Jimmy was a real brainiac. Billy not
Originally Posted by VitaMan
brainiac? that implies genius. Carter is intelligent and well educated. he graduated 60th out of 821 in his class at the Naval Academy. probably not so much today unfortunately but all of the service academies at the time Carter attended were known for their high academic standards and quality education.
intelligence was never Carter's problem. i'll accept on principle his iq is higher than most other presidents of his era but it's unlikely his iq is genius level. i'd say about 140 which is well above average but not genius level which starts around 160-165.
Carter's problem was he was too moral to be an effective president. while typically a good quality in general, as president you are often required to make decisions that are not moral. a classic example is the Iranian hostage crisis. his morality dictated a diplomatic solution which is not wrong to attempt but it took Carter way too long to realize the Ayatollah and his followers weren't interested in any sort of diplomatic solution. because of that, he waited far too long to attempt a military rescue. he should have immediately begun planning a raid while using diplomacy as a distraction to the Iranians. as soon as Military special forces were ready, a few weeks or so to plan, Carter should have given the Iranians an ultimatum to release the hostages immediately then ordered the raid.
Released in 2017, a declassified memo produced by the CIA in 1980 concluded "Iranian hardliners – especially
Ayatollah Khomeini" were
"determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about President Carter's defeat in the November elections." Additionally, Tehran in 1980 wanted "the world to believe that Imam Khomeini caused President Carter's downfall and disgrace."
[235]
Carter should have acted much sooner and with greater force.
