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nevertheless won the election and became the 39th President of the United States.

Symbolizing his commitment to a new kind of leadership, after his inaugural address, Carter got out of his limousine to walk to the White House amongst his supporters. Carter’s main domestic priority involved energy policy. With oil prices rising, and in the aftermath of the 1973 oil embargo, Carter believed it was absolutely necessary to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. Carter received major criticism throughout his term for rising gas prices due to his war on foreign oil dependency. Carter’s foreign policy centered around a promise to make human rights a central concern in the United States’ relations with other countries. But Carter’s most notable foreign policy achievement was his successful mediation of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, leading to a historic peace treaty in which Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and the two sides officially recognized each other’s governments.

Carter’s approval rating began to decline in his final year as president coinciding with the Iranian Hostage Crisis. In November 1979, radical Iranian students seized the United States Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage. Carter’s failure to negotiate the hostages’ release, followed by a badly botched rescue mission may have cost him a second term. The hostages were held for 444 days before finally being released on the day Carter left office.