Conservatism’s Debts to Jimmy Carter

The duty of an obituarist is not to avoid speaking any ill of the dead — this would often demand dishonesty — but to approach the recently departed with a sense of charity, emphasizing his virtues and not dwelling with undue vindictiveness upon his failings. It is an unavoidable historical reality that Jimmy Carter’s presidency was a failure by any sensible metric. The legacy of that presidency, however, was not entirely negative. Conservatives should spare a moment of thanks for some of the ways in which Carter laid the groundwork for key aspects of the Reagan Revolution, and not only by the negative example that brought Ronald Reagan to power.

Jimmy Carter championed some genuinely conservative ideas, and they worked. They pointed the way to what Reagan would do on a much larger scale.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

Featured Tags

The duty of an obituarist is not to avoid speaking any ill of the dead — this would often demand dishonesty — but to approach the recently departed with a sense of charity, emphasizing his virtues and not dwelling with undue vindictiveness upon his failings. It is an unavoidable historical reality that Jimmy Carter’s presidency was a failure by any sensible metric. The legacy of that presidency, however, was not entirely negative. Conservatives should spare a moment of thanks for some of the ways in which Carter laid the groundwork for key aspects of the Reagan Revolution, and not only by the negative example that brought Ronald Reagan to power.

Jimmy Carter championed some genuinely conservative ideas, and they worked. They pointed the way to what Reagan would do on a much larger scale.