Description
White House letter from President Jimmy Carter to Senator Howard H. Baker Jr., framed and matted, with signed photograph of President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
Measures 24″ x 16″. Cherry wood frame, archival museum glass, double matte, green over maroon. Spot of rubbing to right side of frame. Color photograph of President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter leaving Marine One, signed by both. The White House letter is dated March 10th, 1980. It is thanking Senate Minority Leader, Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee, for his support for a bipartisan economic summit to combat inflation. An attractive piece.
President Carter struggled to combat inflation during his 4-year presidency. With the energy crisis of 1979, fuel prices rose dramatically and so did inflation. Inflation rates hit 13.5% in 1980, the highest level in decades. In this letter to Senate Minority Leader Baker, a Republican, President Carter notes that inflation “transcends partisan political considerations.” Soon after this letter, Carter would announce that the economy had slipped into recession. With 1980 being an election year and the economy in recession, the reelection hopes of President Carter were dashed. Ronald Reagan would inherit the economic issues of the late 1970s.
