President Carter championed human rights during his presidency,
which frequently brought him into conflict with the Soviet Union.
His approach, however, earned him several foreign policy achieve-
ments, the most important of which are the Panama Canal treaties in
1977, the Camp David Accordsin 1978, the treaty of peace between
Israel and Egypt in 1978, and the establishment of full diplomatic re-
lations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a move that
built upon the work of his predecessors. Carter also concluded the ne-
gotiations for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)II with
the Soviet Union.
Despite these achievements, President Carter’s presidency also ex-
perienced some serious foreign policy setbacks. The Sandinista
regime came to power in Nicaragua in 1979, and the Soviet invasion
of Afghanistanin 1979, which U.S. intelligence failed to foresee,
caused the suspension of plans to ratify the SALTII pact. Moscow’s
move into Afghanistan also prompted President Carter to issue a
trade embargo for the Soviet Union and to boycott the 1980 Moscow
Summer Olympic Games.
U.S. intelligence also failed to anticipate the 1979 Iranian revolu-
tion because it lacked human assets in Iranwho could have given
American intelligence the necessary information. Director of Central
Intelligence (DCI) Stansfield Turnerhad previously fired a signifi-
cant portion of clandestine operatives of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) because he believed that national technical means,
especially the use of satellites, made human intelligence (HUMINT)
less important for the U.S. intelligence effort. DCI Turner undoubt-
edly was also responding to the intense criticism of the American spy
machine in the mid-1970s for engaging in illegal activities. The last
year of Carter’s presidency was dominated by developments in Iran,
especially the issue of the Americans who were taken hostage by Is-
lamic militants who had ousted the regime of Shah Reza Pehlevi in
1979 and had occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
After his defeat by Republican presidential candidate Ronald Rea-
ganin 1980, President Carter returned to his peanut farm in Georgia
and, in 1982, founded the Carter Center at Emory University in Atlanta.
He has since engaged in numerous conflict-mediation efforts around the
globe and served as the personal envoy of several presidents in the
1980s and 1990s. See alsoEAGLE CLAW(OPERATION).CARTER, JAMES EARL, JR.•1905-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 19