Carter/Mondale Administration Accomplishments
Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20,
1981. Noteworthy foreign policy accomplishments of his administration
included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty
of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet
Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the
People's Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the
world. On the domestic side, the administration's achievements
included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department
of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and
finance; major educational programs under a new Department of
Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including
the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Aggression
"Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease."
America
We become not a mealting pot but a beautiful
mosaic. Different people, different beliefs,
different yearnings, different hopes, different
dreams.
Jimmy Carter Pittsburgh Penn
10/27/1976
Republicians have no ideas, they don't even pretend to. All
they can say is, in effect, "It can't be any better, so why
worry about the election? Why worry about the government?"
And they imply that somehow or another we ought to fear
progress, or fear the future. But Americans have never
feared progress and we've never feared the future. The
American dream is based on the belief that with hard work
and good government we can build better lives and build a
better nation for ourselfs and for our children.
A great nation can't stand still. If we're not moving
forward, we're moving backward. Our nation has always
been at its best when as a people we are boldly reaching
out, striving, trying, growing, facing difficulties with
courage, with a spirit of unity, and the concept of
excellence. And sometimes sacrifice.
Jimmy Carter, 10-19-1976, NY,NY
Attorney General John Mitchell
I've seen the proud statement of a former Attorney
General who protected his boss and now brags on the
fact that he tiptoed through a minefield and came
out 'clean'. I can't imagine somebody like
Thomas Jefferson tiptoeing though a minefield on the
technicalities of the law and then bragging
about being clean afterwards.
Jimmy Carter 5-4-74
Basic Principle
"One of the most basic principles for making and
keeping peace within and between nations. . .
is that in political, military, moral, and
spiritual confrontations, there should be an
honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences
before resorting to combat."
"We must adjust to changing times and still hold
to unchanging principles."
Bush Truth
"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation
around the world, this administration has been the
worst in history. The overt reversal of America's
basic values as expressed by previous administrations,
including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan
and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most
disturbing to me."
Jimmy Carter on Bush in an interview with the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette, 5/19/2007
Cheney, DICK
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he
has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of
his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject
its power through military means in other parts of the world, You know he's
been a disaster for our country, I think he's been overly persuasive on
President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed."
Jimmy Carter
Comments to the BBC 10/10/2007
Christian Right
When I was younger, almost all Baptists were strongly
committed on a theological basis to the separation of
church and state.
It was only 25 years ago when there began to be a
melding of the Republican Party with fundamentalist
Christianity, particularly with the Southern Baptist
Convention. This is a fairly new development, and I
think it was brought about by the abandonment of some
of the basic principles of Christianity. First of all,
we worship the prince of peace, not war. And those of
us who have advocated for the resolution of
international conflict in a peaceful fashion are looked
upon as being unpatriotic, branded that way by right-wing
religious groups, the Bush administration, and other
Republicans.
Secondly, Christ was committed to compassion for the most
destitute, poor, needy, and forgotten people in our society.
Today there is a stark difference [between conservative
ideology and Christian teaching] because most of the people
most strongly committed to the Republican philosophy have
adopted the proposition that help for the rich is the
best way to help even poor people (by letting some of the
financial benefits drip down to those most deeply in need).
I would say there has been a schism drawn -- on theology
and practical politics and economics between the two groups.
Jimmy Carter
Salon Interview, April 9, 2004
"Fundamentalism exists in religious circles and now very
overwhelmingly in Washington. A fundamentalist believes,
say, in religious circles, that I am close to God.
Everything that I believe is absolutely right. Anyone
who disagrees with me, in any case, is inherently wrong
and therefore, inferior. And it violates my basic
principles if I negotiate with anyone else or listen to
their point of view or modify my own positions at all.
So that is what has permeated this administration."
Jimmy Carter 11/9/05
source:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/09/earlyshow/
leisure/books/main1028087.shtml
Differences
We are of course a nation of differences.Those differences
don't make us weak.They're the source of our strength.
Jimmy Carter Source: Speech, 21 October 1976
Ends Justifying Means
"The decision to attack the entire nation [of Yugoslavia]
has been counterproductive, and our destruction of civilian
life has now become senseless and excessively brutal. ...
The United States' insistence on the use of cluster bombs,
designed to kill or maim humans, is condemned almost
universally and brings discredit on our nation
(as does our refusal to support a ban on land mines).
Even for the world's only superpower, the ends don't
always justify the means."
Jimmy Carter
Equal
Opportunities
"The struggle for equal rights is not over. We only
have to recall the color of the faces of those in
Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi -- those who were
most devastated by Katrina, to know that there are
not yet equal opportunities for all Americans."
Jimmy Carter
Source:http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?
Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200602%5CCUL20060210c.html
Experience Of Democracy
"The experience of democracy is like the experience of life
itself--always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes
turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested
by adversity."
First Time
"For the first time in the history of our country the
majority of our people believe that the next five
years will be worse than the past five years."
Freedom
"Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong
at home. And we know that the best way to enhance
freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that
our democratic system is worthy of emulation."
Because we are free we can never be indifferent to
the fate of freedom elsewhere. Our moral sense
dictates a clearcut preference for these societies
which share with us an abiding respect for individual
human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it
is clear that a world which others can dominate with
impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat
to the well-being of all people.
In the life of the human spirit, words are action,
much more so than many of us realize who live in
countries where freedom of expression is taken for granted.
The leaders of totalitarian nations understand this very well.
The proof is that words are precisely the action for which
dissidents in those countries are being persecuted.
Jimmy Carter Source: Address, Notre Dame University, 22 May 1977
Future
There are difficult times ahead. But we have faced
diffcult times before and we have prevailed. We have
prevailed because we dared to dream great dreams,
because we refused to be content with injustice and
mediocrity, because we were willing to try.
Jimmy Carter May 1976
Government
The test of a government is not how popular
it is with the powerful and privileged few,
but how honestly and fairly it deals with
the many who must depend on it.
Jimmy Carter, Inaugural Address as
Governor of Georgia
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford
to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained.
It can afford to extend a helping hand to others.
It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must
behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and
other signs of insecurity.
Jimmy Carter, 10-14-1976, NY,NY
Source:A Government as Good as It's People
Guantanamo
Our government needs to close down Guantanamo and the
two dozen secret detention facilities run by the
United States as soon as possible to demonstrate clearly
our nation's historic commitment to protect human rights.
Jimmy Carter
Source:Atlanta, 6-7-05
Health Care Costs
In recent years, we've spent forty cents out of every health
dollar on hospitalization. In effect, we've made the
hospital the first line of defence, instead of the last. By
contrast, we only spend three cents on disease prevention
and control, less than half a cent on health education,
and a quarter of a cent on environmental health.
Jimmy Carter, 10-19-1976
American Public Health Association meeting
Human Rights
"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense ...
human rights invented America."
"Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy,
because human rights is the very soul of our
sense of nationhood."
Inflation
The corrosive effects of inflation eat away at
ties that bind us together as a people.
Jimmy Carter
Iraq War, Hussein, Bush
"...The heartfelt sympathy and friendship offered to
America after the 9/11 attacks, even from formerly
antagonistic regimes, has been largely dissipated;
increasingly unilateral and domineering policies have
brought international trust in our country to its lowest
level in memory....."
Even if lies and trickery by Saddam Hussein are exposed,
this will not indicate any real or proximate threat by
Iraq to the United States or to our allies.
"With overwhelming military strength now deployed against
him and with intense monitoring from space surveillance
and the U.N. inspection team on the ground, any
belligerent move by Saddam against a neighbor would be
suicidal. If Iraq does possess such concealed weapons,
as is quite likely, Saddam would use them only in the
most extreme circumstances, in the face of an invasion
of Iraq, when all hope of avoiding the destruction of
his regime is lost.
"The cost of an on-site inspection team would be minuscule
compared to war, Saddam would have no choice except to
comply, the results would be certain, military and civilian
casualties would be avoided, there would be almost unanimous
worldwide support, and the United States could regain its
leadership in combating the real threat of international
terrorism.
Excerpt from a statement from The Carter Center,
January 31, 2003)
'That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London
and Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was
responsible for 9/11, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction'
Jimmy Carter
Source:Independent newspaper of London 3-04
Law
The law is not the private property of lawyers,
nor is justice the exclusive province of judges and juries.
In the final analysis, true justice is not a matter of courts
and law books, but of a commitment in each of us to liberty
and mutual respect.
Jimmy Carter Source: Dallas Times-Herald, 26 April 1978
Life
I believe that the very essence of a worthwhile life
is the striving. I do not fear the possibility of
failure so much as the resigned acceptance of what is
mediocre or wrong.
Jimmy Carter May 1976
'A Government as Good As Its People'
Lowest Common Denominator
"If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe
for the lowest common denominator of
human achievement."
Martin Luther King and Wire Taps
"It was difficult for them personally - with the civil
liberties of both husband and wife violated as they
became the target of secret government wiretapping,
other surveillance, and as you know, harassment from
the FBI."
Jimmy Carter
Source:http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?
Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200602%5CCUL20060210c.html
Millennium
"Instead of entering a millennium of peace, the world
is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place.
The greater ease of travel and communication has
not been matched by equal understanding and
mutual respect,"
My Responsibility
"You have given me a great responsibility:
to stay close to you, to be worthy of you and to
exemplify what you are."
Nature
"It is good to realize that if love and peace
can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our
children to honor nature's gifts,
the joys and beauties of the outdoors
will be here forever."
Like music or art, love of nature is a common
language that can transend political or social
boundaries.
Jimmy Carter 1988
Nixon
"I personally think that he did violate the law,
that he committed impeachable offenses.
But I don't think that he thinks he did."
Nurse
"There is no difference, in my opinion, to a person
who has the highest possible commitment to human moral
values than a nurse. I think they're the same."
Jimmy Carter
Source:http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=55411
Oil Companies and the GOP
There's no way to tell where the federal energy
agencies stop and the major oil companies start.
They're the same people--the same technicians,
the same administrators. Our federal energy
policy is overly simplistic. It's not designed
for the consumers, it's designed by and for the
major oil companies, and President Ford is their
spokesman. It's 'raise the price of oil as much
as possible as quickly as possible.' Period.
Jimmy Carter 9-28-1975
Our Generation
"For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival,
liberty is human rights, the pursuit of happiness
is a planet whose resources are devoted to the
physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants."
Religious Belief and Public Service
"You can't divorce religious belief and public service ...
I've never detected any conflict between God's will
and my political duty. If you violate one,
you violate the other."
Republican Inflation Policy
Do you know what the basic Republician anti-inflation
policy has been? To put people out of work. Cooling
down the economy, they call it, because that sounds
nicer. I say to you that any economic policy that sees
virtue in unemployment is morally and politically and
intellectually bankrupt.
Jimmy Carter 8-23-1976
Rich and Poor
"The greatest challenge is the growing chasm between rich
people and poor people not only inside of a country but
rich nations and poor nations. There has never been an
administration (Bush 2) in Washington before in history
that has so dramatically favored the extremely rich people
in this country at the expense of poor and working class
families. Every major tax change has been to take taxes
away from the rich and put it on the poor and working
class people. And this, I think, was vividly demonstrated
when you saw the aftermath of Katrina. It just shows what's
always been there. And that is that poor people are the
ones who suffer most."
Jimmy Carter 11/9/05
source:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/09/earlyshow/
leisure/books/main1028087.shtml
Soviet Domination
I would like to see Mr. Ford convince the
Polish-Americans and the Czech-Americans and the
Hungarian-Americans in this country that those countries
don't live under domination and supervision of the
Soviet Union behind the Iron Curtain.
Jimmy Carter, Presidential Debate, 10-6-1976
after President Ford said 'There is no Soviet
domination of Eastern Europe and there will never
be under a Ford administration.'
Terrorism
"An act of terrorism totally outside the bounds
of international law and diplomatic tradition. ...
a crisis [that] calls for firmness and restraint."
Voyager Record
"This is a present from a small, distant world,
a token of our sounds, our science, our images,
our music, our thoughts and our feelings,We are
attempting to survive our time so we may live
into yours."
President Carter's Comments on the Voyager-record
which now is past the Sun's Gravity
War
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter
how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good.
We will not learn to live together in peace by
killing each other's children.
War and Peace
--and the point that Tolstoy makes is that the course
of human events, even the greatest historical events,
are controled and shaped not by the leaders of the
nations but by the combined hopes and dreams and
aspirations and courage and conviction of the
ordinary people.
Jimmy Carter 4-8-1976
Watergate Lesson
Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment
to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know
that if we despise our own government we have no
future. We recall in special times when we have stood
briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times
no prize was beyond our grasp.
Jimmy Carter's Cabinet
Secretary of State
Cyrus R. Vance (1977-80)
Edmund S. Muskie (1980-81)
Secretary of the Treasury
W. Michael Blumenthal (1977-79)
G. William Miller (1979-81)
Secretary of Defense
Harold Brown (1977-81)
Attorney General
Griffin B. Bell (1977-79)
Benjamin R. Civiletti (1979-81)
Secretary of the Interior
Cecil D. Andrus (1977-81)
Secretary of Agriculture
Robert S. Bergland (1977-81)
Secretary of Commerce
Juanita M. Kreps (1977-79)
Philip Klutznick (1979-81)
Secretary of Labor
F. Ray Marshall (1977-81)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Joseph A. Califano, Jr. (1977-79)
Patricia R. Harris (1979-80)
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Patricia R. Harris (1980-81)
Secretary of Education
Shirley Hufstedler (1980-81)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Patricia R. Harris (1977-79)
Moon Landrieu (1979-81)
Secretary of Transportation
Brock Adams (1977-79)
Neil E. Goldschmidt (1979-81)
Secretary of Energy
James R. Schlesinger (1977-79)
Charles W. Duncan, Jr. (1979-81)
