Jimmy Carter Did Not Embody Liberalism
The late former president was instrumental in setting the stage for Ronald Reagan's political career.
TroibNews 
Jimmy Carter is often remembered as America’s last truly liberal president until Barack Obama, but this view is misleading. Instead, Carter can be seen as the first in a line of conservative presidents more closely tied to Ronald Reagan.
Carter’s loss to Reagan in 1980, after a single term, “marked the decline and fall of the public’s faith in statist liberalism,” as noted by the late Sen. Jesse Helms. The journalist Nicholas Lemann has described a more favorable popular perception of Carter, asserting he was “too much the good-hearted liberal to maintain a hold on the presidential electorate.”
These misconceptions persist partly because Carter’s four decades after leaving office have generally leaned more left than his presidency. His efforts in peace initiatives involving North Korea and Cuba, along with his criticism of U.S. policies on various issues including the Palestinians and domestic surveillance, position Carter significantly to the left of his Republican and Democratic successors.
Additionally, the memory of Carter’s presidency is clouded by a lack of historical context. Policies such as the creation of the Education Department or the passage of the oil windfall profits tax appear liberal only when one overlooks the rightward shift of the political spectrum that continued for three decades following his tenure. If assessed outside of this context, even many of Reagan's policies may seem liberal today.
The movement toward the right had already begun prior to Carter’s presidency and continued during his time in office. Reagan did not change this trend; he simply accelerated its momentum.
Carter’s two Democratic predecessors, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, articulated expansive visions of the government's potential. Carter, coming from a conservative background in the Deep South, emphasized the limitations of government. "There is a limit to the role and the function of government," he said during his 1978 State of the Union address. "Government cannot solve our problems." Reagan later transformed this notion into "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," a sentiment that echoed further than Carter had intended. Additionally, Carter would not likely have echoed President Bill Clinton’s 1996 declaration that “the era of big government is over.”
Carter’s caution regarding government’s role shocked many liberals at the time. Historians and political figures like Arthur Schlesinger Jr. expressed disbelief, asking, “Can anyone imagine Franklin D. Roosevelt talking this way?” The conclusion was that Carter had strayed far from traditional Democratic values.
Democratic operative Bob Shrum, who later worked with Al Gore and John Kerry, found Carter's reluctance to embrace liberal values so troubling that he left Carter's 1976 campaign after only ten days. In his resignation letter, he remarked, “Your strategy is largely designed to conceal your true convictions, whatever they may be.” Four years later, Shrum was a speechwriter for Sen. Ted Kennedy, who challenged Carter from a more progressive standpoint in the Democratic primaries.
Carter was somewhat out of sync among liberal Democrats like Kennedy. He admitted in his White House diary, “I feel more at home with the conservative Democratic and Republican members of Congress than I do the others,” despite often gaining support from liberals.
The New Deal liberal dominance with which Carter is mistakenly associated came to an end around 1974, undermined by several factors: the white backlash to the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War's impact on the Democratic Party, the 1973 Arab oil embargo that dismantled economic prosperity, and the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon from office.
This might seem paradoxical given that Nixon was deeply unpopular among liberal Democrats. However, the immediate outcome of Watergate was a Democratic increase in congressional seats in 1974 and Carter's narrow victory over Gerald Ford two years later. Nonetheless, the resulting skepticism toward government fueled a long-term advantage for anti-government conservatives.
It was also Watergate that placed Ford, a more conservative Republican than Nixon, in the presidency. Nixon’s domestic policies are often regarded as continuations of New Deal liberalism; he established the Environmental Protection Agency and proposed policies akin to a guaranteed family income. It seems improbable that Ford, who resisted a bailout for New York City and faced potential primary challenges from Reagan, would have enacted similar measures.
While it is tempting to label Ford as the first president of the conservative era due to his conservative leanings, three factors prevent him from claiming this title. His time in office was too brief to effect meaningful change, and the political climate necessitated a focus on healing the wounds of Watergate. Furthermore, Ford’s cooperative legislative demeanor contrasted sharply with Carter’s approach.
Carter was not a conservative in the classic sense; he embodied a Southern liberal perspective, making him a somewhat conservative Democrat nationally. He left Reagan a budget deficit of about $74 billion—a figure that seemed alarming at the time, though Reagan later more than doubled it. In terms of GDP, the deficit decreased under Carter and increased under Reagan, who espoused fiscal conservatism without following it in practice.
The two main tenets of modern conservatism—opposition to taxes and regulation—emerged prominently during Carter’s presidency. While Carter aimed for progressive tax reform, he struggled to gain legislative support amid a national tax revolt ignited by California's Proposition 13, limiting property taxes. This tax revolt can, in part, be traced back to Carter’s inability to tackle the rampant inflation affecting home values effectively. Notably, the Federal Reserve Board, led by Carter appointee Paul Volcker, is credited with finally curbing the inflation of the late 1970s.
Unable to push through his tax reforms, Carter ultimately signed a 1978 bill that significantly lowered capital gains taxes, initially introduced by Rep. Jack Kemp and Sen. William Roth. As Kemp’s aide Bruce Bartlett later highlighted, their success in enacting a conservative tax bill under a Democratic president propelled them forward in pursuit of even more radical tax cuts, paving the way for the supply-side economics that would dominate Reagan's presidency.
Carter also set in motion significant deregulation during his time, focusing primarily on economic sectors. His moves toward deregulating industries like trucking and airlines enjoyed bipartisan support, including from some liberals who believed competition would benefit consumers. This initial wave of deregulation laid the groundwork for more extensive deregulation efforts seen under subsequent administrations.
Carter’s foreign policy would be remembered by conservatives as weak, particularly following a failed attempt to rescue hostages in Iran in 1980. Nevertheless, his defense stance was robust for a Democrat. With ten years of Navy service behind him, he prioritized military spending, reversing a decline following the Vietnam War. Reagan's administration merely built upon this momentum.
Carter’s decision to grant unconditional amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders angered conservative hawks, although it expanded a clemency program initiated by Ford. Historian Sean Wilentz noted that the amnesty was not as "unconditional" as advertised, as it maintained several limits established by Ford.
Since the 1980s, it has become standard for candidates across the political spectrum to present themselves as outsiders against a corrupt Washington culture, a trend that took root during Carter’s campaign. He framed his candidacy around restoring integrity to government, asserting during a 1976 debate with Ford, “For a long time our American citizens have been excluded, sometimes misled, sometimes have been lied to.” He committed to being truthful: “I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you has in me, and I will never avoid a controversial issue.” While this pledge appeared overly idealistic, it resonated with voters weary from the Watergate and Vietnam experiences.
Carter also broke ground in discussing personal faith openly as a presidential candidate, a precedent that ultimately would favor conservative politicians. Prior to his emergence, U.S. presidents generally shied away from openly expressing their religious beliefs, with Eisenhower being an exception but not particularly vocal about his faith. Presidents like Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford maintained a more low-key approach to personal beliefs.
Carter, however, openly identified as “born again” and engaged evangelical Christians to galvanize his electoral base. His rise coincided with the political mobilization of evangelical Christianity, which became increasingly influential in political circles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This growing influence quickly shifted from Carter’s favor to that of Reagan as conservatives like Jerry Falwell capitalized on the momentum.
The subtle shift toward conservatism during Carter's era would pale in comparison to the profound changes initiated by Reagan, who many observers once deemed too conservative for the presidency. Yet the incremental adjustments made during Carter's time laid the groundwork for the collaborations that occurred throughout the Reagan era, which shaped political dynamics that continued well into the 21st century. While Carter may not have embraced this distinction, the framing of him as the initial president of this new political era remains an undeniable part of his legacy.
Frederick R Cook contributed to this report for TROIB News
Carter’s loss to Reagan in 1980, after a single term, “marked the decline and fall of the public’s faith in statist liberalism,” as noted by the late Sen. Jesse Helms. The journalist Nicholas Lemann has described a more favorable popular perception of Carter, asserting he was “too much the good-hearted liberal to maintain a hold on the presidential electorate.”
These misconceptions persist partly because Carter’s four decades after leaving office have generally leaned more left than his presidency. His efforts in peace initiatives involving North Korea and Cuba, along with his criticism of U.S. policies on various issues including the Palestinians and domestic surveillance, position Carter significantly to the left of his Republican and Democratic successors.
Additionally, the memory of Carter’s presidency is clouded by a lack of historical context. Policies such as the creation of the Education Department or the passage of the oil windfall profits tax appear liberal only when one overlooks the rightward shift of the political spectrum that continued for three decades following his tenure. If assessed outside of this context, even many of Reagan's policies may seem liberal today.
The movement toward the right had already begun prior to Carter’s presidency and continued during his time in office. Reagan did not change this trend; he simply accelerated its momentum.
Carter’s two Democratic predecessors, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, articulated expansive visions of the government's potential. Carter, coming from a conservative background in the Deep South, emphasized the limitations of government. "There is a limit to the role and the function of government," he said during his 1978 State of the Union address. "Government cannot solve our problems." Reagan later transformed this notion into "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," a sentiment that echoed further than Carter had intended. Additionally, Carter would not likely have echoed President Bill Clinton’s 1996 declaration that “the era of big government is over.”
Carter’s caution regarding government’s role shocked many liberals at the time. Historians and political figures like Arthur Schlesinger Jr. expressed disbelief, asking, “Can anyone imagine Franklin D. Roosevelt talking this way?” The conclusion was that Carter had strayed far from traditional Democratic values.
Democratic operative Bob Shrum, who later worked with Al Gore and John Kerry, found Carter's reluctance to embrace liberal values so troubling that he left Carter's 1976 campaign after only ten days. In his resignation letter, he remarked, “Your strategy is largely designed to conceal your true convictions, whatever they may be.” Four years later, Shrum was a speechwriter for Sen. Ted Kennedy, who challenged Carter from a more progressive standpoint in the Democratic primaries.
Carter was somewhat out of sync among liberal Democrats like Kennedy. He admitted in his White House diary, “I feel more at home with the conservative Democratic and Republican members of Congress than I do the others,” despite often gaining support from liberals.
The New Deal liberal dominance with which Carter is mistakenly associated came to an end around 1974, undermined by several factors: the white backlash to the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War's impact on the Democratic Party, the 1973 Arab oil embargo that dismantled economic prosperity, and the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon from office.
This might seem paradoxical given that Nixon was deeply unpopular among liberal Democrats. However, the immediate outcome of Watergate was a Democratic increase in congressional seats in 1974 and Carter's narrow victory over Gerald Ford two years later. Nonetheless, the resulting skepticism toward government fueled a long-term advantage for anti-government conservatives.
It was also Watergate that placed Ford, a more conservative Republican than Nixon, in the presidency. Nixon’s domestic policies are often regarded as continuations of New Deal liberalism; he established the Environmental Protection Agency and proposed policies akin to a guaranteed family income. It seems improbable that Ford, who resisted a bailout for New York City and faced potential primary challenges from Reagan, would have enacted similar measures.
While it is tempting to label Ford as the first president of the conservative era due to his conservative leanings, three factors prevent him from claiming this title. His time in office was too brief to effect meaningful change, and the political climate necessitated a focus on healing the wounds of Watergate. Furthermore, Ford’s cooperative legislative demeanor contrasted sharply with Carter’s approach.
Carter was not a conservative in the classic sense; he embodied a Southern liberal perspective, making him a somewhat conservative Democrat nationally. He left Reagan a budget deficit of about $74 billion—a figure that seemed alarming at the time, though Reagan later more than doubled it. In terms of GDP, the deficit decreased under Carter and increased under Reagan, who espoused fiscal conservatism without following it in practice.
The two main tenets of modern conservatism—opposition to taxes and regulation—emerged prominently during Carter’s presidency. While Carter aimed for progressive tax reform, he struggled to gain legislative support amid a national tax revolt ignited by California's Proposition 13, limiting property taxes. This tax revolt can, in part, be traced back to Carter’s inability to tackle the rampant inflation affecting home values effectively. Notably, the Federal Reserve Board, led by Carter appointee Paul Volcker, is credited with finally curbing the inflation of the late 1970s.
Unable to push through his tax reforms, Carter ultimately signed a 1978 bill that significantly lowered capital gains taxes, initially introduced by Rep. Jack Kemp and Sen. William Roth. As Kemp’s aide Bruce Bartlett later highlighted, their success in enacting a conservative tax bill under a Democratic president propelled them forward in pursuit of even more radical tax cuts, paving the way for the supply-side economics that would dominate Reagan's presidency.
Carter also set in motion significant deregulation during his time, focusing primarily on economic sectors. His moves toward deregulating industries like trucking and airlines enjoyed bipartisan support, including from some liberals who believed competition would benefit consumers. This initial wave of deregulation laid the groundwork for more extensive deregulation efforts seen under subsequent administrations.
Carter’s foreign policy would be remembered by conservatives as weak, particularly following a failed attempt to rescue hostages in Iran in 1980. Nevertheless, his defense stance was robust for a Democrat. With ten years of Navy service behind him, he prioritized military spending, reversing a decline following the Vietnam War. Reagan's administration merely built upon this momentum.
Carter’s decision to grant unconditional amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders angered conservative hawks, although it expanded a clemency program initiated by Ford. Historian Sean Wilentz noted that the amnesty was not as "unconditional" as advertised, as it maintained several limits established by Ford.
Since the 1980s, it has become standard for candidates across the political spectrum to present themselves as outsiders against a corrupt Washington culture, a trend that took root during Carter’s campaign. He framed his candidacy around restoring integrity to government, asserting during a 1976 debate with Ford, “For a long time our American citizens have been excluded, sometimes misled, sometimes have been lied to.” He committed to being truthful: “I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you has in me, and I will never avoid a controversial issue.” While this pledge appeared overly idealistic, it resonated with voters weary from the Watergate and Vietnam experiences.
Carter also broke ground in discussing personal faith openly as a presidential candidate, a precedent that ultimately would favor conservative politicians. Prior to his emergence, U.S. presidents generally shied away from openly expressing their religious beliefs, with Eisenhower being an exception but not particularly vocal about his faith. Presidents like Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford maintained a more low-key approach to personal beliefs.
Carter, however, openly identified as “born again” and engaged evangelical Christians to galvanize his electoral base. His rise coincided with the political mobilization of evangelical Christianity, which became increasingly influential in political circles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This growing influence quickly shifted from Carter’s favor to that of Reagan as conservatives like Jerry Falwell capitalized on the momentum.
The subtle shift toward conservatism during Carter's era would pale in comparison to the profound changes initiated by Reagan, who many observers once deemed too conservative for the presidency. Yet the incremental adjustments made during Carter's time laid the groundwork for the collaborations that occurred throughout the Reagan era, which shaped political dynamics that continued well into the 21st century. While Carter may not have embraced this distinction, the framing of him as the initial president of this new political era remains an undeniable part of his legacy.
Frederick R Cook contributed to this report for TROIB News
