THE LOW POINT OF JIMMY CARTER’S AWFUL PRESIDENCY. Forty-five years ago, on July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave what came to be known as his “malaise” speech. More than halfway through his term as president, things were going terribly. Inflation was already high, 6.3%, when Carter took office. By the time of the malaise speech, it had risen to 9.6%. A year later, in June 1980, it hit 13.6%. As National Review’s Philip Klein pointed out, “To maintain the buying power that $100 had on the month Carter was sworn into office, you’d need $150 by the time he left the White House just four years later.” Gas prices skyrocketed amid shortages and long lines. “Gas stations flew a stoplight-themed array of flags to alert drivers about their fuel supplies,” the Washington Post noted. “Red meant they were all out, yellow meant running low, and green signaled they were stocked.”

The standard of living headed steadily downward. And that is not to mention the disastrous international consequences of Carter’s presidency — the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the humiliating Iranian hostage ordeal, and the even more humiliating failed American hostage rescue attempt. Through it all, Carter projected the image, and the reality, of a man who was simply not up to the job.