Principle or Power? Jimmy Carter's Ambivalent Endorsement of the European Monetary System, 1977-1979

During his term in office, US President Jimmy Carter made several symbolic gestures to show his support to European integration. In particular, in December 1978 he warmly endorsed the European Monetary System. This seemed coherent with Carter's focus on multilateralism and, more precisely, on the 'trilateral' partnership between the US, Western Europe and Japan. Declassified documents show, however, that such endorsement only came after careful observation of the characteristics of the EMS and after discrete diplomatic pressures on the Europeans to ensure that the EMS would not impinge on the global role of the US dollar.