Jimmy Carter: A man of his times, not the first post-Cold War president nor a visionary, only a realistic idealist

In the first seventeen years following President Jimmy Carter's defeat at the Presidential polls by Republican Ronald Reagan, many of the former President's supporters claimed an elevated position for him in the annals of contemporary American history. Some label Carter as the first post-Cold War President who postulated a visionary human rights policy. Critical analysis of the available public record and interviews with a few of his close associates revealed that Carter operated as a realistic idealist in foreign affairs with full awareness of the Cold War and with no visionary plan for reshaping the place of the United States in an ever changing global environment.; Tracing the development of Carter's human rights policy toward Latin America through the Administration and Carter's own personal philosophy suggested that policy came to the top of the agenda as a consequence of the popular reaction to the President's statements in the campaign. Even though human rights emerged slowly as the centerpiece of the foreign policy, evidence suggested that Carter's personal commitment to human rights and to doing the morally right as defined by Christian ethical standards rested as a deeply held conviction in Carter's own mind. The conclusion, then, surfaced that Carter was not a visionary nor the first Cold War President because he did not assume the Presidency with a foreign policy vision and, to be sure, he recognized the realities of operating in the Cold War foreign policy environment.; The second theme addressed the philosophy of realistic idealism. Realism implied the use of American power and influence to protect the national interests of the country. Idealism coincided with the liberal tradition in American foreign policy which advocated the spread of the liberal political system and the capitalist economic system. Carter's foreign policy, like that of John Quincy Adams, blended the two ideas in relations with Latin America.