52 Carter, James (“Jimmy”) Earl, Jr.
of President Richard Nixon. America felt a shame
and disillusionment with politics, and Jimmy Carter’s
honesty, decency, CHRISTIAN ethics, and morality
won him wide support. Despite his popularity, his
presidency was plagued with economic and interna-
tional problems: a long business recession marked by
both high unemployment and inflation, and the
national disgrace of Iran taking Americans hostage in
the embassy in Teheran. Still, President Carter’s ad-
ministration is remembered as successful in achieving
the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty (between Israel
and Egypt)—personally negotiated by Carter—and
full diplomatic relations with China. Domestically,
Carter accomplished civil-service reform, environ-
mental legislation, and energy policy. Carter’s tenure
as president was marked by high standards of morals
and idealism growing from his evangelical faith. An
active BAPTIST, he infused his political activities with
religious values and saw his public service as a calling
from God.
As such, Jimmy Carter’s political philosophy drew
from a CONSERVATIVE, evangelical Christianity, theo-
logically drawn from St. AUGUSTINE, John CALVIN, and
Reinhold NIEBUHR. As a Baptist he believed in the strict
separation of CHURCH AND STATE refusing to allow
worship services in the White House. His evangeli-
cal Christianity believes in a personal, individual
relationship to God that would lead to noble social
work and dedication. This Reformed Protestant world-
view also believed in REALISM: that humans are natu-
rally sinful and selfish and the world always
dominated by love of money and power. Quoting
Niebuhr, Carter said, “The sad duty of politics is to
establish justice in a sinful world.” Like St. Augustine,
Carter never expected politics to create a perfect
humanity or society, but he believed that Christians
are obliged to strive to improve the world with greater
JUSTICE, FREEDOM, EQUALITYand charity. Internationally,
this led Carter to work for HUMAN RIGHTSaround the
world, especially in the SOVIET UNION. Domestically,
this was expressed in his famous “national malaise”
speech of July 1979, which criticized American materi-
alism and consumerism from a Christian viewpoint.
Despite his enjoying the admiration of most Ameri-
cans, the economic crisis in the late 1970s caused
Carter to lose the presidential election to Ronald REA-
GANin 1980.
However, Jimmy Carter had even greater political
influence after retiring from the presidency through
his international diplomacy, various political and eco-
nomic assistance programs out of his Carter Center,
and his personal church and charitable activities.
Carter negotiated peace accords in Haiti, Korea, and
Sudan, preventing bloody wars. The Carter Center in
Atlanta sponsors programs promoting worldwide
DEMOCRACY, economic development, health care, and
urban revitalization (such as the African Governance
Program; the Human Rights Program; Interfaith Health
Program; the Commission on Radio and Television
Policy; and the Task Force on Child Survival). Carter
explained that after being president, he could effec-
tively raise millions of dollars for such programs to
improve the world. He also worked personally through
Habitat For Humanity, a private organization dedicated
to building houses for the poor. As a teacher, writer,
poet, and lay religious leader, Jimmy Carter repre-
sented a Renaissance man to the 20th century and
continued to influence the world greatly after the end
of his official political career.Further Reading
Ariail, Dan, and Heckler-Feltz, Cheryl. The Carpenter’s Appren-
tice: The Spiritual Biography of Jimmy Carter.Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Zondervan, 1996.Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States.(LIBRARY
OFCONGRESS)