title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The Japanese Combined Fleet was also seeking to draw Allied naval forces into what was hoped to be a decisive battle. Two fleet carriers— and , as well as the light carrier —arrived at the main Japanese naval base at Truk Atoll from Japan in early October and joined "Shōkaku" and "Zuikaku". With five carriers fully equipped with air groups, plus their numerous battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, the Japanese Combined Fleet, directed by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was confident that it could make up for the defeat at the Battle of Midway. Apart from a couple of air raids on Henderson Field in October, the Japanese carriers and their supporting warships stayed in the northwestern area of the Solomon Islands, out of the battle for Guadalcanal and waiting for a chance to approach and engage the U.S. carriers. With the Japanese Army's next planned major ground attack on Allied forces on Guadalcanal set for 20 October, Yamamoto's warships began to move towards the southern Solomons to support the offensive and to be ready to engage any enemy ships, especially carriers, that approached to support the Allied defenses on Guadalcanal.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: On or around 11 October a large force consisting of aircraft carriers, battleships and their escorts departed Truk for an extended sortie in support of an October Guadalcanal offensive. On the same day a major reinforcement convoy reached Guadalcanal, but a force of supporting heavy cruisers was prevented from bombarding Henderson Field and turned back in what became known as the Battle of Cape Esperance. What followed were three heavy bombardment missions conducted by battleships and heavy cruisers between 13 October and 16 October (this was the heaviest naval attack on the airfield in the entire campaign), the first and third of those conducted by vessels detached from Vice admiral Nobutake Kondō's Advance Force. Starting midnight on 14 October, another major convoy consisting of four transports unloaded the bulk of their cargo successfully, including tanks and heavy artillery. On 15 October, the destroyer , while escorting the tug "Vireo" pulling a resupply barge, was spotted and sunk by aircraft from "Zuikaku" and "Shokaku". On 17 October "Hiyō" and "Jun'yō" launched a strike force to attack transports off Lunga Point, but caused no damage. The large body of warships would remain in the waters around Guadalcanal until after fighting in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands had ceased and returned to Truk at the end of October. The recently commissioned carrier "Hiyō" was originally part of the fleet, but a fire in her engineering room on 21 October forced her to retire to Truk for repairs. On 25 October, six bombers and 12 fighters from "Jun'yo" attacked Henderson Field, but did little damage.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: From 20 to 25 October, Japanese land forces on Guadalcanal attempted to capture Henderson Field with a large-scale attack against the U.S. defenders. The attack was decisively defeated with heavy casualties for the Japanese. Incorrectly believing that the Japanese army troops had succeeded in capturing Henderson Field, the Japanese sent warships from the Shortland Islands toward Guadalcanal on the morning of 25 October to support their ground forces on the island. Aircraft from Henderson Field attacked the convoy throughout the day, sinking the light cruiser (with some help from B-17s out of Espiritu Santo) and damaging the destroyer .


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Despite the failure of the Japanese ground offensive and the loss of "Yura", the rest of the Combined Fleet continued to maneuver near the southern Solomon Islands on 25 October in the hope of engaging Allied naval forces in a battle. The Japanese naval forces now comprised four carriers (2 large, 1 medium, 1 light), "Hiyō" having departed, with a combined aircraft complement of approximately 3 "Shokaku"-class fleet carriers.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The Japanese naval forces were divided into three groups: the "Advanced" force of "Jun'yō", four heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and seven destroyers commanded by Kondō in heavy cruiser with a support group consisting of 2 battleships and two destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Takeo Kurita; the "Main Body" of "Shōkaku", "Zuikaku", and "Zuihō" plus one heavy cruiser and eight destroyers, commanded by Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo aboard "Shōkaku"; and the "Vanguard" force of two battleships, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and seven destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe in the battleship . In addition to commanding the Advanced force, Kondo acted as the overall commander of the three forces.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: On the U.S. side, the "Hornet" and "Enterprise" task groups, under the overall command of Rear Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, swept around to the north of the Santa Cruz Islands on 25 October, searching for the Japanese naval forces. The U.S. warships were deployed as two separate carrier groups, separated from each other by about . A U.S. PBY Catalina reconnaissance seaplane based in the Santa Cruz Islands located the Japanese Main Body carriers at 11:03. However, the Japanese carriers were about from the U.S. force, just beyond carrier aircraft range. Kinkaid, hoping to close the range to be able to execute an attack that day, steamed towards the Japanese carriers at top speed and, at 14:25, launched a strike force of 23 aircraft. But the Japanese, knowing that they had been spotted by U.S. aircraft and not knowing where the U.S. carriers were, turned to the north to stay out of range of the U.S. carriers' aircraft. Thus, the U.S. strike force returned to its carriers without finding or attacking the Japanese warships.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 02:50 on 26 October, the Japanese naval forces reversed direction and the naval forces of the two adversaries closed the distance until they were only away from each other by 05:00. Both sides launched search aircraft and prepared their remaining aircraft to attack as soon as the other side's ships were located. Although a radar-equipped Catalina sighted the Japanese carriers at 03:10, the report did not reach Kinkaid until 05:12. Therefore, believing that the Japanese ships had probably changed position during the intervening two hours, he decided to withhold launching a strike force until he received more current information on the location of the Japanese ships.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 06:45, a U.S. scout aircraft sighted the carriers of Nagumo's main body. At 06:58, a Japanese scout aircraft reported the location of "Hornet"s task force. Both sides raced to be the first to attack the other. The Japanese were first to get their strike force launched, with 64 aircraft, including 21 Aichi D3A2 dive bombers, 20 Nakajima B5N2 torpedo bombers, 21 A6M3 Zero fighters, and 2 Nakajima B5N2 contact aircraft on the way towards "Hornet" by 07:40. This first strike was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Shigeharu Murata, while the fighter cover was led by Lieutenants Ayao Shirane and Saneyasu Hidaka. Also at 07:40, two U.S. SBD-3 Dauntless scout aircraft, responding to the earlier sighting of the Japanese carriers, arrived and dove on "Zuihō". With the Japanese combat air patrol (CAP) busy chasing other U.S. scout aircraft away, the two U.S. aircraft were able to hit "Zuihō" with both their 500-pound bombs, causing heavy damage and preventing the carrier's flight deck from being able to land aircraft.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Meanwhile, Kondo ordered Abe's Vanguard force to race ahead to try to intercept and engage the U.S. warships. Kondo also brought his own Advanced force forward at flank speed so that "Jun'yō"s aircraft could join in the attacks on the U.S. ships. At 08:10, "Shōkaku" launched a second wave of strike aircraft, consisting of 19 dive bombers and five Zeros, and "Zuikaku" launched 16 torpedo bombers and 4 Zeros at 08:40. The second strike leader was Lieutenant Commander Mamoru Seki, while the fighter cover was led by Lieutenant Hideki Shingo. Thus, by 09:10 the Japanese had over 100 aircraft on the way to attack the U.S. carriers.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The U.S. strike aircraft were running about 20 minutes behind the Japanese. Believing that a speedy attack was more important than a massed attack, and because they lacked fuel to spend time assembling prior to the strike, the U.S. aircraft proceeded in small groups towards the Japanese ships, rather than forming into a single large strike force. The first group—consisting of 15 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, 6 Grumman TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers, and eight Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, led by Lieutenant Commander William J. "Gus" Widhelm from "Hornet"—was on its way by about 08:00. A second group—consisting of three SBDs, nine TBFs (including the Air Group Commander's), and eight Wildcats from "Enterprise"—was off by 08:10. A third group—consisting of nine SBDs, ten TBFs (including the Air Group Commander's), and seven F4Fs from "Hornet"—was on its way by 08:20.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 08:40, the opposing aircraft strike formations passed within sight of each other. Lieutenant Hidaka's nine "Zuihō" Zeros surprised and attacked the "Enterprise" group, attacking the climbing aircraft from out of the sun. In the resulting engagement, four Zeros, three Wildcats, and two TBFs were shot down, with another two TBFs and a Wildcat forced to return to "Enterprise" with heavy damage. The remaining "Zuihō" Zeros, having exhausted their ammunition, withdrew from the action.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 08:50, the lead U.S. attack formation from "Hornet" spotted four ships from Abe's Vanguard force. Pressing on, the U.S. aircraft sighted the Japanese carriers and prepared to attack. Three Zeros from "Zuihō" attacked the formation's Wildcats, drawing them away from the bombers they were assigned to protect. Thus, the dive bombers in the first group initiated their attacks without fighter escort. Twelve Zeros from the Japanese carrier CAP attacked the SBD formation, shot down two (including Widhelm's, though he survived), and forced two more to abort. The remaining 11 SBDs commenced their attack dives on "Shōkaku" at 09:27, hitting her with three to six bombs, wrecking her flight deck, and causing serious damage to the interior of the ship. The final SBD of the 11 lost track of "Shōkaku" and instead dropped its bomb near the Japanese destroyer , causing minor damage. The six TBFs in the first strike force, having become separated from their strike group, did not find the Japanese carriers and eventually turned back towards "Hornet". On the way back, they attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser , missing with all their torpedoes.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The TBFs of the second U.S. attack formation from "Enterprise" were unable to locate the Japanese carriers and instead attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser from Abe's Vanguard force but caused no damage. At about the same time, nine SBDs from the third U.S. attack formation—from "Hornet"—found Abe's ships and attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser , hitting her with two bombs and causing heavy damage. The three "Enterprise" SBDs then arrived and also attacked "Chikuma", causing more damage with one bomb hit and two near-misses. Finally, the nine TBFs from the third strike group arrived and attacked the smoking "Chikuma", scoring one more hit. "Chikuma", escorted by two destroyers, withdrew from the battle and headed towards Truk for repairs.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The U.S. carrier forces received word from their outbound strike aircraft at 08:30 that Japanese attack aircraft were headed their way. At 08:52, the Japanese strike force commander sighted the "Hornet" task force—the "Enterprise" task force was hidden by a rain squall—and deployed his aircraft for attack. At 08:55, the U.S. carriers detected the approaching Japanese aircraft on radar—about away—and began to vector the 37 Wildcats of their CAP to engage the incoming Japanese aircraft. However, communication problems, mistakes by the U.S. fighter control directors, and primitive control procedures prevented all but a few of the Wildcats from engaging the Japanese aircraft before they began their attacks on "Hornet". Although the U.S. CAP was able to shoot down or damage several dive bombers (the formation leader Lieutenant Sadamu Takahashi had to abort the dive due to the damage), most of the Japanese aircraft commenced their attacks relatively unmolested by U.S. fighters.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 09:09, the anti-aircraft guns of "Hornet" and her escorting warships opened fire as the 20 untouched Japanese torpedo planes and remaining 16 dive bombers commenced their attacks on the carrier. At 09:12, a dive bomber placed its 250 kg semi-armor-piercing "ordinary" bomb dead center on "Hornet"s flight deck, across from the island, which penetrated three decks before exploding, killing 60 men. Moments later, a 242 kg high-explosive "land" bomb struck the flight deck, detonating on impact to create an hole and kill 30 men. A minute or so later, a third bomb hit "Hornet" near where the first bomb hit, penetrating three decks before exploding, causing severe damage but no loss of life. At 09:14, a dive bomber was set on fire by "Hornet"s anti-aircraft guns; the pilot, Warrant Officer Shigeyuki Sato, deliberately crashed into "Hornet"s stack, killing seven men and spreading burning aviation fuel over the signal deck.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At the same time as the dive bombers were attacking, the 20 torpedo bombers were also approaching "Hornet" from two different directions. Despite suffering heavy losses from anti-aircraft fire, including Murata, the torpedo planes planted two torpedoes in "Hornet"s side between 09:13 and 09:17, knocking out her engines. As "Hornet" came to a stop, a damaged Japanese dive bomber approached and purposely crashed into the carrier's side, starting a fire near the ship's main supply of aviation fuel. At 09:20, the surviving Japanese aircraft departed, leaving "Hornet" dead in the water and burning. Twenty-five Japanese and six American aircraft were destroyed in this attack, including 12 dive bombers, ten torpedo planes and at least one Zero.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: With the assistance of fire hoses from three escorting destroyers, the fires on "Hornet" were under control by 10:00. Wounded personnel were evacuated from the carrier, and an attempt was made by the heavy cruiser under Captain Willard A. Kitts to tow "Hornet" away from the battle area. However, the effort to rig the towline took some time, and more attack waves of Japanese aircraft were inbound.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Starting at 09:30, "Enterprise" landed many of the damaged and fuel-depleted CAP fighters and returning scout aircraft from both carriers. However, with her flight deck full, and the second wave of incoming Japanese aircraft detected on radar at 09:30, "Enterprise" ceased landing operations at 10:00. Fuel-depleted aircraft then began ditching in the ocean, and the carrier's escorting destroyers rescued the aircrews. One of the ditching aircraft, a damaged TBF from "Enterprise"s strike force that had been attacked earlier by Zeros from "Zuihō", crashed into the water near the destroyer . As "Porter" rescued the TBF's aircrew, she was struck by a torpedo, possibly from the ditched aircraft, causing heavy damage and killing 15 crewmen. After the task force commander ordered the destroyer scuttled, the crew was rescued by the destroyer which then sank "Porter" with gunfire ().


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: As the first wave of Japanese strike aircraft began returning to their carriers from their attack on "Hornet", one of them spotted the "Enterprise" task force, which had now emerged from the rain squall, and reported the carrier's position. The second Japanese aircraft strike wave, believing "Hornet" to be sinking, directed their attacks on the "Enterprise" task force, beginning at 10:08. Again, the U.S. CAP had trouble intercepting the Japanese aircraft before they attacked "Enterprise", shooting down only 2 of the 19 dive bombers as they began their dives on the carrier. Attacking through the intense anti-aircraft fire put up by "Enterprise" and her escorting warships, Seki's division attacked first and scored no hits. Next attacked the division led by Lieutenant Keiichi Arima that scored hits on the carrier with two 250 kg semi-AP "ordinary" bombs, where the first one was released by Arima's pilot, Petty Officer Kiyoto Furuta. The 2 bombs killed 44 men and wounded 75, and caused heavy damage to the carrier, including jamming her forward elevator in the "up" position. In addition, Arima's division also achieved a near-miss with another bomb. However, ten of the nineteen Japanese bombers were lost in this attack, including Seki's, with two more ditching on their return.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Twenty minutes later, the 16 "Zuikaku" torpedo planes arrived and split up to attack "Enterprise". One group of torpedo bombers was attacked by two CAP Wildcats which shot down three of them and damaged a fourth. On fire, the fourth damaged aircraft purposely crashed into the destroyer , setting the ship on fire and killing 57 of her crew. The torpedo carried by this aircraft detonated shortly after impact, causing more damage. The fires initially seemed out of control until "Smith"s commanding officer ordered the destroyer to steer into the large spraying wake of the battleship , which helped put out the fires. "Smith" then resumed her station, firing her remaining anti-aircraft guns at the torpedo planes.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The remaining torpedo planes attacked "Enterprise", "South Dakota", and the cruiser , but all of their torpedoes missed or failed, causing no damage. The engagement was over at 10:53; 9 of the 16 torpedo aircraft were lost in this attack. After suppressing most of the onboard fires, at 11:15 "Enterprise" reopened her flight deck to begin landing returning aircraft from the morning U.S. strikes on the Japanese warship forces. However, only a few aircraft landed before the next wave of Japanese strike aircraft arrived and began their attacks on "Enterprise", forcing a suspension of landing operations.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Between 09:05 and 09:14, "Jun'yō" had arrived within of the U.S. carriers and launched a strike of 17 dive bombers and 12 Zeros, under the command of Lieutenant Yoshio Shiga. As the Japanese main body and advanced force maneuvered to try to join formations, "Jun'yō" readied follow-up strikes. At 11:21, the "Jun'yō" aircraft arrived and dove on the "Enterprise" task force. The dive bombers scored one near miss on "Enterprise", causing more damage, and one hit each on "South Dakota" and light cruiser , causing moderate damage to both ships. Eight of the seventeen Japanese dive bombers were destroyed in this attack, with three more ditching on their return.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 11:35, with "Hornet" out of action, "Enterprise" heavily damaged, and the Japanese assumed to have one or two undamaged carriers in the area, Kinkaid decided to withdraw "Enterprise" and her screening ships from the battle. Leaving "Hornet" behind, Kinkaid directed the carrier and her task force to retreat as soon as they were able. Between 11:39 and 13:22, "Enterprise" recovered 57 of the 73 airborne U.S. aircraft as she retreated. The remaining U.S. aircraft ditched in the ocean, and their aircrews were rescued by escorting warships.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Between 11:40 and 14:00, the two undamaged Japanese carriers, "Zuikaku" and "Jun'yō", recovered the few aircraft that returned from the morning strikes on "Hornet" and "Enterprise" and prepared follow-up strikes. It was now that the devastating losses sustained during these attacks became apparent. Lt. Cmdr. Masatake Okumiya, "Jun'yō"s air staff officer, described the return of the carrier's first strike groups:


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: At 13:00, Kondo's Advanced force and Abe's Vanguard force warships together headed directly towards the last reported position of the U.S. carrier task forces and increased speed to try to intercept them for a gun battle. The damaged carriers "Zuihō" and "Shōkaku", with Nagumo still on board, retreated from the battle area, leaving Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta in charge of the "Zuikaku" and "Jun'yō" aircraft forces. At 13:06, "Jun'yō" launched her second strike of seven torpedo planes led by Lieutenant Yoshiaki Irikiin, which were escorted by eight Zeros led by Lieutenant Shirane. At the same time, "Zuikaku" launched her third strike of seven torpedo planes, two dive bombers, and five Zeros, under the command of Lieutenant (jg) Ichirō Tanaka. Most of the torpedo planes were armed with an 800 kg armor-piercing bomb. At 15:35, "Jun'yō" launched the last Japanese strike force of the day, consisting of four dive bombers and six Zeros, again under the command of Lieutenant Shiga.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: After several technical problems, "Northampton" finally began slowly towing "Hornet" out of the battle area at 14:45, at a speed of only five knots. "Hornet"s crew was on the verge of restoring partial power, but at 15:20, "Jun'yō"s second strike arrived, and the seven torpedo planes attacked the almost stationary carrier. Although six of the torpedo planes missed, at 15:23, one torpedo struck "Hornet" amidships, which proved to be the fatal blow. The torpedo hit destroyed the repairs to the power system and caused heavy flooding and a 14-degree list. With no power to pump out the water, "Hornet" was given up for lost, and the crew abandoned ship. The third strike from "Zuikaku" attacked "Hornet" during this time, where B5N level bombers hit the sinking ship with one 800 kg bomb. All of "Hornet"s crewmen were off by 16:27. During the last Japanese attack of the day, a dive bomber from "Jun'yō"s third strike dropped one more 250 kg semi-AP bomb on the sinking carrier at 17:20.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: After being informed that Japanese forces were approaching and that further towing efforts were infeasible, Halsey ordered "Hornet" sunk. While the rest of the U.S. warships retired towards the southeast to get out of range of Kondō's and Abe's oncoming fleet, the destroyers and attempted to scuttle "Hornet" with multiple torpedoes and over 400 shells, but she still remained afloat. With advancing Japanese naval forces only 20 minutes away, the two U.S. destroyers abandoned "Hornet"s burning hulk at 20:40. By 22:20, the rest of Kondō's and Abe's warships had arrived at "Hornet"s location. The destroyers and then finished "Hornet" with four torpedoes. At 01:35 on 27 October 1942, she finally sank, at approximately . Several night attacks by radar-equipped Catalinas on "Jun'yō" and "Teruzuki", knowledge of the head start the U.S. warships had in their retreat from the area, plus a critical fuel situation apparently caused the Japanese to reconsider further pursuit of the U.S. warships. After refueling near the northern Solomon Islands, the Japanese ships returned to their main base at Truk on 30 October. During the U.S. withdrawal from the battle area towards Espiritu Santo and New Caledonia, while taking evasive action from a Japanese submarine, "South Dakota" collided with the destroyer , heavily damaging "Mahan".


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Both sides claimed victory. The Americans stated that two "Shōkaku"-class fleet carriers had been hit with bombs and eliminated. Kinkaid's summary of damage to the Japanese included hits to a battleship, three heavy cruisers, and a light cruiser, and possible hits on another heavy cruiser. In reality, "Shōkaku", "Zuihō", and "Chikuma" were the only ships hit during the battle, none of which sank. For their part, the Japanese asserted that they sank three American carriers, one battleship, one cruiser, one destroyer, and one "unidentified large warship". Actual American losses comprised the carrier "Hornet" and the destroyer "Porter", and damage to "Enterprise", the light cruiser "San Juan", the destroyer "Smith" and the battleship "South Dakota".


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The loss of "Hornet" was a severe blow for Allied forces in the South Pacific, leaving "Enterprise" and "Saratoga" as the only operational Allied carriers in the entire Pacific theater. As "Enterprise" retreated from the battle, the crew posted a sign on the flight deck: "Enterprise vs Japan". "Enterprise" received temporary repairs at New Caledonia and, although not fully restored, returned to the southern Solomons area just two weeks later to support Allied forces during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. There she played an important role in what turned out to be the decisive naval engagement in the overall campaign for Guadalcanal when her aircraft sank several Japanese warships and troop transports during the naval skirmishes around Henderson Field. The lack of carriers pressed the Americans and Japanese to deploy battleships in night operations around Guadalcanal, one of only two actions in the entire Pacific War in which battleships fought each other, with "South Dakota" again being damaged while two Japanese battleships were lost.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Although the Battle of Santa Cruz was a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, it came at a high cost for their naval forces, as "Jun'yō" was the only active aircraft carrier left to challenge "Enterprise" or Henderson Field for the remainder of the Guadalcanal campaign. "Zuikaku", despite being undamaged and having recovered the aircraft from the two damaged carriers, returned to home islands via Truk for training and aircraft ferrying duties, returning to the South Pacific only in February 1943 to cover the evacuation of Japanese ground forces from Guadalcanal. Both damaged carriers were forced to return to Japan for extensive repairs and refitting. After repair, "Zuihō" returned to Truk in late January 1943. "Shōkaku" was under repair until March 1943 and did not return to the front until July 1943, when she was reunited with "Zuikaku" at Truk.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: The most significant losses for the Japanese Navy were in aircrew. The U.S. lost 81 of the 175 aircraft that were available at the start of the battle; of these, 33 were fighters, 28 were dive-bombers, and 20 were torpedo bombers. However, only 26 pilots and aircrew members were lost. The Japanese fared much worse, especially in airmen; in addition to losing 99 aircraft of the 203 involved in the battle, they lost 148 pilots and aircrew members, including two dive bomber group leaders, three torpedo squadron leaders, and eighteen other section or flight leaders. The most notable casualties were the commanders of the first two strikes – Murata and Seki. Forty-nine percent of the Japanese torpedo bomber aircrews involved in the battle were killed, along with 39% of the dive bomber crews and 20% of the fighter pilots. The Japanese lost more aircrew at Santa Cruz than they had lost in each of the three previous carrier battles at Coral Sea (90), Midway (110), and Eastern Solomons (61). By the end of the Santa Cruz battle, at least 409 of the 765 elite Japanese carrier aviators who had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor were dead. Having lost so many of its veteran carrier aircrew, and with no quick way to replace them—because of an institutionalized limited capacity in its naval aircrew training programs and an absence of trained reserves—the undamaged "Zuikaku" was also ordered to return to Japan. "Jun'yo" remained and provided air support during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, "Zuikaku" returned just in time to cover the withdrawal of the forces from Guadalcanal.


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Admiral Nagumo was relieved of command shortly after the battle and reassigned to shore duty in Japan. He acknowledged that the victory was incomplete:


title: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

text: Military historian Dr. John Prados offers a dissenting view, asserting that this was not a Pyrrhic victory for Japan, but a strategic victory: In Prados' view, the real story of the aftermath is that the Imperial Navy failed to exploit their hard-won victory.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). Early on, there are typically no symptoms. Later, non-painful lymph node swelling, feeling tired, fever, night sweats, or weight loss for no clear reason may occur. Enlargement of the spleen and low red blood cells (anemia) may also occur. It typically worsens gradually over years.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Risk factors include having a family history of the disease, with 10% of those who develop CLL having a family history of the disease. Exposure to Agent Orange, certain insecticides, sun exposure, exposure to hepatitis C virus, and common infections are also considered risk factors. CLL results in the buildup of B cell lymphocytes in the bone marrow, lymph nodes, and blood. These cells do not function well and crowd out healthy blood cells. CLL is divided into two main types: those with a mutated IGHV gene and those without. Diagnosis is typically based on blood tests finding high numbers of mature lymphocytes and smudge cells.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Early-stage CLL in asymptomatic cases responds better to careful observation, as there is no evidence that early intervention treatment can alter the course of the disease. Immune defects occur early in the course of CLL and these increase the risk of developing serious infection, which should be treated appropriately with antibiotics. In those with significant symptoms, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or chemoimmunotherapy may be used. Depending on the individual's age, physical condition, and whether they have the del(17p) or TP53 mutation, different first line treatments may be offered. As of 2021, BTK inhibitors such as ibrutinib and acalabrutinib are often recommended for first line treatment of CLL. The medications fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab were previously the initial treatment in those who are otherwise healthy.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL affected about 904,000 people globally in 2015 and resulted in 60,700 deaths. In 2021, the estimated incidence of CLL in the United States is 21,250 new cases and 4,320 deaths. The disease most commonly occurs in people over the age of 65, due to the accumulation of genetic mutations that occurs over time. Men are diagnosed around twice as often as women (6.8 to 3.5 ratio). It is much less common in people from Asia. Five-year survival following diagnosis is approximately 83% in the United States. It represents less than 1% of deaths from cancer.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Most people are diagnosed as having CLL based on the result of a routine blood test that shows a high white blood cell count, specifically a large increase in the number of circulating lymphocytes. These people generally have no symptoms. Less commonly, CLL may present with enlarged lymph nodes. If enlarged lymph nodes are caused by infiltrating CLL-type cells, a diagnosis of small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) is made. Less commonly, the disease comes to light only after the cancerous cells overwhelm the bone marrow, resulting in low red blood cells, neutrophils, or platelets. Or there is fever, night sweats, weight loss, and the person feels tired.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL can be grouped with small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) as one disease with two clinical presentations. Wherein, with CLL, diseased cells propagate from within the bone marrow, in SLL they propagate from within the lymphatic tissue. CLLs are, in virtually all cases, preceded by a particular subtype of monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL). This subtype, termed chronic lymphocytic leukemia-type MBL (CLL-type MBL) is an asymptomatic, indolent, and chronic disorder in which people exhibit a mild increase in the number of circulating B-cell lymphocytes. These B-cells are abnormal: they are monoclonal, i.e. produced by a single ancestral B-cell, and have some of the same cell marker proteins, chromosome abnormalities, and gene mutations found in CLL. CLL/SLL MBL consist of two groups: low-count CLL/SLL MBL has monoclonal B-cell blood counts of <0.5x cells/liter (i.e. 0.5x/L) while high-count CLL/SLL MBL has blood monoclonal B-cell counts ≥0.5x/L but <5x10/L. Individuals with blood counts of these monoclonal B-cells >5x/L are diagnosed as having CLL. Low-count CLL/SLL MBL rarely if ever progresses to CLL while high-count CLL/SLL MBL does so at a rate of 1-2% per year. Thus, CLL may present in individuals with a long history of having high-count CLL/SLL MBL. There is no established treatment for these individuals except monitoring for development of the disorder's various complications (see treatment of MBL complications) and for their progression to CLL.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Complications include a low level of antibodies in the bloodstream (hypogammaglobulinemia), leading to recurrent infection, warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia in 10–15% of patients, and bone marrow failure. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia may also develop a Richter's transformation i.e. conversion to a far more aggressive form that has the histopathology of diffuse large B cell lymphoma or Hodgkin's lymphoma. CLL has also been reported to convert into other more aggressive diseases such as lymphoblastic lymphoma, hairy cell leukemia, high grade T cell lymphomas, acute myeloid leukemia, lung cancer, brain cancer, melanoma of the eye or skin, salivary gland tumors, and Kaposi's sarcomas. While some of these conversions have been termed RTs, the World Health Organization and most reviews have defined RT as a conversion of CLL/SLL into a disease with DLBCL or HL histopathology. The incidence of this transformation is estimated to be around 5% in people with CLL.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement can rarely occur with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Some of the reported manifestations include intussusception, small intestinal bacterial contamination, colitis, and others. Usually, GI complications with CLL occur after Richter transformation. Two cases to date have been reported of GI involvement in chronic lymphocytic leukemia without Richter's transformation.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL can also be caused by a number of epigenetic changes, which are adaptations that add a tag to specific DNA sequences, rather than altering the sequence itself. In CLL, these changes can be classified into the addition of three different methyl subgroups (naïve B-cell-like, memory B-cell-like, and intermediate), which impact how much that DNA sequence is transcribed. Some relevant genetic mutations may be inherited. Since there is no one single mutation that is associated with CLL in all cases, an individual’s susceptibility may be impacted when multiple mutations that are associated with an increase in the risk of CLL are co-inherited. Up until 2020, 45 susceptibility loci have been identified. Of these loci, 93% are linked to the alteration of 30 gene expressions involved in immune response, cell survival, or Wnt signaling. Exposure to Agent Orange increases the risk of CLL, and exposure to hepatitis C virus may increase the risk. There is no clear association between ionizing radiation exposure and the risk of developing CLL. Blood transfusions have been ruled out as a risk factor.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: The diagnosis of CLL is based on the demonstration of an abnormal population of B lymphocytes in the blood, bone marrow, or tissues that display an unusual but characteristic pattern of molecules on the cell surface. CLL is usually first suspected by a diagnosis of lymphocytosis, an increase in a type of white blood cell, on a complete blood count test. This frequently is an incidental finding on a routine physician visit. Most often the lymphocyte count is greater than 5000 cells per microliter (µl) of blood but can be much higher. The presence of lymphocytosis in a person who is elderly should raise strong suspicion for CLL, and a confirmatory diagnostic test, in particular flow cytometry, should be performed unless clinically unnecessary.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: The combination of the microscopic examination of the peripheral blood and analysis of the lymphocytes by flow cytometry to confirm clonality and marker molecule expression is needed to establish the diagnosis of CLL. Both are easily accomplished on a small amount of blood. A flow cytometer instrument can examine the expression of molecules on individual cells in fluids. This requires the use of specific antibodies to marker molecules, with fluorescent tags recognized by the instrument.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: In CLL, the lymphocytes are all genetically identical since they are derived from the same B cell lineage, expressing common B-cell markers CD19 and CD20, with abnormal expression of surface markers CD5 and CD23. These B cells resemble normal lymphocytes under the microscope, although slightly smaller, and are fragile when smeared onto a glass slide, giving rise to many broken cells, which are called "smudge" or "smear" cells and can indicate the presence of the disease. Smudge cells are due to cancer cells lacking in vimentin, a type of cytoskeleton proteins which is a structural component in a cell which maintains the cell's internal shape and mechanical resilience).


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: The atypical molecular pattern on the surface of the cell includes the coexpression of cell surface markers clusters of differentiation 5 (CD5) and 23. In addition, all the CLL cells within one individual are clonal, that is, genetically identical. In practice, this is inferred by the detection of only one of the mutually exclusive antibody light chains, kappa or lambda, on the entire population of the abnormal B cells. Normal B lymphocytes consist of a stew of different antibody-producing cells, resulting in a mixture of both kappa- and lambda-expressing cells. The lack of the normal distribution of these B cells is one basis for demonstrating clonality, the key element for establishing a diagnosis of any B cell malignancy (B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma).The Matutes's CLL score allows the identification of a homogeneous subgroup of classical CLL, that differs from atypical/mixed CLL for the five markers' expression (CD5, CD23, FMC7, CD22, and immunoglobulin light chain)


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Matutes's CLL scoring system is very helpful for the differential diagnosis between classical CLL and the other B cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders, but not for the immunological distinction between mixed/atypical CLL and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL malignant B cells). Discrimination between CLL and MCL can be improved by adding non-routine markers such as CD54 and CD200. Among routine markers, the most discriminating feature is the CD20/CD23 mean fluorescence intensity ratio. In contrast, FMC7 expression can surprisingly be misleading for borderline cases.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Staging, determining the extent of the disease, is done with the Rai staging system or the Binet classification (see details) and is based primarily on the presence of a low platelet or red cell count. Early-stage disease does not need to be treated. CLL and SLL are considered the same underlying disease, just with different appearances.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Array-based karyotyping is a cost-effective alternative to FISH for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in CLL. Several clinical validation studies have shown >95% concordance with the standard CLL FISH panel.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: In the past, cases with similar microscopic appearance in the blood but with a T cell phenotype were referred to as T-cell CLL. However, these are now recognized as a separate disease group and are currently classified as T-cell prolymphocytic leukemias (T-PLL). An accurate diagnosis of T-PLL is important as it is a rare and aggressive disease.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL should not be confused with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a highly aggressive leukemia most commonly diagnosed in children, and highly treatable in the pediatric setting.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Hematologic disorders that may resemble CLL in their clinical presentation, behavior, and microscopic appearance include mantle cell lymphoma, marginal zone lymphoma, B cell prolymphocytic leukemia, and lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: All the B cell malignancies of the blood and bone marrow can be differentiated from one another by the combination of cellular microscopic morphology, marker molecule expression, and specific tumor-associated gene defects. This is best accomplished by evaluation of the patient's blood, bone marrow, and occasionally lymph node cells by a pathologist with specific training in blood disorders. A flow cytometer is necessary for cell marker analysis, and the detection of genetic problems in the cells may require visualizing the DNA changes with fluorescent probes by FISH.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL treatment focuses on controlling the disease and its symptoms rather than on an outright cure. In those without or only minimal symptoms watchful waiting is generally appropriate.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL is treated by chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biological therapy, or bone marrow transplantation. Symptoms are sometimes treated surgically (splenectomy – removal of enlarged spleen) or by radiation therapy ("de-bulking" swollen lymph nodes).


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Initial CLL treatments vary depending on the exact diagnosis and the progression of the disease, and even with the preference and experience of the health care practitioner. Any of dozens of agents may be used for CLL therapy.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: While it is generally considered incurable, CLL progresses slowly in most cases. Many people with CLL lead normal and active lives for many years—in some cases for decades. Because of its slow onset, asymptomatic early-stage CLL (Rai 0, Binet A) is, in general, not treated since it is believed that early-stage CLL intervention does not improve survival time or quality of life. Instead, the condition is monitored over time to detect any change in the disease pattern.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: The decision to start CLL treatment is taken when there is evidence for progressive symptomatic disease (summarized as "active disease").


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Clinical "staging systems" such as the Rai four-stage system and the Binet classification can help to determine when and how to treat the patient.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Determining when to start treatment and by what means is often difficult; no survival advantage is seen in treating people with asymptomatic early-stage CLL. The International Workshop on CLL (iwCLL) has issued guidelines with specific markers that should be met to initiate treatment.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Combination chemotherapy regimens are effective in both newly diagnosed and relapsed CLL. Combinations of fludarabine with alkylating agents (cyclophosphamide) produce higher response rates and longer progression-free survival than single agents:


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Although the purine analogue fludarabine was shown to give superior response rates to chlorambucil as primary therapy, no evidence shows early use of fludarabine improves overall survival, and some clinicians prefer to reserve fludarabine for relapsed disease.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Chemoimmunotherapy with FCR has shown to improve response rates, progression-free survival, and overall survival in a large randomized trial in CLL patients selected for good physical fitness. This has been the first clinical trial demonstrating that the choice of a first-line therapy can improve the overall survival of people with CLL.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Targeted therapy attacks cancer cells at a specific target, with the aim of not harming normal cells. Targeted drugs used in CLL include venetoclax (a Bcl-2 inhibitor), ibrutinib (a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor), idelalisib and duvelisib (inhibitors of some forms of the enzyme phosphoinositide 3-kinase), as well as monoclonal antibodies against CD20 (rituximab, ofatumumab and obinutuzumab) and CD52 (alemtuzumab). Notably, some of the effects of the targeted therapies such as BCR inhibitors can be attributed to disrupting the interaction of CLL cells with tumour promoting T cells.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Autologous stem cell transplantation, using the recipient's own cells, is not curative. Younger individuals, if at high risk for dying from CLL, may consider allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Myeloablative (bone marrow killing) forms of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, a high-risk treatment using blood cells from a healthy donor, may be curative, but treatment-related toxicity is significant. An intermediate level, called reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic stem cell transplantation, may be better tolerated by older or frail patients.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: "Refractory" CLL is a disease that no longer responds favorably to treatment within six months following the last cancer therapy. In this case, more aggressive targeted therapies, such as BCR or BCL2 pathway inhibitors, have been associated with increased survival.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Leukemia is rarely associated with pregnancy, affecting only about one in 10,000 pregnant women. Treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemias can often be postponed until after the end of the pregnancy. If treatment is necessary, then giving chemotherapy during the second or third trimesters is less likely to result in pregnancy loss or birth defects than treatment during the first trimester.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Prognosis can be affected by the type of genetic mutation that the person with CLL has. Some examples of genetic mutations and their prognoses are: mutations in the "IGHV" region are associated with a median overall survival (OS) of more than 20–25 years, while no mutations in this region is associated with a median OS of 8–10 years; deletion of chromosome 13q is associated with a median OS of 17 years; and trisomy of chromosome 12, as well as deletion of chromosome 11q, is associated with a median OS of 9–11 years. While prognosis is highly variable and dependent on various factors including these mutations, the average 5-year relative survival is 86.1%. Telomere length has been suggested to be a valuable prognostic indicator of survival. In addition, a person's sex has been found to have an impact on CLL prognosis and treatment efficacy. More specifically, females have been found to survive longer (without disease progression) than males, when treated with certain medications.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: CLL is the most common type of leukaemia in the Western world compared to non-Western regions such as Asia, Latin America, and Africa. It is observed globally males are twice as likely than females to acquire CLL. CLL is primarily a disease of older adults, with 9 out of 10 cases occurring after the age of 50 years. The median age of diagnosis is 70 years. In young people, new cases of CLL are twice as likely to be diagnosed in men than in women. In older people, however, this difference becomes less pronounced: after the age of 80 years, new cases of CLL are diagnosed equally between men and women.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: According to the American Cancer Society, in the United States, 13,040 males and 8,210 females (total of 21,250 people) are expected to be newly diagnosed with CLL in 2021. In that same year, 2,620 males and 1,700 females (total of 4,320 people) are expected to die from CLL. Because of the prolonged survival, which was typically about 10 years in past decades, but which can extend to a normal life expectancy, the prevalence (number of people living with the disease) is much higher than the incidence (new diagnoses). CLL is the most common type of leukemia in the UK, accounting for 38% of all leukemia cases. Approximately 3,200 people were diagnosed with the disease in 2011.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: In Western populations, subclinical "disease" can be identified in 3.5% of normal adults, and in up to 8% of individuals over the age of 70. That is, small clones of B cells with the characteristic CLL phenotype can be identified in many healthy elderly persons. The clinical significance of these cells is unknown.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: In contrast, CLL is rare in Asian countries, such as Japan, China, and Korea, accounting for less than 10% of all leukemias in those regions. A low incidence is seen in Japanese immigrants to the US, and in African and Asian immigrants to Israel.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: People who live near areas with considerable industrial pollution have an elevated risk of developing leukemia, particularly CLL.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: In light of new therapies such as targeted agents, the role of bone marrow transplants is decreasing. Bone marrow transplants are not recommended as a front-line therapy, and only recommended in specific cases where front-line therapies have either failed or there is a lack of response to BCL-2 inhibitors.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reported preliminary success in the use of gene therapy, through genetically modified T cells, to treat CLL. The findings, which were published in August 2011, were based on data from three patients who had modified T cells injected into their blood. The T cells had been modified to express genes that would allow the cells to proliferate in the body and destroy B cells including those causing the leukemia. Two patients went into remission, while the presence of leukemia in the third patient reduced by 70%.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: One of the patients had been diagnosed with CLL for 13 years, and his treatment was failing before he participated in the clinical trial. One week after the T cells were injected, the leukemia cells in his blood had disappeared. The T cells were still found in the bloodstream of the patients six months after the procedure, meaning they would be able to fight the disease should leukemia cells return. This was the first time scientists "have used gene therapy to successfully destroy cancer tumors in patients with advanced disease".


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: Research is also investigating therapies targeting B cell receptor signalling. Syk inhibitors fostamatinib and entospletinib are currently in trials. The trial of a combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax had encouraging results in a small number of people.


title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

text: People with CLL undergoing immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor T cells have been found to have a high response rate.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: Yasmin Le Bon (née Parvaneh; born 29 October 1964) is an English model. She was one of the highest-earning models during the 1980s and is also known for being the wife of pop star Simon Le Bon.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: Yasmin Parvaneh was born in Oxford, England, the younger child of an Iranian father and an English mother. Yasmin attended Cherwell School in Oxford.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: Her mother worked as a window dresser in Elliston's, a department store in Oxford, when she met Yasmin's father. Her mother died of breast cancer in 2004. Her father has also died.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: She modelled for a local agency while she attended school, and after leaving signed with Models 1 Agency in London.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: She appeared on the cover of the first American and British issues of "Elle" and has also been on the covers of "Vogue", "V", "I.D.", "Cosmopolitan", "Marie Claire" and "Harper's Bazaar". As a model, she has also represented Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Bergdorf Goodman, Biotherm, Bloomingdale's, Bonwit Teller, Calvin Klein, Versace, Chanel, Christian Dior, Clairol, Escada, Filene's, Frasercard, Avon and Gianfranco Ferré.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: In January 2012, Le Bon wore a gown weighing in the Stéphane Rolland spring/summer Haute Couture show in Paris.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: Le Bon was invited to be one of the drivers in the 2013 Mille Miglia race in Italy. Each year, the three-day event passes through nearly 200 Italian towns from Brescia to Rome and back, recreating the original races which took place between 1927 and 1957. She and her co-driver, David Gandy, were part of Team Jaguar, driving a 1950 Jaguar XK120. Early in the race, Le Bon and Gandy were "pushed off the road by a competitor" which caused body damage to the wing and side of the vintage car. They re-entered the race, ultimately finishing in 158th place out of 415 cars.


title: Yasmin Le Bon

text: In 1984, she met Simon Le Bon, lead singer of the new wave band Duran Duran. They married on 27 December 1985 in her hometown of Oxford.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Jimmy Carter's tenure as the 39th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A Democrat from Georgia, Carter took office after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election. His presidency ended following his defeat in the 1980 election by Republican Ronald Reagan.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter took office during a period of "stagflation," as the economy experienced a combination of high inflation and slow economic growth. His budgetary policies centered on taming inflation by reducing deficits and government spending. Responding to energy concerns that had persisted through much of the 1970s, his administration enacted a national energy policy designed for long-term energy conservation and the development of alternative resources. In the short term the country was beset by an energy crisis in 1979 which was overlapped by a recession in 1980. Carter sought reforms to the country's welfare, health care, and tax systems, but was largely unsuccessful, partly due to poor relations with Democrats in Congress.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter reoriented U.S. foreign policy towards an emphasis on human rights. He continued the conciliatory late Cold War policies of his predecessors, normalizing relations with China and pursuing further Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviet Union. In an effort to end the Arab–Israeli conflict, he helped arrange the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. Through the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, Carter guaranteed the eventual transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama. Denouncing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, he reversed his conciliatory policies towards the Soviet Union and began a period of military build-up and diplomatic pressure such as pulling out of the Moscow Olympics.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: The final fifteen months of Carter's presidential tenure were marked by several additional major crises, including the Iran hostage crisis and economic malaise. Ted Kennedy, a prominent liberal Democrat who protested Carter's opposition to a national health insurance system, challenged Carter in the 1980 Democratic primaries. Boosted by public support for his policies in late 1979 and early 1980, Carter rallied to defeat Kennedy and win re-nomination. In the general election, Carter faced Reagan, a conservative former governor of California. Reagan won a decisive victory. In polls of historians and political scientists, Carter is usually ranked as a below-average president, but is seen more positively through his post-presidency humanitarian activities across the globe.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter was elected as the Governor of Georgia in 1970, and during his four years in office he earned a reputation as a progressive, racially moderate Southern governor. Observing George McGovern's success in the 1972 Democratic primaries, Carter came to believe that he could win the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination by running as an outsider unconnected to establishment politicians in Washington. Carter declared his candidacy for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination in December 1974 and swore "to never lie to the American people.” As Democratic leaders such as 1968 nominee Hubert Humphrey, Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota, and Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts declined to enter the race, there was no clear favorite in the Democratic primaries. Mo Udall, Sargent Shriver, Birch Bayh, Fred R. Harris, Terry Sanford, Henry M. Jackson, Lloyd Bentsen, and George Wallace all sought the nomination, and many of these candidates were better known than Carter.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter sought to appeal to various groups in the party; his advocacy for cutting defense spending and reining in the CIA appealed to liberals, while his emphasis on eliminating government waste appealed to conservatives. Carter won the most votes of any candidate in the Iowa caucus, and he dominated media coverage in advance of the New Hampshire primary, which he also won. Carter's subsequent defeat of Wallace in the Florida and North Carolina primaries eliminated Carter's main rival in the South. With a victory over Jackson in the Pennsylvania primary, Carter established himself as the clear front-runner. Despite the late entrance of Senator Frank Church and Governor Jerry Brown into the race, Carter clinched the nomination on the final day of the primaries. The 1976 Democratic National Convention proceeded harmoniously and, after interviewing several candidates, Carter chose Mondale as his running mate. The selection of Mondale was well received by many liberal Democrats, many of whom had been skeptical of Carter.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: The Republicans experienced a contested convention that ultimately nominated incumbent President Gerald Ford, who had succeeded to the presidency in 1974 after the resignation of Richard Nixon due to the latter's involvement in the Watergate scandal. With the Republicans badly divided, and with Ford facing questions over his competence as president, polls taken in August 1976 showed Carter with a 15-point lead. In the general election campaign, Carter continued to promote a centrist agenda, seeking to define new Democratic positions in the aftermath of the tumultuous 1960s. Above all, Carter attacked the political system, defining himself as an "outsider" who would reform Washington in the post-Watergate era. In response, Ford attacked Carter's supposed "fuzziness", arguing that Carter had taken vague stances on major issues. Carter and President Ford faced off in three televised debates during the 1976 election, the first such debates since 1960. Ford was generally viewed as the winner of the first debate, but he made a major gaffe in the second debate when he stated there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." The gaffe put an end to Ford's late momentum, and Carter helped his own campaign with a strong performance in the third debate. Polls taken just before election day showed a very close race.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter won the election with 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes, while Ford won 48% of the popular vote and 240 electoral votes. The 1976 presidential election represents the lone Democratic presidential election victory between the elections of 1964 and 1992. Carter fared particularly well in the Northeast and the South, while Ford swept the West and won much of the Midwest. In the concurrent congressional elections, Democrats increased their majorities in both the House and Senate.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Preliminary planning for Carter's presidential transition had already been underway for months before his election. Carter was the first presidential candidate to allot significant funds and a significant number of personnel to a pre-election transition planning effort, which subsequently would become standard practice. Carter made an innovation with his presidential transition that would influence all subsequent presidential transitions, taking a methodical approach to his transition, and having a larger and more formal operation than past presidential transitions had.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: In his inaugural address, Carter said, "We have learned that more is not necessarily better, that even our great nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems." Carter had campaigned on a promise to eliminate the trappings of the "Imperial Presidency," and began taking action according to that promise on Inauguration Day, breaking with recent history and security protocols by walking from the Capitol to the White House in his inaugural parade. His first steps in the White House went further in this direction: Carter cut the size of the 500-member White House staff by one-third and reduced the perks for the president and cabinet members. He also fulfilled a campaign promise by issuing a "full complete and unconditional pardon" (amnesty) for Vietnam War-era draft evaders.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Though Carter had campaigned against Washington insiders, many of his top appointees had served in previous presidential administrations. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, and Secretary of the Treasury W. Michael Blumenthal had been high-ranking officials in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Other notable appointments included Charles Schultze as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, former Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger as a presidential assistant on energy issues, federal judge Griffin Bell as Attorney General, and Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African-American woman to serve in the cabinet, as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter appointed several close associates from Georgia to staff the Executive Office of the President. He initially offered the position of White House Chief of Staff to two of his advisers, Hamilton Jordan and Charles Kirbo, but both declined. Carter decided not to have a chief of staff, instead implementing a system in which cabinet members would have more direct access to the president. Bert Lance was selected to lead the Office of Management and Budget, while Jordan became a key aide and adviser. Other appointees from Georgia included Jody Powell as White House Press Secretary, Jack Watson as cabinet secretary, and Stuart E. Eizenstat as head of the Domestic Policy Staff. To oversee the administration's foreign policy, Carter relied on several members of the Trilateral Commission, including Vance and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski emerged as one of Carter's closest advisers, and Carter made use of both the National Security Council and Vance's State Department in developing and implementing foreign policy. The hawkish Brzezinski clashed frequently with Vance, who pushed for detente with the Soviet Union.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Vice President Mondale served as a key adviser on both foreign and domestic issues. First Lady Rosalynn Carter emerged as an important part of the administration, sitting in on several Cabinet meetings and serving as a sounding board, advisor, and surrogate for the president. She traveled abroad to negotiate foreign policy, and some polling found that she was tied with Mother Teresa as the most admired woman in the world.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter shook up the White House staff in mid-1978, bringing in advertising executive Gerald Rafshoon to serve as the White House Communications Director and Anne Wexler to lead the Office of Public Liaison. Carter implemented broad personnel changes in the White House and cabinet in mid-1979. Five cabinet secretaries left office, including Blumenthal, Bell, and Joseph Califano, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Jordan was selected as the president's first chief of staff, while Alonzo L. McDonald, formerly of McKinsey & Company, became the White House staff director. Federal Reserve Chairman G. William Miller replaced Blumenthal as Secretary of the Treasury, Benjamin Civiletti took office as Attorney General, and Charles Duncan Jr. became Secretary of Energy. After Vance resigned in 1980, Carter appointed Edmund Muskie, a well-respected Senator with whom Carter had developed friendly relations, to serve as Secretary of State.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Among presidents who served at least one full term, Carter is the only one who never made an appointment to the Supreme Court. Carter appointed 56 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 203 judges to the United States district courts. Two of his circuit court appointees – Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg – were later appointed to the Supreme Court by Bill Clinton. Carter was the first president to make demographic diversity a key priority in the selection of judicial nominees. During Carter's presidency, the number of female circuit court judges increased from one to twelve, the number of non-white male circuit judges increased from six to thirteen, the number of female district court judges increased from four to 32, and the number of non-white male district court judges increased from 23 to 55. Carter appointed the first female African-American circuit court judge, Amalya Lyle Kearse, the first Hispanic circuit court judge, Reynaldo Guerra Garza, and the first female Hispanic district court judge, Carmen Consuelo Cerezo. Federal Judicial Center data shows that Carter appointed more women (41) and people of color (57) than had been appointed by "all past presidents combined" (10 women and 35 people of color).


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: President Carter was not a product of the New Deal traditions of liberal Northern Democrats. Instead he traced his ideological background to the Progressive Era. He was thus much more conservative than the dominant liberal wing of the party could accept. British historian Iwan Morgan argues:


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter successfully campaigned as a Washington "outsider" critical of both President Gerald Ford and the Democratic Congress; as president, he continued this theme. This refusal to play by the rules of Washington contributed to the Carter administration's difficult relationship with Congress. After the election, the President demanded the power to reorganize the executive branch, alienating powerful Democrats like Speaker Tip O'Neill and Jack Brooks. During the Nixon administration, Congress had passed a series of reforms that removed power from the president, and most members of Congress were unwilling to restore that power even with a Democrat now in office. Unreturned phone calls, verbal insults, and an unwillingness to trade political favors soured many on Capitol Hill and affected the president's ability to enact his agenda. In many cases, these failures of communication stemmed not from intentional neglect, but rather from poor organization of the administration's congressional liaison functions. President Carter attempted to woo O'Neill, Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, and other members of Congress through personal engagement, but he was generally unable to rally support for his programs through these meetings. Carter also erred in focusing on too many priorities at once, especially in the first months of his presidency. Democrats in Congress were displeased with his moralistic, executive-oriented, rational approach to decision-making and his reluctance to accept standard congressional methods of compromise, patronage, and log-rolling.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: A few months after his term started, Carter issued a "hit list" of 19 projects that he claimed were "pork barrel" spending. He said that he would veto any legislation that contained projects on this list. Congress responded by passing a bill that combined several of the projects that Carter objected to with economic stimulus measures that Carter favored. Carter chose to sign the bill, but his criticism of the alleged "pork barrel" projects cost him support in Congress. These struggles set a pattern for Carter's presidency, and he would frequently clash with Congress for the remainder of his tenure.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: On taking office, Carter proposed an economic stimulus package that would give each citizen a $50 tax rebate, cut corporate taxes by $900 million, and increase spending on public works. The limited spending involved in the package reflected Carter's fiscal conservatism, as he was more concerned with avoiding inflation and balancing the budget than addressing unemployment. Carter's resistance to higher federal spending drew attacks from many members of his own party, who wanted to lower the unemployment rate through federal public works projects. Carter signed several measures designed to address unemployment in 1977, including an extension of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, but he continued to focus primarily on reducing deficits and inflation. In November 1978, Carter signed the Revenue Act of 1978, an $19 billion tax cut.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Federal budget deficits throughout Carter's term remained at around the $70 billion level reached in 1976, but as a percentage of GDP the deficits fell from 4% when he took office to 2.5% in the 1980–81 fiscal year. The national debt of the United States increased by about $280 billion, from $620 billion in early 1977 to $900 billion in late 1980. However, because economic growth outpaced the growth in nominal debt, the federal government's debt as a percentage of gross domestic product decreased slightly, from 33.6% in early 1977 to 31.8% in late 1980.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: In 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), based in the Middle East, had reduced output to raise world prices and to hurt Israel and its allies, including the United States. This sparked the 1973 Oil Crisis, a period of high oil prices, which in turn forced higher prices throughout the American economy and slowed economic growth. The United States continued to face energy issues in the following years, and during the winter of 1976–1977 natural gas shortages forced the closure of many schools and factories, leading to the temporary layoffs of hundreds of thousands of workers. By 1977, energy policy was one of the greatest challenges facing the United States. Oil imports had increased 65% annually since 1973, and the U.S. consumed over twice as much energy, per capita, as other developed countries.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Upon taking office, Carter asked James Schlesinger to develop a plan to address the energy crisis. In an address to the nation of April 18, 1977, Carter called the energy crisis as, apart from preventing war, "the greatest challenge that our country will face during our lifetime." He called for energy conservation, increased use of U.S. coal reserves, and carefully controlled expansion of nuclear power. His chief goals were to limit the growth of energy demand to an increase of two percent a year, cut oil imports in half, and establish a new strategic petroleum reserve containing a six-month supply. Carter won congressional approval for the creation of the Department of Energy, and he named Schlesinger as the first head of that department. Schlesinger presented an energy plan that contained 113 provisions, the most important of which were taxes on domestic oil production and gasoline consumption. The plan also provided for tax credits for energy conservation, taxes on automobiles with low fuel efficiency, and mandates to convert from oil or natural gas to coal power. The House approved much of Carter's plan in August 1977, but the Senate passed a series of watered-down energy bills that included few of Carter's proposals. Negotiations with Congress dragged on into 1978, but Carter signed the National Energy Act in November 1978. Many of Carter's original proposals were not included in the legislation, but the act deregulated natural gas and encouraged energy conservation and the development of renewable energy through tax credits.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Another energy shortage hit the United States in 1979, forcing millions of frustrated motorists into long waits at gasoline stations. In response, Carter asked Congress to deregulate the price of domestic oil. At the time, domestic oil prices were not set by the world market, but rather by the complex price controls of the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). Oil companies strongly favored the deregulation of prices, since it would increase their profits, but some members of Congress worried that deregulation would contribute to inflation. In late April and early May the Gallup poll found only 14 percent of the public believed that America was in an actual energy shortage. The other 77 percent believed that this was brought on by oil companies just to make a profit. Carter paired the deregulation proposal with a windfall profits tax, which would return about half of the new profits of the oil companies to the federal government. Carter used a provision of EPCA to phase in oil controls, but Congress balked at implementing the proposed tax.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: In July 1979, as the energy crisis continued, Carter met with a series of business, government, labor, academic, and religious leaders in an effort to overhaul his administration's policies. His pollster, Pat Caddell, told him that the American people faced a crisis of confidence stemming from the assassinations of major leaders in the 1960s, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal. Though most of his other top advisers urged him to continue to focus on inflation and the energy crisis, Carter seized on Caddell's notion that the major crisis facing the country was a crisis of confidence. On July 15, Carter delivered a nationally televised speech in which he called for long-term limits on oil imports and the development of synthetic fuels. But he also stated, "all the legislation in the world can't fix what's wrong with America. What is lacking is confidence and a sense of community." The speech came to be known as his "malaise" speech, although Carter never used the word in the speech.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: The initial reaction to Carter's speech was generally positive, but Carter erred by forcing out several cabinet members, including Secretary of Energy Schlesinger, later in July. Nonetheless, Congress approved a $227 billion windfall profits tax and passed the Energy Security Act. The Energy Security Act established the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, which was charged with developing alternative energy sources. Despite those legislative victories, in 1980 Congress rescinded Carter's imposition of a surcharge on imported oil, and rejected his proposed Energy Mobilization Board, a government body that was designed to facilitate the construction of power plants. Nonetheless, Kaufman and Kaufman write that policies enacted under Carter represented the "most sweeping energy legislation in the nation's history." Carter's policies contributed to a decrease in per capita energy consumption, which dropped by 10 percent from 1979 to 1983. Oil imports, which had reached a record 2.4 billion barrels in 1977 (50% of supply), declined by half from 1979 to 1983.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter took office during a period of "stagflation", as the economy experienced both high inflation and low economic growth. The U.S. had recovered from the 1973–75 recession, but the economy, and especially inflation, continued to be a top concern for many Americans in 1977 and 1978. The economy had grown by 5% in 1976, and it continued to grow at a similar pace during 1977 and 1978. Unemployment declined from 7.5% in January 1977 to 5.6% by May 1979, with over 9 million net new jobs created during that interim, and real median household income grew by 5% from 1976 to 1978. In October 1978, responding to worsening inflation, Carter announced the beginning of "phase two" of his anti-inflation campaign on national television. He appointed Alfred E. Kahn as the Chairman of the Council on Wage and Price Stability (COWPS), and COWPS announced price targets for industries and implemented other policies designed to lower inflation.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: The 1979 energy crisis ended a period of growth; both inflation and interest rates rose, while economic growth, job creation, and consumer confidence declined sharply. The relatively loose monetary policy adopted by Federal Reserve Board Chairman G. William Miller, had already contributed to somewhat higher inflation, rising from 5.8% in 1976 to 7.7% in 1978. The sudden doubling of crude oil prices by OPEC forced inflation to double-digit levels, averaging 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Following a mid-1979 cabinet shake-up, Carter named Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Volcker pursued a tight monetary policy to bring down inflation, but this policy also had the effect of slowing economic growth even further. Author Ivan Eland points out that this came during a long trend of inflation, saying, "Easy money and cheap credit during the 1970s, had caused rampant inflation, which topped out at 13 percent in 1979." Carter enacted an austerity program by executive order, justifying these measures by observing that inflation had reached a "crisis stage"; both inflation and short-term interest rates reached 18 percent in February and March 1980. In March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest level since mid-1976, and the following month unemployment rose to seven percent. The economy entered into another recession, its fourth in little more than a decade, and unemployment quickly rose to 7.8 percent. This "V-shaped recession" and the malaise accompanying it coincided with Carter's 1980 re-election campaign, and contributed to his unexpectedly severe loss to Ronald Reagan. Not until March 1981 did GDP and employment totals regain pre-recession levels.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: During the 1976 presidential campaign, Carter proposed a health care reform plan that included key features of a bipartisan bill, sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy, that provided for the establishment of a universal national health insurance (NHI) system. Though most Americans had health insurance through Medicare, Medicaid, or private plans, approximately ten percent of the population did not have coverage in 1977. The establishment of an NHI plan was the top priority of organized labor and many liberal Democrats, but Carter had concerns about cost, as well as the inflationary impact, of such a system. He delayed consideration of health care through 1977, and ultimately decided that he would not support Kennedy's proposal to establish an NHI system that covered all Americans. Kennedy met repeatedly with Carter and White House staffers in an attempt to forge a compromise health care plan, but negotiations broke down in July 1978. Though Kennedy and Carter had previously been on good terms, differences over health insurance led to an open break between the two Democratic leaders.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: In June 1979, Carter proposed more limited health insurance reform—an employer mandate to provide private catastrophic health insurance. The plan would also extend Medicaid to the very poor without dependent minor children, and would add catastrophic coverage to Medicare. Kennedy rejected the plan as insufficient. In November 1979, Senator Russell B. Long led a bipartisan conservative majority of the Senate Finance Committee to support an employer mandate to provide catastrophic coverage and the addition of catastrophic coverage to Medicare. These efforts were abandoned in 1980 due to budget constraints.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter sought a comprehensive overhaul of welfare programs in order to provide more cost-effective aid; Congress rejected almost all of his proposals. Proposals contemplated by the Carter administration include a guaranteed minimum income, a federal job guarantee for the unemployed, a negative income tax, and direct cash payments to aid recipients. In early 1977, Secretary Califano presented Carter with several options for welfare reform, all of which Carter rejected because they increased government spending. In August 1977, Carter proposed a major jobs program for welfare recipients capable of working and a "decent income" to those who were incapable of working. Carter was unable to win support for his welfare reform proposals, and they never received a vote in Congress. In October 1978, Carter helped convince the Senate to pass the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act, which committed the federal government to the goals of low inflation and low unemployment. To the disappointment of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and organized labor, the final act did not include a provision authorizing the federal government to act as an employer of last resort in order to provide for full employment.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter also sought tax reform in order to create a simpler, more progressive taxation system. He proposed taxing capital gains as ordinary income, eliminating tax shelters, limiting itemized tax deductions, and increasing the standard deduction. Carter's taxation proposals were rejected by Congress, and no major tax reform bill was passed during Carter's presidency. Amid growing public fear that the social security system was in danger of bankruptcy within a few years, Carter signed the Social Security Financing Amendments Act in December 1977, which corrected a flaw that had been introduced into the benefit formula by earlier legislation in 1972, raised Social Security taxes and reduced Social Security benefits. "Now this legislation", the president remarked, "will guarantee that from 1980 to the year 2030, the social security funds will be sound".


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter supported many of the goals of the environmentalist movement, and appointed prominent environmentalists to high positions. As president his rhetoric strongly supported environmentalism, with a certain softness regarding his acceptance of nuclear energy – he had been trained in nuclear energy with atomic submarines in the Navy. He signed several significant bills to protect the environment, such as the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which regulates strip mining. In 1980 Carter signed into law a bill that established Superfund, a federal program designed to clean up mining or factory sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Other environmental laws signed by Carter addressed energy conservation, federal mine safety standards, and control of pesticides. Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus convinced Carter to withdraw over 100 million acres of public domain land in Alaska from commercial use by designating the land as conservation areas. The 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges. Business and conservative interests complained that economic growth would be hurt by these conservation efforts.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Early in his term, Carter worked to fulfill a campaign promise to teachers' unions to create a cabinet-level Department of Education. Carter argued that the establishment of the department would increase efficiency and equal opportunity, but opponents in both parties criticized it as an additional layer of bureaucracy that would reduce local control and local support of education. In October 1979, Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act, establishing the United States Department of Education. Carter appointed Shirley Mount Hufstedler, a liberal judge from California, as the first Secretary of Education. Carter also expanded the Head Start program with the addition of 43,000 children and families. During his tenure, education spending as a share of federal, non-defense spending was doubled. Carter opposed tax breaks for Protestant schools in the South, many of which were fighting integration, a position that alienated the Religious Right. He also helped defeat the Moynihan-Packwood Bill, which called for tuition tax credits for parents to use for nonpublic school education.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter took a stance in support of decriminalization of cannabis, citing the legislation passed in Oregon in 1973. In a 1977 address to Congress, Carter submitted that penalties for cannabis use should not outweigh the actual harms of cannabis consumption. Carter retained pro-decriminalization advisor Robert Du Pont, and appointed pro-decriminalization British physician Peter Bourne as his drug advisor (or "drug czar") to head up his newly formed Office of Drug Abuse Policy. However, law enforcement, conservative politicians, and grassroots parents' groups opposed this measure, and the War on Drugs continued. At the same time, cannabis consumption in the United States reached historically high levels.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter was the first president to address the topic of gay rights, and his administration was the first to meet with a group of gay rights activists. Carter opposed the Briggs Initiative, a California ballot measure that would have banned gays and supporters of gay rights from being public school teachers. Carter supported the policy of affirmative action, and his administration submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court while it heard the case of "Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke." The Supreme Court's holding, delivered in 1978, upheld the constitutionality of affirmative action but prohibited the use of racial quotas in college admissions. First Lady Rosalynn Carter publicly campaigned for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, and the president supported the extension of the ratification period for that amendment.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter presided over the deregulation of several industries, which proponents hoped would help revive the sluggish economy. The Airline Deregulation Act (1978) abolished the Civil Aeronautics Board over six years, provided for the free entry of airlines into new routes, and opened air fares up to competition. Carter also signed the Motor Carrier Act (1980), which gradually withdrew the government from controlling access, rates, and routes in the trucking industry; the Staggers Rail Act (1980), which loosened railroad regulations by allowing railroad executives to negotiate mergers with barge and truck lines; and the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (1980), which removed ceilings on interest rates and permitted savings and commercial banks to write home mortgages, extend business loans, and underwrite securities issues.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: The Housing and Community Development Act of 1977 set up Urban Development Action Grants, extended handicapped and elderly provisions, and established the Community Reinvestment Act, which sought to prevent banks from denying credit and loans to poor communities. The Child Nutrition Amendments of 1978 introduced a national income standard for program eligibility based on income standards prescribed for reduced-price school lunches. The Act also strengthened the nutrition education component of the WIC program by requiring the provision of nutritional education to all program participants. Urban development Action grants supplied nearly $5 million for some 3,300 projects in declining cities, and a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed with the aim of prohibiting “abusive and unfair techniques of debt collection.” The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 was passed with the intention of enabling the coal industry to develop coal resources without damaging other natural resources in the process, while the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 was aimed at safeguarding mineworkers from harm in the workplace. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) programs and women’s programs were also strengthened, and "common sense priorities" led to focus on major health problems. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, passed in 1978, prohibited companies or organizations from discriminating against pregnant employees while providing protection in the areas of childbirth and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. The National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act of 1978 sought to put funds aside for low-interest loans to start cooperatives. Minimum wage coverage was extended to farmworkers, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act Amendments of 1978 increased the upper age limit on coverage against age discrimination in non-federal employment and in the private sector from 65 to 70 as a means of extending safeguards against age discrimination. In addition, the purchase requirement for food stamps was abolished and the first-ever national youth employment law was enacted.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Although foreign policy was not his highest priority at first, a series of worsening crises made it increasingly the focus of attention regarding the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Iran, and the global energy crisis. His handling of the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis made him very unpopular at home and lowered his historical stature as measured by historians.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter took office during the Cold War, a sustained period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, relations between the two superpowers had improved through a policy known as detente. In a reflection of the waning importance of the Cold War, some of Carter's contemporaries labeled him as the first post-Cold War president, but relations with the Soviet Union would continue to be an important factor in American foreign policy in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Many of the leading officials in the Carter administration, including Carter himself, were members of the Trilateral Commission, which de-emphasized the Cold War. The Trilateral Commission instead advocated a foreign policy focused on aid to Third World countries and improved relations with Western Europe and Japan. The central tension of the Carter administration's foreign policy was reflected in the division between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who sought improved relations with the Soviet Union and the Third World, and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who favored confrontation with the Soviet Union on a range of issues.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter believed that previous administrations had erred in allowing the Cold War concerns and Realpolitik to dominate foreign policy. His administration placed a new emphasis on human rights, democratic values, nuclear proliferation, and global poverty. The Carter administration's human rights emphasis was part of a broader, worldwide focus on human rights in the 1970s, as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch became increasingly prominent. Carter nominated civil rights activist Patricia M. Derian as Coordinator for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, and in August 1977, had the post elevated to that of Assistant Secretary of State. Derian established the United States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published annually since 1977.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Latin America was central to Carter's new focus on human rights. The Carter administration ended support to the historically U.S.-backed Somoza regime in Nicaragua and directed aid to the new Sandinista National Liberation Front government that assumed power after Somoza's overthrow. Carter also cut back or terminated military aid to Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Ernesto Geisel of Brazil, and Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina, all of whom he criticized for human rights violations.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Carter's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young, was the first African-American to hold a high-level diplomatic post. Along with Carter, he sought to change U.S. policy towards Africa, emphasizing human rights concerns over Cold War issues. In 1978, Carter became the first sitting president to make an official state visit to Sub-Saharan Africa, a reflection of the region's new importance under the Carter administration's foreign policy. Unlike his predecessors, Carter took a strong stance against white minority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. With Carter's support, the United Nations passed Resolution 418, which placed an arms embargo on South Africa. Carter won the repeal of the Byrd Amendment, which had undercut international sanctions on the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith. He also pressured Smith to hold elections, leading to the 1979 Rhodesia elections and the eventual creation of Zimbabwe.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: The more assertive human rights policy championed by Derian and State Department Policy Planning Director Anthony Lake was somewhat blunted by the opposition of Brzezinski. Policy disputes reached their most contentious point during the 1979 fall of Pol Pot's genocidal regime of Democratic Kampuchea following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, when Brzezinski prevailed in having the administration refuse to recognize the new Cambodian government due to its support by the Soviet Union. Despite human rights concerns, Carter continued U.S. support for Joseph Mobutu of Zaire, who defeated Angolan-backed insurgents in conflicts known as Shaba I and Shaba II. His administration also generally refrained from criticizing human rights abuses in the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and North Yemen.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Ford and Nixon had sought to reach agreement on a second round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), which had set upper limits on the number of nuclear weapons possessed by both the United States and the Soviet Union. Carter hoped to extend these talks by reaching an agreement to reduce, rather than merely set upper limits on, the nuclear arsenals of both countries. At the same time, he criticized the Soviet Union's record with regard to human rights, partly because he believed the public would not support negotiations with the Soviets if the president seemed too willing to accommodate the Soviets. Carter and Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev reached an agreement in June 1979 in the form of SALT II, but Carter's waning popularity and the opposition of Republicans and neoconservative Democrats made ratification difficult. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan severely damaged U.S.-Soviet relations and ended any hope of ratifying SALT II.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: In 1979, the Soviets intervened in the Second Yemenite War. The Soviet backing of South Yemen constituted a "smaller shock", in tandem with the Iranian Revolution. This played a role in shifting Carter's viewpoint on the Soviet Union to a more assertive one, a shift that finalized with the Soviet-Afghan War.


title: Presidency of Jimmy Carter

text: Afghanistan had been non-aligned during the early stages of the Cold War. In 1978, Communists under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power. The new regime—which was divided between Taraki's extremist Khalq faction and the more moderate Parcham—signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in December 1978. Taraki's efforts to improve secular education and redistribute land were accompanied by mass executions and political oppression unprecedented in Afghan history, igniting a revolt by Afghan mujahideen rebels. Following a general uprising in April 1979, Taraki was deposed by Khalq rival Hafizullah Amin in September. Soviet leaders feared that an Islamist government in Afghanistan would threaten the control of Soviet Central Asia, and, as the unrest continued, they deployed 30,000 soldiers to the Soviet–Afghan border. Historian George C. Herring states Carter and Brzezinski both saw Afghanistan as a potential "trap" that could expend Soviet resources in a fruitless war, and the U.S. began sending aid to the mujahideen rebels in mid-1979. However, a 2020 review of declassified U.S. documents by Conor Tobin in the journal "Diplomatic History" found that "a Soviet military intervention was neither sought nor desired by the Carter administration ... The small-scale covert program that developed "in response" to the increasing Soviet influence was part of a contingency plan "if" the Soviets did intervene militarily, as Washington would be in a better position to make it difficult for them to consolidate their position, but not designed to induce an intervention." By December, Amin's government had lost control of much of the country, prompting the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan, execute Amin, and install Parcham leader Babrak Karmal as president.