Jimmy Carter was one of our greatest presidents

In "The Simpsons," when Springfield’s Mayor Quimby unveils a statue of former President Jimmy Carter, somebody in the crowd yells out, “He’s history’s greatest monster!”

During Carter’s presidency and in his immediate postpresidential years, many in the government and media establishment certainly treated him that way. However, once he established the Carter Center and started building homes for poor people, the establishment narrative morphed into “Carter was a lousy president, but he had the greatest postpresidency career of anyone.”

The part about Carter’s post-presidency is certainly true. The part about his presidency is not. In fact, although historians and most of the establishment talking heads do not place him there, Carter should be ranked among the near-greats or even the greats.

Historians judge presidents on their vision; economics; public persuasion; crisis leadership vis-à-vis foreign affairs; commitment to equality, diversity, working people and the powerless; relationship with Congress; and, in recent years, ability to help the environment. Carter should get high marks on all of these — even foreign affairs.

Vision: Carter not only had a vision for peace in the Middle East, but he actually fulfilled it. It was Carter who sat down a reluctant Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel and made a peace treaty, the Camp David Accords, happen — something that no president before or since has come close to doing.

Economics: In the late 1970s, Carter was telling Americans to conserve energy and switch to solar power and other renewable fuels. Had America done so, it would have been energy-independent years ago, instead of paying $4 per gallon for gasoline as some Americans are doing now.

But what about the recession of 1980? As Harry Truman said of Herbert Hoover, “He didn’t create the Depression; the Depression was created for him.” Likewise with the economic woes of 1980, the Federal Reserve Carter was stuck with believed in tight monetary policy to fight inflation, triggering the recession. The Federal Reserve did the crime, but Carter did the time.

Public persuasion: Establishment media critics ridiculed what they called Carter’s “malaise speech” (Carter never used the word “malaise”), in which he asked Americans to unite and sacrifice to deal with the energy crisis. However, at the time, the public’s reception to the speech was overwhelmingly positive, resulting in thousands of positive phone calls and letters to the White House. Members of the media lauded presidents such as FDR, John F. Kennedy, and George W. Bush when they asked Americans to unite in a crisis; they laughed at Carter when he did the same and worked to turn the public against him.

Diplomacy over machismo

Crisis leadership vis-à-vis foreign affairs: Carter’s foreign affairs Waterloo was the hostage crisis in which more than 60 Americans were taken captive and held in Iran for 444 days. But in retrospect, did Carter really do so badly? Most presidents would have bombed Tehran or the Iranian oil fields and started a war that would have resulted in the deaths of the hostages and thousands of innocent civilians.

Carter instead was willing to move at a snail’s pace using boring tools such as economic sanctions and diplomacy. The result was not one American hostage’s life lost, all hostages returned home safely, and no war. Carter’s behavior wasn’t macho — just effective.

Environment: Carter proposed a comprehensive energy plan that did not pass; had it done so, America would have been energy independent, instead of foreign energy dependent, for the next 40 years, and the U.S. never even would have gotten into the two Iraq wars and the war in Afghanistan.

Under Carter, America imported 30% of its oil. Today, the figure is 76%.

Commitment to equality, diversity, working people and the powerless: Carter routinely appointed and got the Senate to confirm, minorities and women, usually with extreme liberal views, to federal posts and federal judgeships.

As for working people, he had the largest relative job growth of any post-World War II administration, with collective bargaining strengthened, work safety laws passed, and job creation programs created.

Relationship with Congress: Congress did not love Jimmy Carter, but the fact that he got so much legislation passed — legislation that could never have been passed since — shows his skill in dealing with a reluctant Congress.

May Jimmy Carter — perhaps America’s last great president — rest in peace after 100 years of a life devoted to serving others.

William S. Bike is the author of "Winning Political Campaigns," a how-to book on all aspects of political campaigning. He lives in Clearing.

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