James Earl Carter

James Earl Carter Jr. was the 39th President of the United States and was elected in 1977. He was also a governor in Georgia. Carter believed in government having a more active role and was the last Democratic Liberal. He wanted America to be the first country to exercise and display human rights. Carter believed that America could remain a powerful nation without military intervention. He also pursued to improve the relationship between America and the Soviet Union.

During his presidency, he would do a few things regarding his foreign policy. He signed the Panama Canal Treaty and Neutrality Treaty, which promised to relinquish the control of the canal to Panama. Republicans claimed Carter to be weak because of him giving away the Panama Canal. (History.com, 2010)
He beat Carter in the 1980 presidential election. Like Carter, Reagan was also a former governor. Reagan believed in having a minimalist role in government and was a Conservative. He believed in supporting suburban areas while ignoring urban
His main goal in his foreign policy was challenge the power of the “Evil Empire” or the Soviet Union. Reagan negotiated with Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbechev, to reduce nuclear weapons and loosen the reins of power in Eastern Europe. Afterwards, the two leaders signed an anti-nuke deal known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. In 1982, Reagan disagreed with Law of the Sea’s international authority and announced that he was not ready to agree with the treaty.(Rumsfield, p. 262, 2011). One of the most damaging incidents in Reagan’s foreign policy was the selling of firearms to Iran for financing the war in Nicaragua. He trained 10,000 Nicaraguan soldiers to dethrone the Sandinistas. Reagan claimed that he had no knowledge of the selling of firearms and many of his officials were