When Carter left office in 1981, scholars and even many Democrats viewed his presidency as a failure.[562][563][564][565] Betty Glad, a political scientist at the University of Illinois, summarized the public consensus on Carter: "he didn't have a well-developed political philosophy and gave people a feeling he didn't quite know where he was headed."[566]
Historians have ranked Carter's presidency as below average.[567][568] After leaving office, he told allies he predicted history would be kinder to him than voters were in the 1980 election.[566] In a 1982 Chicago Tribune survey, when 49 historians and scholars were asked to rank the best and worst U.S. presidents, Carter was ranked the tenth worst.[569] In 2006, conservative British historian Andrew Roberts ranked Carter the worst U.S. president.[570] Yet some of Carter's policy accomplishments have been more favorably received.[571] The 2009 documentary Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace credits Carter's efforts at Camp David, which brought peace between Israel and Egypt, with bringing the only meaningful peace to the Middle East.[572][573] Stuart E. Eizenstat, who served as Carter's chief White House domestic policy adviser, wrote, "Carter's accomplishments at home and abroad were more extensive and longer lasting than those of almost all modern presidents."[574]
While historians generally consider Carter a below-average president, his post-presidency activities have been universally praised, including his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts.[567][568] The Independent wrote in 2009, "Carter is widely considered a better man than he was a president."[575]
