Jimmy Carter

Carter, Jimmy 

(James Earl Carter). Born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Ga. American state figure.

The son of a farmer, Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 and served in the US Navy. After his discharge in 1953 he took over his family’s farm. He was elected to the Georgia state senate in 1962. Carter served as governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. In 1976 he was nominated as the candidate of the Democratic Party for the office of president of the United States. He defeated the Republican Party’s candidate, G. Ford, in the election of November 1976 and took office in January 1977.

In foreign policy the Carter administration directed its efforts at maintaining and strengthening the position of the USA and emphasized relations with the Western European allies and Japan. Supporting in principle the continuation of the policy of detente, Carter increasingly sought to secure exclusive advantages for the USA in its relations with the USSR to the detriment of the agreed-upon principles of sovereignty, equality, mutual benefit, and noninterference in the internal affairs of the other side. Early in 1980, Carter announced a decision to postpone indefinitely the ratification of the second Soviet-American Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT-II), signed in 1979. Other steps were also taken to increase international tension and to curtail economic, scientific, technological, and cultural exchanges between the USA and the USSR. The “human rights” campaign launched by Carter was in effect a pretext for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. A policy of increased US military presence in various areas of the world was pursued, and all-around assistance to Afghani counterrevolutionaries was rendered. The unpopularity of Carter’s policy resulted in his failure in the 1980 presidential election.