Professor: Jimmy Carter's often criticized presidency marked by overlooked successes

This commentary is written by John A. Tures, a professor of political science at LaGrange College.

Ever since former President Jimmy Carter checked into hospice care, people have been debating his legacy. His ex-presidency record is secure as one of the greatest in American history, but how about his term in office?

Students taking my “Congress and the Presidency” class at LaGrange College took on an assignment to evaluate Carter’s economic record, and evidence of his accomplishments, using objective numbers instead of more subjective evaluations by C-SPAN presidential historians, who put him 26th best.

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Troubling times across the world

You don’t need to be an economist to know inflation was tough during Carter’s term. Analysis of nearly 30 major economies of the world in 1979 from global-rates.com, in the midst of the price spike, showed the United States to be close to the midpoint of these countries. When it came to unemployment, joblessness fell during his term from 8% to 6.5%, only to rebound again thanks to the Energy Crisis. Under Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, the unemployment rate rose to 10.8% before coming down just before his re-election bid.

Such tough times were reflected in what happened to other leaders during that time. From the late 1970s to the first years of the 1980s, from the United Kingdom to France to Italy to Sweden, incumbents were tossed out for a global recession that was not the responsibility of a single country. Carter was in office at the wrong economic time to run for re-election.

In terms of foreign policy, most people think of the Iran hostage crisis. Despite the pain and blow to American prestige, all 66 hostages were released after 444 days due to intense negotiation by the Carter Administration, though eight members of our armed forces were killed in a botched rescue operation. In the 1980s, 25 Americans were held hostage in Lebanon by terrorists; three were executed, and one was killed by terrorists who took TWA Flight 847 hostage, not counting the hundreds of U.S. military and embassy deaths in Lebanon during a multinational security operation. One U.S. hostage spent nearly 2,500 days in captivity.

President Carter is also well known for the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. The treaty still works, after more than 40 years in force. Is that an impressive length of time? Research shows the average peace treaty lasts about two years, according to cited sources reported by Brian Willson.

Bringing integrity back to the presidency

Perhaps the statistic that impressed my students the most about Carter was his post-Watergate clean government. They found that in four years, there was only one indictment of a Carter Administration official, and no criminal conviction on that charge. Compare that statistic to the 16 criminal indictments and 16 convictions from the George W. Bush Administration, the 26 criminal indictments (and 16 convictions) from the Reagan Administration, and the 76 criminal indictments from the Nixon Administration (with 55 criminal convictions).

Students found that Carter started strong with his approval ratings, having defeated an incumbent, Gerald Ford, and replacing the specter of Watergate. Like most presidents, Carter slid in approval ratings, thanks to stagflation and the Iranian Hostage Crisis to 31%, costing him a second term in office.

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But did people hate Carter? Gallup polling showed Carter averaged 70% in favorability ratings with the public during his time in office, equal to Reagan’s average for his two terms in office. In other words, Americans didn’t like the times, but they still liked Carter the person.

In conclusion, Carter was in the White House at a tough economic time; that and the Iran Hostage Crisis hurt his approval ratings and denied him a second term. But in terms of peace and a dearth of political scandals, you can see why the American people gave him high favorability marks, even before he left office to become the standard for former presidents.

Contact Tures at jtures@lagrange.edu and follow him on Twitter @JohnTures2.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Jimmy Carter presidency credited peace accords absence of scandals