{UAH} Who is the most misunderstood historical figure?

Who is the most misunderstood historical figure?

It would be President Jimmy Carter, a one term President of the USA. Many people consider him a failure. He got into office because the country was looking for an honest, honorable decent man after the Nixon Watergate scandal.

Carter was a progressive Christian leader. He served with honor as a submariner in the US Navy. He helped to negotiate a peace settlement in the Middle East between Israel and Eqypt. He also fought for reforms to America's welfare, health care, tax systems and renewable energy. Unfortunately, he could not get support from Congress.

Like recent democrat Presidents, he inherited an economy and society that was in poor shape.

In the 1960s, America had spent billions of dollars supporting corrupt governments and fighting their "communists" enemies. While the war in Korea had merit, the war in former French Indochina was a disaster. America dropped more bombs on Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam than on Nazi Germany. America's fight in Indochina resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent people. At one point America even supported Pol Pot, the genocidal dictator of Cambodia.

Money that could have been used for the betterment of society went into weapons, and the agents of war.

During the 1970s, the Arab nations retaliated over the war with Israel by raising oil prices by huge amounts causing a global economic crisis. This was devastating to America which relied on cheap imported oil from the Middle East. Previously, America was a net exporter of oil. Failure to plan by previous administrations resulted in this economic disaster.

Carter was voted into office in 1977. He served until 1981.

Carter tried to place emphasis on human rights in US foreign policies. He stopped bombing third world nations.

He was blamed when religious activists in Iran were released from jail and sparked a revolution which led to the US Embassy hostage crisis. A cold blooded leader would have declared war on Iran resulting in the deaths of millions of people. Carter would have won a 2nd term in office while US Bombers and missiles killed thousands or millions of Iranians.

uSA would "kick ass".

Meanwhile, this would have threaten WW3. No doubt the American hostages would be executed too. But starting a war to "rescue" the hostages would have guaranteed American public support for Carter and a 2nd term in office. Thankfully, he was not a killer.

America's plan to rescue the hostages with a military special forces mission failed; the rescue helicopters crashed due to a sand storm. Carter copped the blame for that.

He didn't mince his words when he told the American public that the reason for America's crisis lay in the "evils of consumerism". Unfortunately, Carter's delivery and sense of timing wasn't good. America didn't want reflection, it wanted feel good encouragement.

Carter was probably correct but America wasn't a Sunday School class. America wanted to be reassured. So they elected former B-grade actor Ronald Reagan to be the next President. Reagan was a good actor and knew how to charm the American public while passing on or hiding bad policy.

Reagan's handling of the savings and loans crisis made it worse. Tens of thousands of low and middle income American families lost their life savings.

Reagan promised low taxes but the end result was lower taxes for the mega rich which has since resulted in the tremendous income disparity we see now in America.

Despite this Reagan was very popular. He offered simple solutions to complex problems. This appealed to the American public. Other unscrupulous individuals in the future would take note.

(Reagan, "Lets Make America Great Again.") Trump would copy this slogan for his 2016 election bid.

Reagan also did a lot of dishonest things - including funding violent right wing extremists groups, who tortured and raped innocent people, especially in South America - Iran-Contra Scandal.

The Republicans also traitoriously helped to delay the release of US hostages, promising the Iranians banned weapons in the process. Reagan's acting skills helped him to wing his way out of trouble and to con the American public.

While Reagan was considered a "great" President, one of his legacies was the creation of a brash, uncompromising Republican party that resort to any tricks to win the election including pandering to the Russians. His populist jingoism and support for military expenditure while it was appealing to the American public created a black hole in the US budget which it is trying to fill up to today.

Carter unfortunately was not an actor or con artist or a Republican. He was a principled honourable man. He wouldn't sugarcoat rubbish or bad policy even if his life was on the line. He was a decent, kind hearted, honest man who wanted to help America become a better place. He was a patriot in the true sense of the word.

So he lost and became a "loser". He was laughed at. Mocked.

He spends his retirement days building homes for poor American citizens.

"I just want to keep the whole world at peace," Carter said.

He also noted that America's decline was partly its own fault due to its support for its military industrial machine, first noted by Republican President "Ike" Eisenhower. The USA spends a fortune making weapons of war to kill foreigners while its own people suffer due to poor public healthcare.

One has to marvel at the crazy logic of spending taxpayer money on bombs while saying spending it on healthcare or public education is "communism" or wasteful.

The war in Iraq led by the Republicans cost America trillions of dollars, money that could have been better spent improving American society and economy. It also devastated the region leading to civil war, an increase in violent extreme religious fanaticism, and a refugee crisis that has affected the rest of the world.

(Team America : the accidental documentary on US foreign policy)

This is not a good comprehensive essay on President Carter; I hope someone else will write a better answer about him. I wrote this partly because I was sicken by the number of answers written supporting Hitler and Stalin.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

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"Unless the penis dies young it shall surely eat bearded meat" Chinua Achebe in: Arrow Of God

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