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Jimmy carters foreign policy
President Carter and the Iranian Hostage Crisis
An analysis of presidency of Jimmy Carter
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For 444 days, the Iranian Hostage Crisis enthralled America. On November 4, 1979, 66 Americans were taken hostage in Tehran, Iran at the United States Embassy. These 66 Americans would remain hostages of radical Islamic terrorists until January of 1981. The Iranian Hostage Crisis would mark a significant point in the United States and the Middle East foreign relations. The crisis would also shed light on the history of United States nationalism since 1945.
Ledontrae Gooden U.S. History 11/27/15 Taken Hostage David Farber tells the story of Iranian militants storming a United States Embassy in Tehran. Sixty six Americans were taken hostage, which became known as the Iran Hostage Crisis. This crisis was a concern that fascinated the American public for about four hundred and forty four days. It had stricken America's first confrontation with the forces of radical Islam. Farber takes the first detailed look at the hostage crisis, observing its teachings for America's current War on Terrorism.
Khomeini uses the hostages to his advantage to try to gain power. Khomeini refuses to release the hostages until the Shah is returned to Iran is tried and convicted for his crimes against the people of Iran. During this time Jimmy Carter is president. Jimmy Carter tries to intervene during the hostage crisis with a rescue mission and significantly fails.
Taken Hostage tells the story of the Iran hostage crisis lasting from November of 1979 to the day Reagan’s inauguration. During this period of time, sixty six Americans were held in captivity by Students Following the Line of Imam after the United States allowed the Shah to undergo medical treatment amidst the Iranian revolution. Americans, after a tough decade of inflation, gas shortages, lack of trust in the government, and the defeat in Vietnam were yet again brought into a situation in which required their complete faith that the Carter administration would save the captives. The hostage crisis was a complete shock to the American people in addition to the heightened tensions because of economic decline, government mistrust, and energy
Jimmy Carter’s proudest achievement and his bitterest setbacks came in he Middle East. Carter hosted the Camp David Accords with Sadat and Begin to set a timetable for granting self-government to the Palestinians. It, however, was not successful because Israel continued to build Jewish settlements in occupied territories and Islamic fundamentalists assassinated Sadat. Also in January 1979 the pro-US ruler fled Iran being replaced by the Shiite Khomeini who preached hatred towards the United States. In November Iran and US tension increased dramatically, when Khomeini supporters stormed the U.S Embassy in Tehran and seized American hostages.
The Carter administration called for “free exercise of human right” in particularly the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union attacked back stating that despite calling for the exercise of human right in the Soviet Union, the United States themselves were guilty of human rights violations such as inadequate health care and unsatisfactory social welfare(118). The Soviet and American relationship had downgraded during Carter’s administration. Although detente with the Soviet Union was not abandoned during Carter’s presidency, Carter focused more on the efforts at strategic arms control and made them central aspects of the United State- Soviet Union relations ( 114). Although in the beginning of his presidency, Carter’s
November 4, 1979 student demonstrators assembled in the streets outside the United States embassy in Tehran. The protests would eventually turn violent as the students stormed the walls and entered the complex. The marines stationed inside were able to sound an alarm, which put the embassy into lock¬down. After several hours the Americans in the embassy were unable to last any longer and they were captured. The hostages were told that they would be released, however, only when the Shah was forced back to Iran in order to stand trial for the crimes he had committed.
Then he mentioned that people distrusted the government and worried about the energy crisis. Also, he acknowledged that there were some mistakes in the government, and there was a fundamental threat to American democracy. However, more and more people lost their confidence in the development of the country, President Carter regarded it as “the crisis of confidence”. He considered that it was not happening overnight, but happened for a long time with shocks and tragedy. Therefore, he encouraged people to have faith in each other and have faith in the nation to get through the difficulties.
And tragically the Iran Hostage Crisis is what ended it for President Carter his lack of leadership and knowledge during this time ended up costing the United States valuable members of its international team, and Jimmy Carters re-election. As Americans look back today our nation stands better off, but most people do look at these situations and ask what if some of this stuff would have been done differently. That is a question we will never have an answer too, but for right now we just have to keep moving
On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of militant students stormed the U.S. Embassy seizing American hostages. President Carter preferred to seek a diplomatic solution, but the Ayatollah would not negotiate. Under tremendous public pressure to retrieve the hostages, President Carter approved a military
The least successful president in foreign policy is, in my view, Jimmy Carter, and I reach this conclusion with a certain regret. Carter has important accomplishments to his credit, including the Panama Canal treaty and the Camp David Accords bringing peace between Israel and Egypt. However Carter so badly mismanaged America’s relations with Iran, leading ultimately to the hostage crisis, as well as misunderstanding the Soviet Union, leading to his surprised reaction to the invasion of Afghanistan, that he presented a picture of American impotence to the world, one which paved the way for his overwhelming defeat in 1980 by Ronald Reagan. The president sought to refocus America’s foreign policy on such noble and idealistic goals as the promotion
He had to deal with the mistrust of a nation and Congress which will make a term in office very difficult. His stubbornness and independence put him in a sticky position that made him unfit to be president. Not to mention, the way he dealt with economic and domestic decisions doing nothing but harm and further damage where our nation was at. Lastly, his foreign affairs―Iran Hostage Crisis, Panama Canal, stirring the pot with his allies, and Soviet tension―weren’t the wisest ways he could’ve handled the problem. Though he saved the energy crisis and the Camp David Accords, his mistakes and damage he has done made Jimmy Carter the worst president that America has seen.
Jimmy Carter emphasized five specific points that supported his position that America’s prosperity could not be the only condition to base foreign policy decisions on. The first point being made was about setting foreign policy and that America had to put human rights in the forefront of policy decisions. Carter then continued to explain that it was imperative that the democratic countries of the world unite for economic strength by improving the worldwide monetary system, and to examine ways to increase free trade. The third point that he made targeted the arms race with the Soviet Union. He believed that it was a dangerous situation abd wrong on a moral level.
Carter's failure to negotiate with the Iranians was obvious to the world, but what made it even worse was the badly failed rescue mission. Operation Eagle Claw failure showed the American people that their great country miscarries in front of a small country like Iran. Not only that, but by the end of the operation the prestigious group of special operations Delta Force had lost 8 of its members (Kamps, 2006). President Carter’s inability to resolve the problem made him look like a weak and ineffectual leader. At the same time, his intense focus on bringing the hostages home kept him away from the campaign trail.
Carter and the government took a big hit for not rescuing the hostages in the embassy. Carter also took a lot of criticism for not improving the economy in the United States. The country was going through a period of high unemployment, rising inflation, and the impact of having not enough energy when Carter took office. Carter was able to give 8 million people jobs, but that was not enough for the people and they still blamed the president for their problems.
