For President Jimmy Carter, morality became a personal responsibility that became a national calling. A very religious man, he taught Sunday school for most of his adult life until he passed away in 2020, and he demonstrated that moral leadership from his entry into politics through his ascension to the presidency. When he arrived, he understood in a profound way, that he was spreading values—morality, and human rights—in a Cold War world that needed hope.
This is an underappreciated cornerstone of Carter’s legacy. He took America’s moral leadership seriously and tried to use it to improve our country and our world. After the Realpolitik relativism of the Vietnam and Nixon eras, Carter committed himself to diplomacy, deferred to international norms and raised human rights as a priority in American foreign policy. That vision of America’s role in the world gives hope even today. Apart from criticism and active politics, it is more important than ever to realize that ethical leadership does not go out of fashion. Indeed, it is important.
Carter’s conviction was his most striking quality, and it could be his most annoying. He was incredibly stubborn about doing what was right, and refused to give up long when others would throw up their hands. A good example was the negotiation of what became the Camp David Accords, the landmark agreement that led to the first Israeli-Arab peace agreement—he refused to let Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin leave, and they entered the rooms of Camp David , investigating and coordinating until the agreement is concluded.
And he was perfectly willing to pick damaging political battles for what he felt was right. He called the dispute over the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panamanian authority “the most difficult political battle I have ever faced,” but he also believes that the continued control of the US over a large part of Panamanian territory is a permanent injustice, and that it has reduced the US to the country. eyes of the world. He later wrote: “This issue has become a litmus test, showing how the US, as a superpower, will treat a small and defenseless nation that has always been a close ally and supporter. In the end, he was able to get two new US-Panama treaties through the Senate with the required (and bipartisan) two-thirds majority, plus an additional vote.
Carter is rightly praised for his achievements in the presidency—from conflict resolution to deworming Africa to Habitat for Humanity. But his universal behavior came from his personality, and I saw this up close: he supported the careers of many who worked for him, including mine. In my first run for Congress, Carter sent me a personal check for $500, with a handwritten note saying: “We love you and wish you the best. You represent not only California but also the Carter family. ” Now it hangs on the wall in my office.
This personal commitment to principles is reflected in the vision he outlined in his first speech in the first year of his presidency: “a mission based on continued respect for its principles and positive hope in our historical perspective.” Carter made his call for moral clarity amid a post-Vietnam crisis of confidence that he said was “made worse by the underlying pessimism of some of our leaders.” He urged the American people to rely on the dynamic values of this country, especially since democracy is flourishing in India, Portugal, Spain and Greece, which proves its attractiveness.
Interestingly, this view was not limited to Carter. In fact, it became a central theme among his successors, not least the man who defeated him for the presidency in 1980. Reagan made liberalism the cornerstone of his foreign policy when he stood at the Brandenburg Gate and urged Soviet President Gorbachev to “dismantle. this wall.”
Sadly, Carter leaves us in the middle of another crisis of confidence, where most of the progress since his presidency seems to be collapsing. Freedom House recently documented the decline in freedom worldwide for the 18th year in a row. A Soviet-nostalgic Russian leader tries to seize the world by force in Europe; The Israel-Hamas war continues to defy a negotiated settlement at a terrible human cost. Carter’s example should teach us that it is times like these that call for the courage needed to never stop pursuing freedom and peace.
Let us note, as Carter did, that “it is a new world—but America should not be afraid of us.” A new world – and we must help shape it. ” Achieving this goal requires vision—and stubbornness.
Jane Harman was a Deputy Cabinet Secretary in the Carter administration. He later served nine terms in Congress from California and is the chairman of Freedom House.
Source link
