Jimmy Carter - Peanut Farmer Turned President
“President of what?” (Time, 1977, pg.5) if this is the reaction Jimmy Carter’s own family asked upon his announcement of running for president, how was he going to manage to get the country to vote for him? This ambitious decision was quite extraordinary considering Jimmy Carter had once been a peanut farmer until an accident permanently bent his thumb. The only form of political office he had held was one term as a Governor from Georgia. But Jimmy Carter realized after listening to the concerns and mood of the nation, this was an ideal time for an outsider, such as himself, to run for Presidency. America was exhausted from scandals, Watergate, from a decade of conflict, Vietnam War, and economic struggles. Jimmy Carter was about to take his plan of giving the country what it desperately wanted, and using this strategy to launch him into the role of President of the United States.
Promises
Instead of focusing his campaign on policies and programs, Jimmy Carter decided to focus on failures of the government. Undeniably his emphasis on morality in lieu of political issues gave him an edge since the race for president was on the trail of the Watergate scandals, Vietnam War, and the current economic issues. Carter made promises that people of the United States wanted to hear and needed to happen. He emphasized integrity, honesty and character while promising the public that he would not lie to them. Along with the promise that he would not lie to the American people was the promise to be good and to love. The traits and promises brought to the table were certainly part of his appeal, and enough to pull him through the beginning primaries.
Watergate Backlash
Despite the fact that Gerald Ford began his presidency as the first president not chosen by the American people, he started with high approval ratings. These ratings were rather short lived then spiraled downward when Gerald Ford on September 8, 1974, granted, Richard Nixon a full pardon for his offenses against the United States of America in the Watergate scandal. This shocking event caused many Americans to wonder if Gerald Ford himself had previously made this agreement to pardon Nixon from the beginning. Ford declared that his reason to grant the pardon as an attempt to put the scandals in the past and close the wounds, this decision only had the reverse affect.
When Nixon was inaugurated, he took a sworn oath to protect the people and the country. He lied to his people. He states, “The major problem on the Watergate is simply to clean the thing up by having whoever was responsible admit what happened. Certainly I am satisfied that nobody in the White House had any knowledge or approved any such activity.” (Memoirs 646).
James Earl Carter, Jr. He is better known as Jimmy Carter. When I first saw James Earl Carter, Jr.'s name, I had no idea who it was. But when I heard that it was Jimmy Carter I knew exactly who it was. He was the 39th president. I didn't know that off the bat but after some very light research I found that out. He served from Jan. 20, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. But let's start the Jimmy Carter story at the beginning, the way back beginning.
He was totally obscure on the national stage. In the consequence of Nixon's Watergate outrage, be that as it may, this turned into preference. It additionally helped Carter that the disrespected Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew were supplanted on the republican ticket by Gerald Ford, a political insider with no moxy and an uncanny talent for tumbling down stairs on camera. In spite of a less than ideal meeting in Playboy magazine, which dove his rating in the surveys, Carter squeaked out a tight
Nixon although considered one of the most controversial politicians used his political experience, his background and the communist scare of the late forties and early fifties to become President. It took Nixon about four years but eventually he put an end to the Vietnam War. He promised the American people that when he took office his highest priority would be putting an end to the horrible war. He did what he promised and deserves credit for that. Although things did not always work out for him he came back from the events a smarter man. He used his knowledge to win the election. It takes a smart man to learn from his mistakes and Nixon did that. That is why he deserved to be President of the United States.
The 1970's was a difficult time period in American history filled with chaos, domestic and international crises, and very poor presidential leadership. Richard Nixon was president during the early years of the seventies and he was far from popular in the eyes of the American people. With inflation rapidly rising, Nixon soon became unfavorable, and with the controversy surrounding his actions concerning the Watergate Crisis, he was impeached and forced to resign. His Vice President, Gerald R. Ford, soon took his place in the White House. However, Ford was unable to handle the crippling events taking place in the United States; his approval dropped drastically within months, and like Nixon he lost support of the American people. When the 1976 presidential election came around, the American people needed a new hero whom they could trust and who could pull the nation out of its current state of misery. To fill this position, American chose to elect James Earl Carter, Jr., Governor from Georgia. Jimmy Carter began his presidency in the bright glow of public support built on his promise of bringing honesty and morality back to politics; but unable to successfully deal with conflicts beyond his control concerning domestic and foreign affairs, his term as President ended behind a dark cloud of public disapproval.
http://www.cartercenter.org/news/experts/jimmy_carter.html, Revised 2/22/2011 by Steven H. Hochman, © 2011 The Carter Center. All Rights Reserved, accessed May 23, 2011
In 1976 Jimmy Carter, a small peanut farmer from Georgia, was elected the President of the United States. Carter had limited experience in the National Political Arena. He used his inexperience to his advantage and promised to restore honesty and morality to the government. After the corruption that the United States had seen within the previous administrations of Nixon and Ford, Carter was welcomed with open arms. During his presidency, Carter was faced with a plethora of domestic and foreign issues.
In presidency, character is everything. Born on February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan, “Dutch,” never knew that he would grow up to be famous. He served two terms as governor of California, but before that he starred in Hollywood films. Originally a liberal Democrat, Reagan ran for the U.S. presidency as a conservative Republican and won, his term beginning in 1980. Ronald Reagan became the oldest President elected when he took office as the 40th President of the United States. He was also the first U.S. president after Dwight D. Eisenhower to get re-elected and finish two complete terms in office. Reagan was president from January 20, 1981 to January 20, 1989. He was an effective president, measured by his popularity and by his influence on history. This former U.S. president is given rightful credit for three large historic gains during his presidency: First, he won the Cold War without firing a shot, then, he revived the American economy that resulted in substantial growth and lastly, he restored the traditional spirit of can-do optimism to the American people who in the late 1970's were dispirited. These three historic proceedings successfully improved American prosperity and peace through strength, elevating Reagan’s presidency to that of American exceptionalism.
Ronald Reagan was a true hero to many Americans. He was a strong president who cared for this country dearly, and Reagan really proved this by his actions during his presidency. He also proved his love for country by serving in the U.S Army during World War II. Ronald Reagan also came through as a hero by fixing the American Economy that was heading for disaster just like today’s. If you can reflect on what he had accomplished throughout his administration you can clearly see why he was a popular two term president. When you read this passage you will find that Ronald Reagan took on many challenges that shaped his legacy, and why many people consider him a hero .
Introduction Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911- ),the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989), enforced the policies that reversed a general direction of movement toward greater government involvement in economic and social regulation. Reagan as the younger of two sons, was born in Tampico, Illinois and spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois. After studying at Eureka College,a small Disciples of Christ college near Peoria, Illinois, he majored in economics, and became the president of the student body, a member of the football team, and captain of the swimming team. He had special drawings toward acting, but after the graduation in 1932 the only job available related to show business was as a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 he became a sportscaster for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. A year latter, Reagan went to Hollywood and began an acting career that spanned more than 25 years. He played in more than 50 films, including "Knute Rockne"-All American (1940), "King's Row" (1942), and "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951). Early political career Reagan's first political activities were associated with his responsibilities as a union leader. As union president, Reagan tried to remove suspected Communists from the movie industry. When the U.S. House Committee. Began an investigation in 1947 on the influence of Communists in the film industry, Reagan took a strong anti-Communist stand testifying before the committee. Reagan emerged on the national political scene in 1964 when he made fervent television speech supports for the Republican presidential candidate, United States Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Although the election was lost, Reagan's speech brought in money and admiration from Republicans around the country. After the speech a group of Republicans in California persuaded Reagan to run for governor of California in 1966. Reagan appealed to traditional Republican voters. He defeated Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Sr., Democrat, by almost a million votes. The election of 1980 Reagan spent years making political friends at party fund-raising dinners around the country. In the election of 1980 for the president, the candidates were Carter and Reagan. The contrast between the television personalities of two candidates was very important to people. Carter’s nervous manner had never been popular to people, while Reagan’s charm and happy face was a call for return to patriotism, which appealed to the public. Many voters believed that Reagan was forceful leader who could get their lives in shape and who could restore prosperity at home.
There were many problems in which Carter had been blamed for, especially the Iran hostage crisis which proved to be very humiliating. He failed to deal with any of these situations. Either as hesitant or ineffective is how many Americans viewed Carter. He also had attacked Reagan as a dangerous radical after he defeated Tom Kennedy for the nomination. For his part Reagan, the charismatic ex-Governor of California, repeatedly made fun of Carter's powerlessness , and won a landside victory that carried the United States Senate for the first time in 28 years. Reagan's victory marked the beginning of the "Reagan Revolution."
Despite the national attention the Watergate scandal had gained President Nixon, he won the second term presidency. The major problem for Nixon would come later. The investigations of the Watergate scandal lead to the discovery of other criminal acts by officials including Nixon. During the investigation many things begin to surface. It was discovered that documents had been destroyed that may have made a link between Nixon and the Watergate scandal. These documents may have shown that he had some acknowledgement in what had happened. There was evidence that people involved in the Nixon campaign had been wire tapping phones illegally for a long time according to “dummies.com”. The greatest issue would come to light during the 1973 Watergate hearings. During testimonies it came to light that every conversation was recorded in the Oval office according to “study.com”. It was demanded that these tapes be reviewed to learn how much involvement President Nixon had in the Watergate burglary. The President felt that he had the right to withhold these tapes through what he referred to as executive privilege. This means that if it is the best interest of the public the president has the right to keep information from the
Carter was unable to stop or help the hostage crisis which made him look very weak to the Americans. He did not want the US to fight back against the Iranian militants because all the hostages lives were at stake. Because he was portrayed as weak, his national and international standing dropped dramatically during the crisis. While Carter’s Presidential stance was becoming fragile, he was also being challenged for the Presidential nomination by Senator Kennedy. This made Carter very worried because his presidential position was now at stake. He finally decided that it was time to take action since nothing was getting better for the people in the US, especially the hostages. The attempt to save the hostages failed and eight US soldiers had been killed during the mission. After the failed rescue attempt, the hostages had been separated and moved from each other so it would be more difficult to rescue them. This angered the US and made them hostile towards Carter because they believed that this was all his fault. During the election that took place right before the crisis had ended, Ronald Reagan was elected President. Because of Carter's failure to free the hostages, he was seen as weak and was not re elected for President. The militant Islamic students who were holding the Americans captive agreed that they would release the
Ronald Reagan was a very popular person before, during, and after his time of presidency. He went from a mere radio announcer, to the head of the United States of America. Ronald had defeated most of the world’s problems with Communism, improved the economy, and handled terrorist threats like a pro. Ronald quickly took America’s heart with his honorable deeds and doings. He was very famous by the time he became deceased. (Ronald Reagan Facts.)
Nixon was long associated with American politics before his fall from grace. He was along time senator before finally being elected president in 1968. During his first term, his United States went through the Vietnam War and a period of economic inflation. In 1972 he was easily re-elected over Democrat nominee George McGovern. Almost unnoticed during his campaign was the arrest of five men connected with Nixon’s re-election committee. They had broken into the Democrats national head quarters in the Watergate apartment complex, in Washington D.C. They attempted to steal documents and place wire taps on the telephones. By March of 1973, through a federal inquiry, it had been brought to light that the burglars had connections with high government officials and Nixon’s closest aids. Despite Nixon and his lawyers best efforts, it was shown that the president had participated in the Watergate cover-up. On August 8, 1974 Nixon announced, without admitting guilt, that he would resign. He left the Oval Office the next day: an obvious fall from grace.