- Gas prices were reaching new highs in the 1970s due to OPEC raising oil prices and implementing production cuts, leading to gas rationing in some states. This contributed to economic "stagflation", where inflation and unemployment both increased. - President Carter focused on the energy crisis and conservation but was unsuccessful. He initiated the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt but most Arab nations opposed it. Iranian revolutionaries took 52 American hostages in 1979 which Carter failed to gain the release of.