Jimmy Carter and James Monroe

Jimmy Carter

Foreign Policy Decisions

“Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.”

Voyager 1 Message

--His statement was placed on the Voyager 1 spacecraft for its trip outside our solar system on September 5, 1977:

“We cast this message into the cosmos.... Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some – perhaps many – may have inhabited planet and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.”

South Korea

--During his first month in office, Carter cut the defense budget by $6 billion.

--One of his first acts was to order the unilateral removal of all nuclear weapons from South Korea and announce his intention to cut back the number of US troops stationed there.

--In 1977 Major General John K. Singlaub publicly criticized Carter's decision to lower the U.S. troop level there.

--On March 21, 1977, Carter relieved him of duty, saying his publicly stated sentiments were "inconsistent with announced national security policy."

--Carter planned to remove all but 14,000 U.S. air force personnel and logistics specialists by 1982, but after cutting only 3,600 troops, he was forced by Congressional pressure to abandon the effort in 1978.

Iran Hostage Crisis
--The main conflict between human rights and U.S. interests came in Carter's dealings with the Shah of Iran.

--The Shah had been a strong ally of the United States since World War II and was one of the "twin pillars" upon which U.S. strategic policy in the Middle East was built.

--However, his rule was strongly autocratic, and in 1953 he went along with the Eisenhower Administration in staging a coup to remove the elected Prime Minster, Mohammed Mossadegh.

--When the Iranian Revolution broke out in Iran and the Shah was overthrown, the U.S. did not intervene directly.

--The Shah went into permanent exile.

--Carter initially refused him entry to the United States, even on grounds of medical emergency.

--Despite his initial refusal to admit the Shah into the United States, on October 22, 1979, Carter finally granted him entry and temporary asylum for the duration of his cancer treatment.

--In response to the Shah's entry into the U.S., Iranian militants seized the American embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage.

--The Iranians demanded:

1. The return of the Shah to Iran for trial

2. The return of the Shah's wealth to the Iranian people.

3. An admission of guilt by the United States for its past actions in Iran (plus an apology)

4. A promise from the United States not to interfere in Iran's affairs in the future.

--After the hostages were taken, Carter issued, on November 14, 1979, Blocking Iranian Government property, which was used to freeze the bank accounts of the Iranian government in US banks, totaling about $8 billion US at the time.

--This was to be used as a bargaining chip for the release of the hostages.

--In the days before President Ronald Reagan took office, Algerian diplomat Abdulkarim Ghuraib opened negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

--Although the release of the hostages was negotiated and secured under the Carter administration, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, moments after Reagan was sworn in as President. “Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.”

Economy Decisions

“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.”

--During Carter's administration, the economy suffered double-digit inflation, coupled with very high interest rates, oil shortages, high unemployment and slow economic growth.

--Productivity growth in the United States had declined to an average annual rate of 1 percent, compared to 3.2 percent of the 1960s.

--To replace Miller, and in order to calm down the market, Carter appointed Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

--Volcker pursued a tight monetary policy to bring down inflation, which he considered his mandate.

--He succeeded, but only by first going through an unpleasant phase during which the economy slowed and unemployment rose, prior to any relief from inflation.
"Malaise" speech

--When the energy market exploded he was planning on delivering his fifth major speech on energy but he felt that the American people were no longer listening.

--Carter went to Camp David for ten days to meet with governors, mayors, religious leaders, scientists, economists and citizens.

--He sat on the floor and took notes of their comments and especially wanted to hear criticism.

--His researcher told him that the American people simply faced a crisis of confidence because of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and Watergate.

--On July 15, 1979, Carter gave a nationally-televised address in which identified what he believed to be a "crisis of confidence" among the American people.

Energy Crisis

--In 1977, Carter convinced the Democratic Congress to create the United States Department of Energy in order to conserve energy.

--Carter wore cardigan sweaters, had solar hot water panels installed on the roof of the White House, had a wood stove in his living quarters, ordered the General Services Administration to turn off hot water in some federal facilities, and requested that Christmas decorations remain dark in 1979 and 1980.

--Nationwide, controls were put on thermostats in government and commercial buildings to prevent people from raising temperatures in the winter (above 65 degrees Fahrenheit) or lowering them in the summer (below 78 degrees Fahrenheit).

--Signed the National Energy Act and the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act.

--The purpose of these watershed laws was to encourage energy conservation and the development of national energy resources, including renewables such as wind and solar energy.
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James Monroe

Foreign Policy Decisions

Question of Spanish Colonies

--Monroe began to formally recognize the young sister republics (the former Spanish colonies) in 1822.

--He and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams had wished to avoid trouble with Spain until it had ceded the Florida's to the U.S., which was done in 1821.

Question of Latin America

--Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed the re-conquest of Latin America and suggested that the United States join in proclaiming "hands off."

--Ex-Presidents Jefferson and Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Secretary Adams advised:

"It would be more candid ... to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war." Monroe accepted Adams' advice. Not only must Latin America be left alone, he warned, but also Russia must not encroach southward on the Pacific coast. "... the American continents," he stated, "by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power."

--In 1831, after Monroe had died, this became known as the Monroe Doctrine. Monrovia

--Founded in 1822, Monrovia is named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe. Monroe Doctrine

--He delivered in his message to Congress on December 2, 1823.

--In it, he proclaimed the Americas should be free from future European colonization and free from European interference in sovereign countries' affairs.

--It further stated the United States' intention to stay neutral in European wars and wars between European powers and their colonies, but to consider any new colonies or interference with independent countries in the Americas as hostile acts toward the United States.

“I have great satisfaction in stating that our relations with France, Russia, and other powers continue on the most friendly basis.”

“In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, not does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence.”

Economy Decisions

Panic of 1819

--He limited governmental action to economizing and ensuring fiscal stability.

--He agreed to the need for improved transportation facilities but refused to approve appropriations for internal improvements without prior amendment of the Constitution.

--Monroe would aid the economy with laws like the Land Act of 1820 and the Relief Act of 1821.

"In this great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, by a peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is transferred from them, without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty, to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by themselves, in the full extent necessary for the purposes of free, enlightened, and efficient government."

Cumberland Road Bill

-- During his presidency, Congress demanded high subsidies for internal improvements, such as for the Cumberland Road.

--Monroe vetoed the Cumberland Road Bill, which provided for yearly improvements to the road, because he believed it to be "unconstitutional" for the government to pass such a bill.

“At no period of our political existence had we so much cause to felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy condition of our country.”

The Missouri Compromise

--The two houses were at odds whether to join Maine and Missouri within the same bill.

--Both houses agreed, and the measures were passed on March 5th, 1820 and ratified by him on March 6th.

--The bill resolved the struggle, pairing Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and barring slavery north and west of Missouri forever.

"Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever was success so complete. If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy."
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Sources Used:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sennholz/sennholz10.html
http://www.finestquotes.com/author_quotes-author-Jimmy%20Carter-page-0.htm
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/james_monroe.html
http://usinfo.org/docs/democracy/55.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/97239/Jimmy-Carter
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390221/James-Monroe