The Energy Crisis and Carter
Trying desperately to cope with the economic predicament spawned by OPEC, both Ford and Carter dismally failed. In foreign affairs, Cold War tensions mounted as the Soviet Union became increasingly annoyed with Carter’s rigorous standard of human rights.
Balance of trade, trade deficits: A U.S. economic report during the 1970s revealed that the nation imported more than it exported; the balance of trade was thrown off and the economic experts worried that the U.S. economy would not survive. As a result, Nixon began such programs as "revenue sharing" and wage and price controls for regulation.
Ford, Gerald, Nixon Pardon: On Aug. 9, 1974, Ford became the first vice president to inherit leadership of the nation after the president resigned. To put the nation forward, General Ford granted pardon for ex-President Nixon. As a result, many people were angry that the government could easily forgive corruption and dishonesty.
"Stagflation": As a combination of business stagnation and inflation, "stagflation" severely worsened the American economy. When the government borrowed money to offset the drastic loss of tax revenue, interest rates still increased. The federal government could not repay the loan, and it was forced to find other methods to collect revenue. There was no simple solution to "stagflation;" to lower interest rates to prevent stagnation would worsen the ongoing inflation.
SALT II: In June 1979, Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev agreed and signed the SALT II treaty. Carter presented it to the Senate and they ratified it. Due to the invasion of Afghanistan by Russia, the Cold War thaw slowed. The U.S.-Soviet relationship grew sour, and the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Election of 1976: Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States in 1976. Climaxing a remarkable rise to national fame, Carter had been governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975 and was little known elsewhere at the beginning of 1976. Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.
Carter, Jimmy, Amnesty: Elected to the Presidency in 1976, Carter was an advocate of human rights. He granted amnesty to countries who followed his foreign policy. They excluded nations which violated Carter’s humane standards through cruel business practices.
Panama Canal Treaty: The Carter administration put together bargains on a number of treaties to transfer the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone to the Panamanians by 1999. This treaty was met with staunch opposition by Republicans who felt that they "stole it fair and square."
Camp David Accords: Camp David was a place where the Egyptian leader Anwar el-Sadat and the Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin came together with Jimmy Carter. They discussed certain negotiations and tried to hammer out a framework for a peace treaty for the Middle East. It represented peace and harmony in the modern world.
WIN: To compensate for the economic predicament caused by OPEC and the crisis of energy conservation, Jimmy Carter proposed a innovative economic program. WIN was to provide methods for conserving energy by creating the Department of Energy and regulating consumption of gas by automobiles.
Department of Energy: Carter created the Department of Energy and created an energy bill including taxation on oil and gasoline, tax credits for those who found methods on saving money and alternative-energy resources. It went well and the bill for energy consumption came down in 1978.
