ABSTRACT
A simplistic analogy drawn from the experience of Blacks and others who marched along with the movement in the South and applied to realities in the international environment—an analogy vigorously promoted by Carter’s close friend and ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young —produced one school of thought. According to this approach, the main features of the Carter policy were to be morality and deemphasis of the utility of force in international conduct. The Carter/Young analogy from earlier domestic American experiences to Middle East realities found expression in the equation of Palestinian Arabs with American blacks, seeking freedom from white exploitation. The annual dollar ceiling on new sales and military-construction contracts overseas exceeded previous record levels in each year of the Carter administration’s term of office. In contrast with Carter’s own value system and the preaching of the American Civil Rights Movement, in Arab-Israeli context the use of force by the “oppressed” was accepted as a legitimate expression of frustration.
