The Reconciliation of President Jimmy Carter

The Reconciliation of President Jimmy Carter

The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, faced many different challenges during his during his four year term. While president, he had many challenges ranging from Cold war, the SALT and Arms Reductions, Energy Policy, Relations with China, and the Iran Hostage Crisis at the end of his term. One of President Carter’s biggest accomplishments while being president was the accord between Israel and Egypt in 1978 at Camp David. He was able to make peace between the two feuding countries while taking some risk and heat from his own country. President Carter was able to reconcile the two sides.

The peace between Egypt and Israel was a major diplomatic accomplishment. It is one that would not have been possible without the determined and enormous efforts of Jimmy Carter. During the negotiations, talks between the Egyptians and the Israelis had on multiple occasions reached a gridlock, and it was at these critical points when Carter personally intervened to ensure progress resumed. This was an exceptional task but it was one that Carter handled cleverly given the complexity of the Egyptian-Israeli conflict and the political constraints he was operating under at the time.

Talks continued on and off until July 1978 when Sadat became frustrated over the progress of negotiations that he suspended all future talks and contacts with Israel. At this critical point, Carter made the consequential decision to invite Sadat and Begin to join him at Camp David for a tripartite summit. This was a risky decision because Carter exposed himself to the costs of engaging in the controversy of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but he placed his prestige and political future on the line for a meeting that may have ended in complete failure. Convening the Camp David Summit was therefore a daring act of statesmanship because Carter “finally decided it would be best, win or lose, to go all out” for a meeting that would be an “all-or-nothing gamble”.

As the meetings at Camp David began it was clear the feeling the two Egyptian and Israeli leaders had for each other. President Carter’s optimism was a little misguided because of this hatred they shared and this hostility manifested itself in their meetings with Carter on day three of the summit. The heated and angry exchanges between the two leaders revealed to Carter that direct, face-to-face talks were actually counter-productive and from then on Carter and the U.S. team separated Begin and Sadat for the rest of the summit. With the talks about to break down, Carter suddenly changed the United States’ role so that instead of merely facilitating negotiations, the American delegation would now lead them.

Throughout the summit, President Carter effectively used the prospect of American aid and friendship as leverage to induce the parties to offer concessions and maintain diplomatic flexibility.