Final answer:
President Carter changed U.S. foreign policy by promoting human rights, which led to improved relations with China, the SALT II with the Soviet Union, and the groundbreaking Camp David Accords.
Step-by-step explanation:
President Carter significantly altered U.S. foreign policy by promoting human rights and common decency. This marked a distinctive shift from his predecessors' strategies that were often more focused on pragmatic considerations during the Cold War. Carter's human rights-centered approach led to several notable foreign policy actions, including improving relations with China, ending military support to Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, returning control of the Panama Canal to Panama, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II (SALT II) with the Soviet Union, and facilitating the Camp David Accords which led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.