{"id":16264,"date":"2019-05-04T18:40:50","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T18:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=16264"},"modified":"2019-05-06T00:49:29","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T00:49:29","slug":"jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Carter’s lasting Cold War legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert C. Donnelly<\/a>, Gonzaga University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Jimmy Carter was a dark horse Democratic presidential candidate with little national recognition when he beat Republican incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976. <\/p>\n

The introspective former peanut farmer pledged a new era of honesty and forthrightness at home and abroad, a promise that resonated with voters<\/a> eager for change following the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

His presidency, however, lasted only one term before Ronald Reagan defeated him. Since then, scholars have debated \u2013 and often maligned \u2013 Carter\u2019s legacy, especially his foreign policy efforts that revolved around human rights.<\/p>\n

Critics have described Carter\u2019s foreign policies as \u201cineffectual\u201d<\/a> and \u201chopelessly muddled<\/a>,\u201d and their formulation demonstrated \u201cweakness and indecision.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

As a historian researching Carter\u2019s foreign policy initiatives<\/a>, I conclude his overseas policies were far more effective than critics have claimed.<\/p>\n

A Soviet strategy<\/h2>\n

The criticism of Carter\u2019s foreign policies seems particularly mistaken when it comes to the Cold War, a period defined by decades of hostility, mutual distrust and arms buildup after World War II between the U.S. and Russia, then known as the Soviet Union or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).<\/p>\n

By the late 1970s, the Soviet Union\u2019s economy<\/a> and global influence were weakening. With the counsel of National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Soviet expert<\/a>, Carter exploited these weaknesses.<\/p>\n

During his presidency, Carter insisted nations provide basic freedoms for their people \u2013 a moral weapon against which repressive leaders could not defend.<\/p>\n

Carter soon openly criticized the Soviets for denying Russian Jews their basic civil rights<\/a>, a violation of human rights protections outlined in the diplomatic agreement called the Helsinki Accords<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carter\u2019s team underscored these violations in arms control talks. The CIA flooded the USSR with books and articles to incite human rights activism. And Carter publicly supported Russian dissidents \u2013 including pro-democracy activist Andrei Sakharov<\/a> \u2013 who were fighting an ideological war against socialist leaders.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Human rights were a cornerstone of President Jimmy Carter\u2019s foreign policy. Here, a billboard with his picture on it in Liberia.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Michel Lipchitz<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carter adviser Stuart Eizenstat argues<\/a> that the administration attacked the Soviets \u201cin their most vulnerable spot \u2013 mistreatment of their own citizens.\u201d <\/p>\n

This proved effective<\/a> in sparking Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev\u2019s social and political reforms of the late 1980s, best known by the Russian word \u201cglasnost<\/a>,\u201d or \u201copenness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Afghan invasion<\/h2>\n

In December 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan<\/a> in response to the assassination of the Soviet-backed Afghan leader, Nur Mohammad Taraki. The invasion effectively ended an existing d\u00e9tente between the U.S. and USSR.<\/p>\n

Beginning in July 1979, the U.S. was providing advice and nonlethal supplies<\/a> to the mujahideen rebelling against the Soviet-backed regime. After the invasion, National Security Advisor Brzezinski advised Carter to respond aggressively to it. So the CIA and U.S. allies delivered weapons<\/a> to the mujahideen, a program later expanded under Reagan. <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Afghan rebels examine a Soviet-built armored personnel carrier and scores of other military vehicles left behind when the Mujahedeen fighters overran a Soviet-Afghan garrison.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Joe Gaal<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carter\u2019s move effectively engaged the Soviets in a proxy war that began to bleed the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

By providing the rebels with modern weapons, the U.S. was \u201cgiving to the USSR its Vietnam war,\u201d according to Brzezinski<\/a>: a progressively expensive<\/a> war, a strain on the socialist economy<\/a> and an erosion of their authority<\/a> abroad.<\/p>\n

Carter also imposed an embargo on U.S. grain sales to the Soviets in 1980. Agriculture<\/a> was the USSR\u2019s greatest economic weakness since the 1960s. The country\u2019s unfavorable weather and climate<\/a> contributed to successive poor growing seasons, and their heavy industrial development left the agricultural sector underfunded<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Economist Elizabeth Clayton<\/a> concluded in 1985 that Carter\u2019s embargo was effective in exacerbating this weakness.<\/p>\n

Census data compiled between 1959 and 1979 show that 54 million people were added to the Soviet population. Clayton estimates that 2 to 3 million more people were added in each subsequent year. The Soviets were overwhelmed by the population boom and struggled to feed their people.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Clayton found that monthly wages increased, which led to an increased demand for meat. But by 1985, there was a meat shortage<\/a> in the USSR. Why? Carter\u2019s grain embargo, although ended by Reagan in 1981, had a lasting impact on livestock feed that resulted in Russian farmers decreasing livestock production<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The embargo also forced the Soviets to pay premium prices for grain from other countries, nearly 25 percent above market prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For years, Soviet leaders promised better diets and health<\/a>, but now their people had less food. The embargo battered a weak socialist economy and created another layer of instability for the growing population.<\/p>\n

The Olympic boycott<\/h2>\n

In 1980, Carter pushed further to punish the Soviets. He convinced the U.S. Olympic Committee to refrain from competing in the upcoming Moscow Olympics<\/a> while the Soviets repressed their people and occupied Afghanistan. <\/p>\n

Carter not only promoted a boycott, but he also embargoed U.S. technology<\/a> and other goods needed to produce the Olympics. He also stopped NBC from paying the final US$20 million<\/a> owed to the USSR to broadcast the Olympics. China, Germany, Canada and Japan \u2013 superpowers of sport \u2013 also participated in the boycott.<\/p>\n

Historian Allen Guttmann<\/a> said, \u201cThe USSR lost a significant amount of international legitimacy on the Olympic question.\u201d Dissidents relayed to Carter that the boycott was another jab at Soviet leadership. And in America, public opinion supported Carter\u2019s bold move \u2013 73% of Americans favored the boycott<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Carter doctrine<\/h2>\n

In his 1980 State of the Union address, Carter revealed an aggressive Cold War military plan. He declared a \u201cCarter doctrine<\/a>,\u201d which said that the Soviets\u2019 attempt to gain control of Afghanistan, and possibly the region, was regarded as a threat to U.S. interests. And Carter was prepared to meet the threat with \u201cmilitary force<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter also announced in his speech<\/a> a five-year spending initiative to modernize and strengthen the military because he recognized the post-Vietnam military cuts weakened the U.S. against the USSR. <\/p>\n

Ronald Reagan argued<\/a> during the 1980 presidential campaign that, \u201cJimmy Carter risks our national security \u2013 our credibility \u2013 and damages American purposes by sending timid and even contradictory signals to the Soviet Union.\u201d Carter\u2019s policy was based on \u201cweakness and illusion\u201d and should be replaced \u201cwith one founded on improved military strength,\u201d Reagan criticized.<\/p>\n

In 1985, however, President Reagan publicly acknowledged<\/a> that his predecessor demonstrated great timing in modernizing and strengthening the nation\u2019s forces, which further increased economic and diplomatic pressure on the Soviets. <\/p>\n

Reagan admitted that he felt \u201cvery bad\u201d for misstating Carter\u2019s policies and record on defense.<\/p>\n

Carter is most lauded today for his post-presidency activism<\/a>, public service<\/a> and defending human rights. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for such efforts. <\/p>\n

But that praise leaves out a significant portion of Carter\u2019s presidential accomplishments. His foreign policy, emphasizing human rights, was a key instrument in dismantling the power of the Soviet Union.\"The<\/p>\n

Robert C. Donnelly<\/a>, Associate Professor of History, Gonzaga University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert C. Donnelly, Gonzaga University Jimmy Carter was a dark horse Democratic presidential candidate with little national recognition when he beat Republican incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976. The introspective former peanut farmer pledged a new era of honesty and forthrightness at home and abroad, a promise that resonated with voters eager for change following the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":16257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[6271,2443,1983,988,987,234,2297,4031],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16265,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16264\/revisions\/16265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}