Chapter 13

Keeping the Peace

Middle-East peace talks

Long before he became president, Jimmy Carter had been fascinated by the Middle East. As a boy, he had read Bible stories and studied maps of ancient sites. As governor of Georgia, he had visited Israel and seen the places where Jesus had lived and died. As president, he wanted to give the gift of peace to the Middle East.

The modern nation of Israel was founded in 1948 with the strong support of the United States. Jews from all over the world now had a homeland, which was especially important since six million Jews had recently been killed during the Holocaust and World War II (1939 – 1945). But as more and more Jews settled in Israel, conflicts developed with the Arab Palestinians who lived in the region. Between 1947 and 1973, Israel and its Arab neighbors went to war four times. These wars caused hate and distrust.

President Jimmy Carter (center) worked with Anwar Sadat (left) and Prime Minister Menachem Begin (right) to establish peace in the Middle East.

Jimmy Carter admired the courage and determination of the Jewish people. He understood their need for a safe homeland. He had never met any Arab leaders until Egypt’s president, Anwar Sadat, came to Washington in 1977. The two men talked together about their families, their early lives, and their hometowns. They became friends. By the end of the visit, Jimmy began to hope that peace between Israel and Egypt was possible.

One beautiful summer day, as the Carters walked through the woods at Camp David, Jimmy came up with an idea. Why not invite President Sadat and Israel’s prime minister, Menachem Begin, to come to Camp David to talk about peace? How could they fight in such a peaceful place? Rosalynn agreed that it was a good idea. Later though, Jimmy began to have doubts. What if the leaders come and the talks fail? “You’ve never been afraid of failure before,” Rosalynn said.

President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin agreed to join President Carter at Camp David to talk peace. The talks began on September 5, 1978. On the first night, Prime Minister Begin told President Carter that there had not been an agreement between a Jewish nation and Egypt for more than two thousand years. The Carters decided to ask Christians, Muslims, and Jews throughout the world to pray for peace. The plea was sent to the press on the first night of the talks:

After four wars, despite vast human efforts, the Holy Land does not yet enjoy the blessings of peace. Conscious of the grave issues which face us, we place our trust in the God of our fathers, from whom we seek wisdom and guidance. As we meet here at Camp David, we ask people of all faiths to pray with us that peace and justice may result from these deliberations.

The discussions did not get off to a good start. President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin couldn’t agree on anything! After a while, they refused to talk to one another. So Jimmy decided that if they wouldn’t talk to each other, they would have to talk through him. He wrote the peace plan, and then he spent the next several days going first to one leader and then to the other to work out the details. It was exhausting work. There were more than fifty issues to discuss, but Jimmy refused to give up.

The secret talks lasted thirteen days. People around the world waited to see if peace was possible. Finally, the leaders reached an agreement called the Camp David Peace Accords. Jimmy Carter earned praise throughout the world for his brilliant leadership.

When President Carter spoke to Congress about the peace accords, both President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin attended. Jimmy turned to them and said, “To these two friends of mine, the words of Jesus — ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be the children of God.’ ” In 1978, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. They couldn’t have done it alone.

Not everyone recognized the important role President Carter had played in reaching a peace agreement, but the members of his Sunday school class did. Someone suggested that the class stand and applaud when he entered the next Sunday. But they decided against it. As one member said, “Politics was not part of the class. We Baptists are strong on separation of Church and State.”

Problems at home and abroad

President Carter continued to have success working with world leaders. He met with Deng Xiaoping, the leader of China, and with Leonid Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, which no longer exists, was a powerful nation that included present-day Russia, the Ukraine, and thirteen other Communist states. Carter and Brezhnev agreed to limit the use of nuclear weapons. Fewer nuclear weapons meant that the world was a safer place.

Despite his success overseas, Jimmy was having problems at home. On the Fourth of July 1979, 90 percent of the gas stations in New York City closed down for lack of gasoline. In Pennsylvania, 80 percent closed. People, who were stuck at home over the holiday, grew angry. Why wasn’t the president solving their problems? Why was he traveling to other countries when they didn’t have enough gas to drive down the street? People worried about gas shortages, unemployment, and rising prices. Many didn’t care about what was happening in faraway countries like Japan.

Jimmy knew that what happened in other countries can have a major effect on life in the United States. That is what happened soon after when a revolt took place in Iran. For many years before Jimmy became president, the United States had been supporting the government of Iran. Past presidents believed that Iran was a good influence in the Middle East. But the Shah, Iran’s leader, used the secret police to threaten anyone who disagreed with him. The secret police often used violence against the Iranian people. President Carter warned the Shah that eventually the people would revolt, but the Shah did not listen. In the fall of 1979, Iranian students took over the government. An Iranian religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, encouraged the rebels. The Shah fled Iran. So did thousands of Americans who lived and worked there. Many of those who stayed worked at the United States Embassy. For a while, the situation improved.

More problems developed when the Shah became ill. He asked if he could visit the United States for medical treatment. US officials in Iran spoke with Iran’s new leaders. Would there be trouble if the United States let the Shah come to an American hospital? Iranian officials promised that no harm would come to Americans still living in Iran.

President Carter agreed to let the Shah enter a New York hospital. There were protests and demonstrations in Iran, but President Carter was not too worried. After all, the Iranian officials had said that Americans would be safe.

They were wrong! On November 4, 1979, demonstrators in the Iranian capital of Tehran stormed the United States Embassy. They captured sixty-six Americans. They planned to hold the Americans until the United States returned the Shah to Iran for trial. Jimmy was stunned. It was the worst day of his presidency.

Newspaper and television reports showed pictures of the hostages, blindfolded and surrounded by angry crowds. President Carter tried talking to Iranian officials, but they would not let the hostages go. President Carter ordered American banks to freeze all the money in their vaults that belonged to Iran or Iranian businesses. This meant that no one could withdraw the money from the banks. A few days later, thirteen hostages — all women and African-Americans — were released. The Iranians still held fifty-three American men hostage.