# Jimmy Carter **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748 "2015-08-13T15:39:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/21 "2015-08-13T20:33:33Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Mr. Carter was not a successful president, although he was not without victories during his tenure. But he was upright, honest, truthful and trustworthy when the country badly needed that in its leader. > > What he has done since his presidency is the true measure of this man. He has touched innumerable lives for the better, and he has done it leading by example. When he was here in Denver working for Habitat, he was swinging a hammer as vigorously as men half his age, and was unfailingly kind and courteous to everyone, graciously posing for picture and signing autographs without ever indicating it was an interruption or imposition. > > He’s sometimes come across in the media as a bit of a grumpy old man, and he’d probably want you off his lawn 🙂 , but he has lived his beliefs honestly and with integrity, and I admire him for that. > > Best of luck to you, Mr. Carter, in the fight of your life. You said it for me. I have always felt he was the finest Man ever to be POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/22 "2015-08-13T20:35:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Assuming you’re limiting it to those who are still living, that’s correct. They still have two to three years to go to catch up to Ford’s and Reagan’s lifespan. (Coming in fifth for longest-lived president is John Adams, who held the record for a long time.) I think he’s talking about post presidency, years alive after leaving office. My math skills are weak but I’m pretty sure that since Carter left office before Uncle Ronnie was elected, and Ronnie is now dead, that Carter has had a longer post president life. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/23 "2015-08-13T20:36:51Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > God’s grace to him and to his wife and family. > > Regards, > Shodan Good post **Shodan**. See folks, he’s not that bad. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/24 "2015-08-13T20:47:20Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Mr. Carter was not a successful president, although he was not without victories during his tenure. But he was upright, honest, truthful and trustworthy when the country badly needed that in its leader. Indeed so. Both he and Gerald Ford were honest, reliable men, who wound up holding the Presidency during incredibly challenging times. While we weren’t at war during those years, that’s probably one of the few good things you could say about 1974-1980. Those years featured the oil crises, two recessions, high inflation, skyrocketing interest rates, and the Iranian hostage crisis; it’s hard to imagine _anyone_ having a “successful” presidential tenure in those years. As others have already, more eloquently stated, Carter has had such a tremendous impact on society and the world in the years following his presidency, that it’s those things for which he (justifiably) will be remembered. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/25 "2015-08-13T20:52:20Z")
I have no idea why people think Carter was a poor President. He did a really great job. But the media is controlled by Reagan fans (who was an actual disaster), so history has been re-written. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/26 "2015-08-13T21:01:41Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I have no idea why people think Carter was a poor President. He did a really great job. But the media is controlled by Reagan fans (who was an actual disaster), so history has been re-written. I don’t think he did a great job. But as I said before there’ve been worse since. He didn’t get a grip on the economy or the energy crisis. He inherited those problems, but he wanted the job, and he didn’t do much about those issues which were foremost in the public’s mind. He didn’t handle the hostage crisis well either, he was a former Naval Officer and should have realized the rescue mission was too risky, and overall he let the situation get out of hand in the media. He couldn’t have realized initially that Ted Koppel was doing a hit job on him, but he had the opportunity to get out in the media himself to counter that. He didn’t do a terrible job under the circumstances, but that doesn’t translate to doing a great job. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/27 "2015-08-13T21:12:20Z")
He did a crap job as President, and a worse job as ex-President. Can’t say what kind of a man he was, but, I hope he recovers from the cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/28 "2015-08-13T22:15:02Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > He did a crap job as President, and a worse job as ex-President. > > Can’t say what kind of a man he was, but, I hope he recovers from the cancer. Congratulations! You just earned the _Wrongest Post I’ve Ever Seen_ Award. Four swings, four misses. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/29 "2015-08-13T23:04:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > he … should have realized the rescue mission was too risky Usually Democratic presidents get chided for \*not \*following the military leadership’s advice about military operations. But when they do, and they fail, it’s their fault anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/30 "2015-08-13T23:19:43Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > He did a crap job as President, and a worse job as ex-President. > > Can’t say what kind of a man he was, but, I hope he recovers from the cancer. Your statements contradict each other and are so completely off the mark, I’d have to say that they’re the product of someone who can’t see past his political hatred. Carter’s foundation has eradicated the scourge of guinea worm in Africa. It’s a horrifying, excruciating and debilitating affliction. That alone is reason enough to praise the man, let alone his efforts to provide housing for people in need, regardless of political stripe. Contrast this with our Republican ex-presidents, who by and large have done nearly zip point shit for anyone but themselves. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/31 "2015-08-13T23:23:17Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Usually Democratic presidents get chided for \*not \*following the military leadership’s advice about military operations. But when they do, and they fail, it’s their fault anyway. It’s a tough job. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/32 "2015-08-13T23:29:21Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > He’s a good person, but not too good as a _president_. Carter was the last responsible president of the United States. He knew our resources were finite. Most Americans still refuse to come to terms with this, and keep swiping the credit card. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/33 "2015-08-13T23:54:13Z")
Carter doesn’t get credit for a lot of things. Most of the military equipment reforms- the ones that worked, were initiated under his administration. Reagan tended to just throw money at the Pentagon and they’d spend it on stuff that failed miserably (some of the projects had started under Carter but were strung out needlessly by the Reagan admin). His intelligence policy reduced a lot of the seedier elements of the CIA that had been running around - oddly enough these policies had been started by Nixon (who referred to the CIA as just a bunch of newspaper readers) but Carter had a lot of really bad agents removed. Reagan gave them later work with his various Central american incidents. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/34 "2015-08-14T00:05:27Z")
He made the world safe for boaters, having vanquished the aquatic killer rabbits! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/35 "2015-08-14T00:12:33Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I think Carter was the greatest ex-president in US history. He’s done more with his status as an ex-president than most presidents were able to achieve while in office (himself included). I’ll second that. I actually got to meet him and the Mrs some years back and they were flat-out nice people to be around. His politics and mine may not have matched but he is someone worthy of respect. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/36 "2015-08-14T11:26:08Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I have no idea why people think Carter was a poor President. He did a really great job. But the media is controlled by Reagan fans (who was an actual disaster), so history has been re-written. You don’t remember the recession of his tenure? 18% mortgage rates, 15% unemployment? people driving 12 year old cars because nobody could buy a new one. yes, Carter is a good and decent man, but a disaster as president. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/37 "2015-08-14T12:08:48Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Indeed so. Both he and Gerald Ford were honest, reliable men, who wound up holding the Presidency during incredibly challenging times. While we weren’t at war during those years, that’s probably one of the few good things you could say about 1974-1980. Agreed. 1976 was a race between two men who deserved better of the public’s fickle memory. And besides his political and post-political life, I must also give due respect to [Lieutenant Carter leading his men into a malfunctioning nuclear reactor to secure it _ **manually** _](http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/04/japans_nuclear_clean-up). Best wishes for you, Mr. Carter, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/38 "2015-08-14T14:03:01Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > You don’t remember the recession of his tenure? You mean the one that [started under Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973%E2%80%9375_recession)? > [@](#): > > The recession in the United States lasted from November 1973 (the Richard Nixon presidency) to March 1975 (the Gerald Ford presidency), although its effects on the US were felt through the Jimmy Carter presidency until the mid-term of Ronald Reagan’s first term as president, characterized by low economic growth. Although the economy was expanding from 1975 to the first recession of the early 1980s, which began in January 1980, inflation remained extremely high until the early years of the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/39 "2015-08-14T14:13:16Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > One reason I really don’t like Iran is because they waited until just after Ronald Reagan took the oath of office to release the American hostages they were holding. That way, even though the work had been done, and the atrocity of kidnapping had been committed during Carter’s term, the release would come, technically speaking, while Reagan was POTUS. Bastards. **Baker** , I have long suspected that that whole deal was orchestrated by the Reagan crew. I wouldn’t completely blame it all on Iran. Agree with the others who say he may not have been our best President but has without a doubt been one of our greatest ex-Presidents. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/40 "2015-08-14T14:22:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > You mean the one that [started under Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973%E2%80%9375_recession)? But Carter made it many times worse-in Remember his “malaise” speech? He was blaming the American people. Instead of dropping interest rates and expanding spending, he foolishly thought that tight money was the way to go. The result was a severe depression. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748.md?page=3)