(born 1924) Jimmy Carter’s presidency (1977–81) marks a transition between the challenges associated with the social movements of the 1960s and early 1970s and the conservative triumph of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Carter, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a relatively unknown governor of Georgia, campaigned against the Watergate scandal. He was fortunate in running against the inept Gerald Ford, who was weakened both by his pardoning of Richard Nixon and by the mistrust he evoked in the increasingly dominant conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Carter’s victory suggested a further weakening of the Democratic Party organization, a process already in motion with the McGovern reforms. The born-again Georgian entered office sustained only by his own campaign organization. His mastery of detail and his commitment to governmental efficiency rested on his belief that he could stand above politics—and politicians. As a result, his relations with Congress were poor.

Carter faced a series of crises that finally brought down his presidency in a tidal wave of Republican conservatism.

On domestic issues, Carter was a social liberal and an economic conservative. His early legislation to deregulate natural gas, reform the tax code and introduce moderate healthcare reform antagonized the more liberal Ted Kennedy wing of the party. The shaky performance of the economy wracked by stagflation, i.e. a lethal mixture of high unemployment and high inflation, was dealt a serious blow when oil prices soared in 1979 following the Iranian revolution. Carter appointed as Chairperson of the Federal Reserve System Paul A. Volcker, a conservative monetarist who proceeded to initiate deflationary tight money practices which, in the short run, drove up unemployment without an immediate decline in inflation. As such, with the 1980 election pending, Carter presided over what appeared to be an economic debacle.

At the same time, Carter suffered from the energizing of the very evangelical Christians who had initially rallied to his candidacy The accumulated impact of the cultural victories of the 1960s, especially the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights, but also liberalization regarding pornography, the elimination of school prayer, the rise of gay and lesbian rights contributed to attacks on the Carter administration at a disastrous conference on families, the religious right arguing that the family was exclusively nuclear.

Finally Carter’s foreign policy waffled between a human rights agenda articulated by his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, and the hard-line agenda of National Security Council head, Zbigniew Brzezinski. His success at Camp David in bringing Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin together wilted before the following events: the criticisms of the Panama Canal treaty (1978), the Sandi-nista victory over Somoza in Nicaragua (1979), Cuban military efforts in Ethiopia and Angola in the late 1970s and, especially the frustration over the Iranian holding of fifty-three Americans as hostages following the overthrow of the Shah (1979), the Soviet repression of Polish solidarity (1980) and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979). As a result, Carter, despite shifting to the Brzezinski position and sharply increasing military spending, was perceived as weak.

Even his efforts to punish the Soviets by halting wheat deals and boycotting the Moscow Olympics backfired, as did the humiliating failure at rescuing the hostages.

In November 1980, the conservative Ronald Reagan decisively defeated a Jimmy Carter campaign torn by party discord, economic failure and international defeats. Since 1980, Jimmy Carter, perceived by most as a presidential failure, has seemed to many through his humanitarian efforts, at home and abroad, to be one of the most successful former presidents.