Jimmy Carter's Place In History

[Orser67]

Although he did some interesting things in foreign policy and probably deserves a lot of credit (or if you prefer, blame) for the policies that crushed inflation in the early 1980s, at the end of the day I think it's hard to overlook that he was a one-term president whose defeat ushered in a new political era. I think he'll be seen as a mostly unsuccessful president who redeemed himself to a large extent with a strong post-presidency.

I think the debates over his presidency will be less about whether he was unsuccessful, and more about why he was unsuccessful. Was he just a poor candidate for the job, or was he given an impossible task? Or maybe he could have been a good president in different circumstances, but was the wrong person at the wrong time. Then there's also interesting questions about the extent of continuities between his presidency and the Reagan presidency, and how/why/whether he prevented another period of major left-wing domestic legislation sought by liberals like Ted Kennedy.