Conservative Reemergence Jimmy Carter Election of 1976 Jimmy

Conservative Reemergence Jimmy Carter

Election of 1976 • Jimmy Carter-Democrat • 40. 8 million popular votes • Foreign Policy=Human Rights • Gerald Ford-Republican • 39. 1 million popular vote • Pardoned Nixon=unpopular

HUMAN RIGHTS WORLDWIDE • The United States should commit itself to promoting human rights, such as the freedoms listed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, throughout the world. • Cut off military aid to countries that had tortured their own citizens • Created the Bureau of Human Rights- “Human rights had become the central theme of our foreign policy in the minds of the press and public” • Breakdown in relations with the Soviet Union • Soviets invade Afghanistan

Camp David Accords • Goal: Easing Middle Eastern hostilities between Egypt, Israel, and Palestinians • 1 st Agreement: 5 year transition period which Israel and Jordan would work out the issue of self-rule for Palestinians , Arabs living on the West Bank and Gaza Strip- areas captured by Israel during earlier years • 2 nd Agreement: Aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and Egypt. Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it seized from Egypt in 1967. Egypt would then recognize Israel’s existence as a nation (1 st Arab Nation to do so)

Israel-Palestine Conflict

Iran Hostage Crisis • U. S. has provided military and political aid to the shah of Iran • The regime was corrupt • The shah’s secret police tortured thousands of prisoners and executed many without trial • January 1979: Revolution begins. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led the rebels in overthrowing the shah and established a religious state based on the Qur’an. • Carter supported the shah until the very end=infuriated revolutionaries of Iran • Armed students seize US embassy in Tehran-took 52 American hostages • Released after 444 days in captivity…US cut off diplomatic relations with Iran