In marking the passing of President Jimmy Carter, I’m reminded there are some who would and do perpetuate the myth Jimmy Carter was a great failure – and the myth that his successor, Ronald Reagan, was a great success. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In 1980 I was one of those who voted for Ronald Reagan and against Jimmy Carter. Truthfully, more ‘against,’ as I, like millions of Americans, was angry the Iran Hostage crisis had not been dealt with in a strong, military manner, and thus blamed Carter. I celebrated election night 1980 as the electoral map became almost solid red. I know now my choice was wrong, both on foreign as well as domestic/fiscal policy.
The Iran hostage crisis was the single greatest factor in Carter’s loss. Reagan’s campaign recognized it and exploited it. Certainly, Americans were extremely frustrated. I was frustrated and angry. But the hostages were in danger of being murdered by Iranian militants. Carter knew it and he approached the issue with due caution. Ultimately, and after much anguish, the hostages were returned on Reagan’s inauguration day. Correlation, not causation, gave Reagan credit for their return. But Carter deserves credit they were all returned and alive.
There exists a clear contrast between Reagan and Carter in response to such events that exposes these myths. Think the Iran hostage crisis was bad and Carter was weak? Look to Reagan and Beirut, Lebanon in the 1980s, and compare the body count: an embassy bombing and then 240 dead marines in the barracks bombing; multiple hostages taken and held for years; CIA Bureau Chief William Francis Buckley executed by Hezbollah; Marine Colonel William Higgins (a Danville, KY native) hanged by the terrorists – and Reagan was impotent. The US withdrew from Lebanon. US retaliation consisted primarily of a bad Chuck Norris movie. But we did invade Grenada (memorialized by Clint Eastwood in his movie, ‘Heartbreak Ridge’). Hooooaaah.
Reagan’s major ‘accomplishment’ that is used to bolster his myth was his presence when the Soviet Union collapsed. Presence doesn’t equal being the catalyst; the collapse was the culmination of decades of Soviet failure and American leadership. That’s not to minimize his own efforts, but Reagan continues to be credited with that event by myth purveyors.
Then there’s domestic and fiscal policy. In 1981, when Reagan and Bush came in to office, unemployment was at 7.5%. When George H.W. Bush left twelve years later, in 1993, unemployment was 7.5%.
Remember “It’s the economy, stupid?” Unemployment raged to over 9% and sometimes 10% for most of Reagan’s first term. Carter, on the other hand, ‘only’ saw a high of 7.8%, and that was for about a month. Comparison of Ford’s numbers before Carter, and Reagan’s after, show Carter had a much better record on unemployment. Inflation did increase with oil prices and money supply in the Carter term, but that was inherited from Ford, ran through the Carter years, was exacerbated by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and continued into Reagan’s administration.
Carter, having inherited a years-long post-Vietnam economic circumstance, oversaw the Fed’s tough counter-recession measure of raising interest rates. Similarly, Biden did the same in his term when rates were raised. In the latter circumstance, this was an action that should have occurred in 2016-2018 in a more measured and less traumatic manner, instead of unnecessary tax cuts and exploded deficits in Trump’s term that resulted in inflation post-Covid. Regardless, the Fed’s actions did increase the cost of financing homes and cars in Carter’s term, much as it has today in Biden’s term.
Carter left Reagan a national debt of $900 billion in 1981. Reagan/Bush exploded that debt to almost $4.3 trillion by the end of George H.W. Bush’s single term. The ‘87 market crash and later S&L scandal, in a lesser way, mirror George W. Bush’s 2008 catastrophe. Reagan’s supply side economics, aka Trickle Down, in the usual rinse/repeat/fail pattern, failed then and fails now to benefit the American public. The middle class particularly suffered as a result and continues to do so.
That Reagan was so accomplished is a myth. That Carter was such a bad president is a myth. Both should be examined for what they were, and myths should give way to fact. Jimmy Carter earned and deserves far better.
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Written by Bill Adkins, a lawyer in Williamstown.
