Jimmy Carter: Foreign Policy and Post-Presidential Years

President Jimmy Carter, like all his predecessors since World War II, experienced the blurring of lines between foreign and domestic politics while, paradoxically, the contrasts between those lines became more pronounced. In nearly every arena of domestic and foreign policy, he had to deal with the intrusion of the politics of both spheres.

The major concerns of the Carter foreign policy experience and, consequently, of the papers included in the volume were staffing the foreign policy apparatus, shifting human rights to the forefront of basic policy considerations, attempting to create peaceful conditions in the Middle East, contributing to the emergence of underdeveloped countries, lessening Cold War tensions, ending the negotiations over the Panama Canal, and working to free the hostages in Iran. While the bulk of the volume focuses on these concerns, the remainder addresses President Carter’s career after leaving the White House. These essays will be of concern to all involved with the study of the twentieth-century American presidency and modern diplomacy.