine. The policy
brought charges of interference in internal affairs of other nations from some
governments, but was well received by the majority of world leaders.

     He could count among his victories the ratification of the Panama Canal
Treaty which guarantees the neutrality of the Canal after the year 2000. The
ten-mile strip across the isthmus which contains the Canal had been
administered by the United States. Some Americans accused the Administration
of attempting to "give away" a valuable resource. The Administration's
position was that the Canal was a resource of Panama which would guarantee
American interests in its operation. After one of the most intensive lobbying
efforts undertaken by the White House, the President won the necessary
approval of the Senate and the historic treaty documents were signed.

     January 1, 1979, marked a new era in Chinese-American relations. The
first steps towards normalization which had begun with Richard Nixon's trip to
Beijing in 1972 culminated almost seven years later in full diplomatic
relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. At
the same time the United States cut formal ties with the Nationalist Chinese
regime in Taiwan.

     Carter's tireless effort to help cement a permanent peace in the Middle
East resulted in the signing of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel on
March 26, 1979. It promised to end the cycle of Mideast wars and committed the
two nations to negotiate the troubling question of a homeland for the
Palestinians.

     The Middle East breakthrough was Carter's most ambitious foreign policy
achievement. In a rare effort of personal diplomacy, he initiated the
negotiations between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin, first at
Camp David, the Presidential mountain retreat, and then he rescued the
deteriorating peace talks in personal visits to both countries.

     In 1980, the last year of his Administration, President Carter suffered
serious setbacks in the area of foreign policy. His negotiators had culminated
seven years of strategic arms limitations talks with the Soviet Union when he
and the Soviet chairman signed the SALT II treaty. Under the U.S.
Constitution, the treaty required ratification by two-thirds of the Senate.
Many members of the Senate expressed reservations about the treaty,
questioning if it would protect American security interests. When the Soviet
Union invaded Afghanistan in early 1980, President Carter asked the Senate not
to consider the treaty further.

     Militants in Iran seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and
took some 60 Americans as hostages. Unable to persuade Iran to release them,
President Carter ordered a military rescue mission, which failed, resulting in
the deaths of eight American servicemen when their aircraft collided in the
Iranian desert. Carter's failure to secure the hostages' freedom, after a
year's captivity, was considered by political scientists a factor in his
defeat in the 1980 presidential elections.

     President Carter also grappled with serious domestic problems, primarily
the economy and energy. Rising oil and food prices, a slowdown in the economy,
and double digit inflation, which approached 14 percent in 1979 and climbed
over 20 percent in 1980, plagued all Americans. It was the worst inflation
rate in recent decades. Compounding his domestic difficulties was a high
unemployment rate: in 1979 it fluctuated between 5.6 and 6.0 percent of the
civilian work force, but in some cities the rate was much higher. In Detroit,
for example, the auto industry, because of low car sales, ordered widespread
layoffs and the city's unemployment rate soared to 18 percent.

     In the presidential election of 1980, American voters rejected Mr.
Carter's bid for a second term, and many expressed dissatisfaction with his
handling of foreign and domestic problems. On November 4, 1980, election day,
they selected a new President: Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican and
former two-term governor of California. He won 44 states and 51 percent of the
popular vote. He swept the electoral votes, winning 489 to Carter's 49. In the
wake of his election, the Republican Party gained more than 30 seats in the
House of Representatives and gained a majority in the Senate for the first
time in 26 years.

Presidency of Ronald Reagan

     By giving Ronald Reagan an overwhelming election victory, the American
public had expressed a desire for change in the style of the nation's
leadership. Crises such as the taking of American hostages by Iran-and the
failure of an attempt to rescue them-had contributed to a general perception
that the Carter Administration was caught by events rather than directing
them. In July 1979 President Carter failed to dispel that perception when he
spoke to the nation about its "crisis of confidence" concerning the future. By
contrast, Reagan-as a campaigner and as President-exuded full-speed-ahead
confidence in the United States, himself and his own conservative w