Former president to be awarded UCLA Medal

By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Reporter

Today, Jimmy Carter will join the company of basketball player
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actor James Earl Jones and composer Henry
Mancini ““ all of whom have received the university’s
highest honor.

The 76-year-old former president will receive the UCLA Medal in
Royce Hall this afternoon.

Carter will also deliver a lecture on “Talking
Peace” as part of the 21st Bernard Brodie Distinguished
Lecture Series on the Conditions of Peace.

The lecture series, which began in 1980, takes place each year
and is sponsored by the UCLA Ron W. Burkle Center for International
Relations.

Carter, who served as president from 1977 to 1981, found success
in foreign relations with achievements including the Camp David
Accord, which established peace between Egypt and Israel.

He was also responsible for completing full diplomatic relations
between the United States and the People’s Republic of China,
which was initiated by Richard Nixon.

Despite these successes, the Carter administration saw a number
of tragedies, including rising inflation and the Iran Hostage
Crisis.

Harsh criticism followed the disasters of his presidency.

“In the heat of campaigns, nobody who reaches such a high
position is evil or stupid,” said Thomas Schwartz, professor
of political science at UCLA. “It’s the hardest job in
the world, and it’s very easy to criticize it.”

Officials at the university have long wanted to present the
award to Carter.

“President Carter has been nominated two times before but
because of scheduling, he could not accept,” said Assistant
Chancellor Antoinette Mongelli.

Schwartz said Carter could be called an “accidental
president” because the 1976 election was so close ““
similar to this year’s election, which polls show is too
close to call.

Many have granted Carter with negative criticism, some even
saying that he won the election by default.

“Carter had very little relevant experience and acted like
late-19th century Republican presidents, in that he ran everything
from his desk,” Schwartz said. “He acted like he was
running a small general store rather than a large
government.”

Part of the criticism geared towards Carter has been his minimal
interaction with those he worked with.

“He never had a loyal following, even in his own
administration and in the cabinet,” Schwartz said. “He
had no rapport at all with the Democratic leadership in Congress,
and as a result he was unable to do anything.”

He said Carter inherited the country’s state of economic
stagflation ““ a combination of high inflation and high
unemployment ““ from Gerald Ford. The United States saw a huge
jump in salaries under Carter.

“In 1973, I bought a considerably high-end car for $4,500,
but today a high-end car costs $45,000,” he said.

The crisis in Iran, which occurred in 1979, involved a crowd of
500 seizing the U.S. Embassy and holding 90 Americans hostage.

The crisis lasted for 444 days, and 52 people remained in
captivity until the end.

Despite opposition from Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Carter
attempted a rescue mission that failed. After three of eight
helicopters were damaged in a sandstorm, the operation was aborted
and eight people were killed in the attempt.

“The hostage crisis almost inevitably sealed his doom as
president,” Schwartz said. “Carter took too much
personal responsibility, it consumed him.”

“There’s nothing Carter could have done to save
himself,” he said.

Apart from the number of failures that occurred during his
administration, some praise Carter for his character.

“I love Jimmy Carter,” said visiting assistant
professor Ted Rueter. “There’s no one I admire
more.”

Rueter called him a man of great honor, integrity and good will.
He said Carter is responsible for wiping out diseases in Africa and
overseeing democratic elections in Latin America.

But Ronald Rogowski, another political science professor,
disagreed and said the Carter administration was a disaster ““
although adding that the former president did make a push for human
rights in areas such as Latin America.

“There was a beginning of some concern for human rights
and dealings with other countries and has been a lasting kind of
concern,” Rogowski said

After leaving the Oval Office, the former president established
the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The center is a non-profit organization and has since begun
projects in more than 65 countries to resolve conflicts, and
prevent human rights abuses. It also observes foreign election
processes to ensure they are run fairly.

Schwartz said some call Carter “the best
ex-president” because of what he has accomplished since his
departure from the White House.

“He was a far better former president, perhaps he was not
ready to be president,” he said. “He is the most
exemplary ex-president.”

But Schwartz disagrees with the statement made about Carter.

“I don’t think so, (Carter) says absurd things. For
instance he praised Kim Il Sung as the George Washington of
Asia,” he said.

Sung was the North Korean leader who attempted to unify North
and South Korea under communism with force in 1949.

Schwartz said lessons learned from Carter’s administration
apply to this year’s presidential election, warning voters to
think about their choice.

“Do you want a president who has a head full of ideas or a
president who has political leadership?” he said.

The event will take place at 4 p.m. this afternoon in Royce Hall
and is open to the public. The event will be broadcasted live on
the Internet at http://www.oid.ucla.edu/webcast.