The United States foreign policy during the presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) was dominated by the Cold War, a period of sustained geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Upon taking office, Carter reoriented U.S. foreign policy towards a new emphasis on human rights, democratic values, nuclear non-proliferation, and global poverty. Carter ended U.S. support for the Somoza regime in Nicaragua and cut back or terminated military aid to Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Ernesto Geisel of Brazil, and Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina, all of whom he criticized for human rights violations. He negotiated the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, which provided for the return of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999. In an effort to end the Arab–Israeli conflict, he helped arrange the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. He also became the first U.S. president to visit Sub-Saharan Africa, a reflection of the region's new importance under the Carter administration.
Taking office during a period of relatively warm relations with both China and the Soviet Union, Carter initially continued the conciliatory policies of his predecessors. He normalized relations with China and revoked a defense treaty with Taiwan. He also continued the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviet Union, though he continued to criticize the Soviet Union for its human rights policies. After the start of the Soviet–Afghan War, he discarded his conciliatory policies towards the Soviet Union, began a period of military build-up, started a grain embargo, and provided aid to mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan. The final fifteen months of Carter's presidential tenure were marked by several major crises, including the 1979 oil crisis, the Iran hostage crisis, and the subsequent failed Operation Eagle Claw. These crises contributed to Carter's landslide defeat in the 1980 presidential election.
Leadership
Appointments
Carter administration foreign policy personnelVice President Mondale(1977–1981)Secretary of State Vance(1977–1980) Muskie(1980–1981)Secretary of Defense Brown(1977–1981) Ambassador to the United NationsYoung(1977–1979) McHenry(1979–1981)Director of Central Intelligence Turner(1977–1981) Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Brzezinski(1977–1981) Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Aaron(1977–1981) Trade Representative Strauss(1977–1979) Askew(1979–1981)
For the positions of Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, Carter selected Cyrus Vance and Harold Brown, both of whom had been high-ranking officials in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 30–32 National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski emerged as one of Carter's closest advisers, and Carter made use of both the National Security Council and Vance's State Department in developing and implementing foreign policy.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 43–44 Vice President Walter Mondale also served as a key adviser on foreign policy issues.Joel Kramer Goldstein, The White House Vice Presidency: The Path to Significance, Mondale to Biden (2016) ch 4.
Vance pushed for détente with the Soviet Union, and clashed frequently with the hawkish Brzezinski. Vance tried to advance arms limitations by working on the SALT II agreement with the Soviet Union, which he saw as the central diplomatic issue of the time, but Brzezinski lobbied for a tougher, more assertive policy vis-à-vis the Soviets. He argued for strong condemnation of Soviet activity in Africa and in the Third World as well as successfully lobbying for normalized relations with the China in 1978. As Brzezinski took control of the negotiations with Beijing, Vance was marginalized and his influence began to wane. When revolution erupted in Iran in late 1978, the two were divided on how to support the United States' ally the Shah of Iran. Vance argued in favor of reforms while Brzezinski urged him to crack down – the 'iron fist' approach. Unable to receive a direct course of action from Carter, the mixed messages that the shah received from Vance and Brzezinski contributed to his confusion and indecision as he fled Iran in January 1979 and his regime collapsed.Justin Vaïsse, Zbigniew Brzezinski: America's Grand Strategist (2018). After Vance resigned in 1980, Carter appointed Edmund Muskie, a well-respected senator with whom Carter had developed friendly relations, to serve as Secretary of State.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, p. 224
Cold War
Carter took office during the Cold War, a sustained period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, relations between the two superpowers had improved through a policy known as detente. In a reflection of the waning importance of the Cold War, some of Carter's contemporaries labeled him as the first post-Cold War president, but relations with the Soviet Union would continue to be an important factor in American foreign policy in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Many of the leading officials in the Carter administration, including Carter himself, were members of the Trilateral Commission, which de-emphasized the Cold War. The Trilateral Commission instead advocated a foreign policy focused on aid to Third World countries and improved relations with Western Europe and Japan. The central tension of the Carter administration's foreign policy was reflected in the division between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who sought improved relations with the Soviet Union and the Third World, and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who favored confrontation with the Soviet Union on a range of issues.Herring, pp. 830–833
Human rights
Carter believed that previous administrations had erred in allowing the Cold War concerns and realpolitik to dominate foreign policy. His administration placed a new emphasis on human rights, democratic values, nuclear proliferation, and global poverty.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 44–46 The Carter administration's human rights emphasis was part of a broader, worldwide focus on human rights in the 1970s, as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch became increasingly prominent. Carter nominated civil rights activist Patricia M. Derian as Coordinator for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, and in August 1977, had the post elevated to that of Assistant Secretary of State. Derian established the United States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published annually since 1977.Herring, pp. 845–846 Latin America was central to Carter's new focus on human rights.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 46–47 The Carter administration ended support to the historically U.S.-backed Somoza regime in Nicaragua and directed aid to the new Sandinista National Liberation Front government that assumed power after Somoza's overthrow. Carter also cut back or terminated military aid to Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Ernesto Geisel of Brazil, and Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina, all of whom he criticized for human rights violations.Herring, pp. 846–847
Carter's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young, was the first African-American to hold a high-level diplomatic post. Along with Carter, he sought to change U.S. policy towards Africa, emphasizing human rights concerns over Cold War issues.Herring, p. 833 In 1978, Carter became the first sitting president to make an official state visit to Sub-Saharan Africa, a reflection of the region's new importance under the Carter administration's foreign policy.Herring, p. 842 Unlike his predecessors, Carter took a strong stance against white minority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. With Carter's support, the United Nations passed Resolution 418, which placed an arms embargo on South Africa. Carter won the repeal of the Byrd Amendment, which had undercut international sanctions on the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith. He also pressured Smith to hold elections, leading to the 1979 Rhodesia elections and the eventual creation of Zimbabwe.Herring, pp. 842–844
The more assertive human rights policy championed by Derian and State Department Policy Planning Director Anthony Lake was somewhat blunted by the opposition of Brzezinski. Policy disputes reached their most contentious point during the 1979 fall of Pol Pot's genocidal regime of Democratic Kampuchea following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, when Brzezinski prevailed in having the administration refuse to recognize the new Cambodian government due to its support by the Soviet Union. Despite human rights concerns, Carter continued U.S. support for Joseph Mobutu of Zaire, who defeated Angolan-backed insurgents in conflicts known as Shaba I and Shaba II.Herring, pp. 844–845 His administration also generally refrained from criticizing human rights abuses in the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and North Yemen.Herring, p. 846Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, p. 46
Defense policy and missiles
Although his campaign platform in 1976 called for a reduction in defense spending, Carter called for a 3 percent increase in the defense budget. He sought a sturdier defense posture by stationing medium range nuclear missiles in Europe aimed at the Soviet Union.Brian J. Auten, Carter's Conversion: The Hardening of American Defense Policy (2009) excerpt. Carter and Brown worked to keep the balance with the Soviets in strategic weapons by improving land-based ICBMs, by equipping strategic bombers with cruise missiles and by deploying far more submarine-launched missiles tipped with MIRVs, or multiple warheads that could hit multiple targets. They continued development of the MX missile and modernization of NATO's Long-Range Theater Nuclear Force.Sam C. Sarkesian, ed. Defense Policy and the Presidency: Carter's First Years (1980)Robert D. McFadden, "Harold Brown, Defense Secretary in Carter Administration, Dies at 91" The New York Times January 5, 2019.
In March 1976, the Soviet Union first deployed the SS-20 Saber (also known as the RSD-10) in its European territories, a mobile, concealable intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) containing three nuclear 150-kiloton warheads. The SS-20 replaced aging Soviet systems of the SS-4 Sandal and SS-5 Skean, which were seen to pose a limited threat to Western Europe due to their poor accuracy, limited payload (one warhead), lengthy preparation time, difficulty in being concealed, and immobility (thus exposing them to pre-emptive NATO strikes ahead of a planned attack).Bohlen (2012) pp 6-7. Whereas the SS-4 and SS-5 were seen as defensive weapons, the SS-20 was seen as a potential offensive system. Washington initially considered its strategic nuclear weapons and nuclear-capable aircraft to be adequate counters to the SS-20 and a sufficient deterrent against Soviet aggression. In 1977, however, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany argued in a speech that a Western response to the SS-20 deployment should be explored, a call which was echoed by NATO, given a perceived Western disadvantage in European nuclear forces.Bohlen (2012) p 7.