The Carter Administration and Somalia

Abstract

When Jimmy Carter assumed the presidency of the United States in January 1977, he presented a foreign policy based upon regionalism, global community, and human rights. By the time of his reelection campaign in 1980, his foreign policy had reverted to a traditional Cold War basis and emphasized globalism, competition with the Soviet Union, and American military power. The importance of this reorientation to diplomatic historians is reflected in the wealth of research that focuses upon it. Some, such as Burton Kaufman, Joshua Muravchik, Donald Spencer, and Phil Williams, claim that the reorientation of foreign policy in 1980 was yet further evidence of Carter's lack of vision and poor leadership skills. Others, including John Dumbrell, A. Glenn Mower, and Gaddis Smith, praise Carter's introduction of human rights into the foreign-policy agenda, and attribute the change in 1980 to unavoidable limits. Other historians, including Fred Halliday and Raymond Garthoff, consider the impact of the reorientation on the history of the Cold War, arguing that Carter's response to the events of 1980 signaled the demise of détente and the onset of a second Cold War.1