Elizabeth Morgan | US-Jamaica relations under President Jimmy Carter

JAMES EARL Carter Jr, popularly known as Jimmy Carter, a Democrat from Plains, Georgia, was the 39th president of the USA (1977-1981). He served one term as president and was the longest-living former US president, dying on December 29, 2024 at age 100 years. There is no doubt that Jimmy Carter led a very productive life and endeavoured to shape a better world, especially in his post-presidential years. He will be accorded a state funeral and laid to rest in the USA tomorrow. This article looks at US-Jamaica relations during his presidency.

In the 1970s, the Cold War between the Western countries and the communist bloc was in progress. Developing countries were caught in the middle and seeking to forge a policy of non-alignment. There was a seeming détente when President Richard Nixon visited China and Moscow in 1972. The US policy in Latin America and the Caribbean supported anti-communist regimes, no matter how questionable, and endeavoured to undermine regimes leaning towards socialism and communism.

Assessments of the 1970s, especially from 1972, when the People’s National Party (PNP) led by Michael Manley won the general election, will indicate that this was a tense period in US-Jamaica relations and difficult for the Jamaican economy, as the country was hit by the 1973 OPEC oil crisis following another Middle East war. Jamaica was navigating the rapids of geopolitics and economics at this time.

By 1962, the USA had become Jamaica’s primary export market. Jamaica would only have started to export to the USA under a preferential regime in 1976, when the US implemented its UN Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), if it met the requirements. US concerns under the Nixon presidency about an apparent shift in Jamaica’s political ideology and various economic actions had led to a rupture in US-Jamaica relations. Thus, tourism was declining and bauxite faced challenges. Overall, Jamaica was facing balance of payment difficulties and political instability.

ENTER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER

A peanut farmer, the former Democratic Governor of Georgia surprisingly won the US presidential election held on November 2, 1976 over incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford. He took office in January 1977 and his agenda, local and international, was full. The US Vice President was Walter Mondale and the Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance. Andrew Young was the first black American, appointed to the post of Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Young would be followed by another black American, Donald McHenry, in this post. Carter’s first Ambassador to Jamaica was career diplomat, Frederick Irving, and later another career diplomat, Loren Lawrence, was appointed.

On Jamaica’s side, initially, the foreign minister was Dudley Thompson and later, Percival James Patterson. Jamaica’s Ambassador to the USA and the Organization of American States was Alfred Rattray, and the Permanent Representative to the UN was Donald Mills. Those serving at this time should be noted.

A SHIFT IN POLICY

At this point in the 1970s, Jamaica was leading discussions in the UN promoting a New International Economic Order. A North-South dialogue was also in progress. Jamaica was first appointed chair of the Group of 77 of developing countries from 1977 to 1978, and would be elected to the UN Security Council for the first time in 1979.

Coming into office, most likely, Jamaica would not have been a high priority in foreign relations for this new US president. President Carter would have been briefed on US relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Jamaica, by the State Department, including the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, initially Terrence Todman. Jamaica would have been under a cloud because of its growing relationship with the Fidel Castro-led Cuba, a communist state under a US trade embargo. There was the view that the US Central Intelligence Agency was active in Jamaica.

President Carter wanted a shift in policy to balance national security and human rights in his dealings with Latin America and the Caribbean, and to keep the English-speaking Caribbean in the US camp. Carter sought to understand the region and to look at development needs and adherence to human rights.

In a gesture of goodwill to the region, in May 1977, breaking with convention, he dispatched his wife, Rosalyn Carter, as his personal envoy to countries in Latin American and the Caribbean, including Jamaica. Mrs Carter arrived in Kingston on May 30. She had wide-ranging discussions with PM Manley and his ministers, seeing her role as listening and gathering information.

Manley wanted to get President Carter interested and participating in the North-South dialogue. After writing to the president, he accepted an invitation to meet with him at the White House in Washington, DC in December 1977. It is reported that this meeting was quite cordial, although Fidel Castro had visited Jamaica in October.

Secretary of State Cyrus Vance did not visit Jamaica, but he did attend the OAS General Assembly in St George’s, Grenada, in June 1977 and visited Trinidad and Tobago.

From news reports, however, US senior officials were in regular contact with their English-speaking Caribbean counterparts to demonstrate the Carter administration’s interest in this region.

In December 1977, the World Bank established the Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development to support countries in the Caribbean, including Jamaica, with their balance of payments issues. This was supported by the USA. By 1978, the Carter administration was also promoting energy discussions with the Caribbean, including renewable energy. Note that in 1978 also, Jamaica ratified the American Convention on Human Rights (the Pact of San José).

Where Jamaica was concerned, it seems that in 1979 President Carter listened to briefings and proposals for US action, given the unstable situation in the country. Reports indicate that he was persuaded to temper US action towards Jamaica.

So, the general view is that President Carter tried to take a different, more moderate and cooperative approach in US relations in Latin America and the Caribbean, including with Jamaica. There seems to have been a level of respect between Michael Manley and Jimmy Carter, and Jamaica did have some friends in the Carter administration.

By 1980, however, both Manley and Carter were heading out of office. Manley lost the election of October 1980 and Carter lost the presidential election of November 1980, both by a landslide.

Out of office, Jimmy Carter came to Jamaica to monitor elections as he promoted democracy and human rights around the world. He was a man of principle and integrity. By his life and work, he set a good example, one needed today in leadership. He was committed to telling the truth and demonstrating faith through good works. Rest in peace.

Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.