Ford and Carter

Ford As Gerald Ford took over, he faced many problems in America Economy starts to fall –Johnson’s spending catches up to the government Inflation –Oil prices begin to rise Unemployment

Ford All of these combined created stagflation A period of time when prices went up at the same time unemployment went up Was not supposed to happen Economists did not know what to do Ford comes up with different policies None very effective

Election of 1976 Most people did not have faith that Ford was the right person for the job Jimmy Carter ran against him as the Democrat Political outsider Carter won another close race

Carter Carter immediately tried to straighten out the economy Tried many things, but nothing worked Tried to get the people to conserve energy Oil crisis Never was able to truly fix the problem

Carter Foreign Policy –Focused on human rights Helped Panama gain independence Called out Soviet Union Camp David Accords –Peace between Israel and Egypt –Iranians did not support the Shah and revolted against him

Carter Rebels stormed American Embassies and held 52 Americans hostage Carter tried multiple times to negotiate and free the hostages Not until his last day in office did the hostages finally get freed –444 days in captivity

Ford and Carter Both Presidents tried many methods to try and improve the many problems in America Nothing seemed to work Americans needed something different