The 39th president of the United States of America has had an interesting four years in office. During his presidency, Jimmy Carter had achieved numerous important foreign policy achievements, including relations with the countries of Panama, China, and the Soviet Union, along with complicated relations with Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Egypt, and Israel. One of Jimmy Carter's first foreign policy successes, and by American citizens, one of the most opposed, were the Panama Canal treaties, which were important steps in decreasing hostility toward the United States (Dumbrell 212). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Carter and his advisors agreed, even before the inauguration, that canal negotiations should become an immediate priority. If the United States had not successfully completed the negotiations, which had been underway since the Johnson administration, the Panamanian government could have created a conflict – including possible violent protests – in an area that would have required drastic American action from since the canal was under water. control of the United States (Hargrove 123). The canal will be operated by the United States until the beginning of the 21st century, under agreements designed to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, just as was written in the two treaties signed at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977. The treaties were approved by Panama in a referendum on October 23, 1977, and the United States Senate gave its opinion and consent to their ratification in the spring of 1978, which led to the implementation of the treaties on October 1, 1979. New treaties approved and signed by the Carter administration and Panama's head of state Omar Torrijos gave Panama full control of the canal on December 31, 1999, at midnight, along with all of the canal assets ceded to Panama. Many other Caribbean countries supported the treaty. “Foreign Minister Forde of Barbados welcomes the agreement saying: 'I hope that the United States Congress will react favorably to this agreement. It has the support of Caribbean nations in particular…” (Primary Source 1), which has favored the position of the United States in the eyes of neighboring countries. Another foreign policy achievement of President Jimmy Carter was the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China. During the winter of 1977-1978 Carter cultivated relationships with Chinese officials in Washington and solicited an official invitation to visit China himself. However, the president backed out after his advisor Mondale said it was too much to ask the Senate to simultaneously handle the Panama Canal treaties and any new agreements with China. President Carter was then told that he was not outspoken about normalization and that his visit to China had been inconclusive. In the spring of 1978, President Carter concluded that Secretary of State Vance would visit China, but would not be legally allowed to negotiate with the eastern country, because Carter feared that this would harm the development of relations with Russia and Japan. The United States and the Soviet Union were also beginning to negotiate a SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) treaty at this time, and President Carter was determined not to delay any SALT negotiations. Vance was not authorized to negotiate in China, but he did an exceptional job laying the groundwork for future agreements. In the summer and fall of 1978, President Carter negotiated the terms of normalization directly with the Chinese through the U.S. ambassador to China, LeonardWoodcock. Jimmy Carter believed that having better relations and stronger ties with China would help bring negotiations with the Soviet Union to a conclusion. a positive conclusion. Soon after the conclusion of normalization terms with China, President Carter pushed for a SALT treaty. In January 1979, Vance met with Chinese Andrei Gromyko in Geneva to put the finishing touches on SALT (131). In his statement following the formal signing of Chinese normalization, Carter said, “We have charted a new and irreversible path toward a stronger, more intrusive, and more hopeful relationship” (Garrison 86). The president also emphasized that he shares similar goals with Ding, including “a world of security and peace, a world of diversity and stability, a world of independent nations free from external domination” (86). In the second half of Carter's presidency, relations with the Soviet Union began to change. The United States and the Soviet Union were working together on general terms for a SALT II treaty. Limits were set on the total number of nuclear launch vehicles along with a cap on vehicles with multiple warheads that each country could possess. The Soviets could maintain their total number of missiles and continue to add more warheads while the United States could increase their number of missiles and warheads to the maximum allowed by the treaty (Hargrove). The two unresolved questions were whether a new Soviet aircraft, the Backfire, was an offensive bomber (if so it would have been included in the agreement) and whether the American Cruise missile, which was not mentioned to the Soviets for some time, would be considered a missile under the Vladivostok Agreement. Assuming the possibility of an agreement on Backfire and Cruise, a SALT II treaty based on the Vladivostok meeting would have stabilized the arms race without reducing weapons arsenals. Limits have been set on future development with the goal of equality. Soviet leader Brezhnev made it clear that the Soviets wanted a quick SALT agreement, with the inclusion of the Cruise missile and the exclusion of the Backfire. President Carter, in turn, suggested that SALT II could be concluded without Cruise or Backfire, but that it would be possible to proceed to SALT III with deep reductions in existing forces controlled by the United States and the Soviet Union. Soviet leaders were uncomfortable with President Carter's proposal to end SALT II and were also concerned about steep reductions in existing weapons. The Soviet Union later accepted constraints on both the Soviet Backfire and American Cruise Missile as part of the SALT II agreement. Basic agreements between the two nations on the SALT II negotiations were reached in April 1979, but an official treaty was never ratified. The final differences were completed at the Carter-Brezhnev Summit in June 1979 (Hargrove 134, 135). Middle East: One of Carter's most famous foreign policy actions was the Camp David Accords. After personally meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, American President Jimmy Carter came to the conclusion that it was necessary to intervene to alleviate the conflict. The days from September 5, 1978 to September 17, 1978 were some of the most influential days of Jimmy Carter's presidency (Hargrove 243). Meeting at Camp David, in the forested hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, the two Middle Eastern powers toiled, fought, and eventually made peace with Carter's help. Jimmy Carter created the possibility of peace between Israel and Egypt. Following Carter's intervention, March 24, 1979 marked the day the world watched Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter reunite on the.