BONUS: A biography and a memoir reexamine Jimmy Carter's extraordinary life

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day: BONUS Episode Summary

Title: BONUS: A Biography and a Memoir Reexamine Jimmy Carter's Extraordinary Life
Host: Andrew Limbaugh
Release Date: December 30, 2024

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Introduction

In this special bonus episode of NPR's Book of the Day, host Andrew Limbaugh delves into the multifaceted legacy of the late former President Jimmy Carter. Highlighting Carter's extensive contributions both during and after his presidency, the episode utilizes insights from historian Kai Bird and excerpts from Carter's memoir, A Full Life, to present a comprehensive reevaluation of his impact on American politics and society.

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Re-examining Carter's Presidency: Insights from Kai Bird and Steve Inskeep

The episode features a compelling discussion between NPR's Steve Inskeep and historian Kai Bird, author of Jimmy Carter: The Outlier. Bird challenges the prevailing notion that Carter's one-term presidency was largely unsuccessful, arguing instead that Carter achieved significant accomplishments during his tenure.

Key Accomplishments Highlighted:

• Deregulation Efforts:

  • Airlines: "He deregulated airlines which allowed middle-class Americans to travel instead of driving long distances" (02:24).
  • Alcohol Industry: Inskeep notes, "He deregulated the alcohol industry, giving us the opportunity to drink boutique beers in every American city instead of just Budweiser" (02:24).
  • Natural Gas and Trucking: Further deregulation under Carter facilitated broader economic freedoms and consumer choices.

• Social Legislation and Diversity:

  • "He passed a lot of social legislation. He appointed more African Americans and women to the federal judiciary than all his predecessors put together" (02:48).

• Foreign Policy Achievements:

  • "He passed the Panama Canal Treaty against strong opposition. He negotiated a SALT II arms treaty. He normalized relations with China, passed immigration reform. He made human rights the centerpiece of US foreign policy" (03:10).

Notable Quotes:

• Steve Inskeep: "I would argue he was the hardest working president we had in the 20th century, probably the most intelligent and well-read and without a doubt the most decent" (02:22).
• Kai Bird: Upon discussing Carter's portrayal, "He is portrayed as a big government liberal. That's how Ronald Reagan, who defeated him for the presidency, described him" (03:44).

Analysis: Bird emphasizes Carter's complexity, noting his blend of social liberalism and fiscal conservatism, which made him an "outlier" in the political landscape. This nuanced view sheds light on why Carter's presidency is often misunderstood or undervalued.

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Insights from Jimmy Carter's Memoir: A Full Life

The episode transitions to a segment featuring former President Jimmy Carter himself, discussing his memoir, A Full Life, in an interview with NPR's Eric Westervelt. At 90 years old, Carter reflects on his early life, presidency, and ongoing efforts in human rights and democracy.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Early Life and Race Relations:

  • Carter recounts his childhood in Archery, Georgia, highlighting deep friendships with African American neighbors despite the segregated schools and churches.
    • Carter: "I really enjoyed the feeling of being in a deep and penetrating and harmonious community with my African American friends" (10:22).

• Presidency and Public Policies:

  • He defends his administration's decisions to expand food stamps and veto expensive military projects, prioritizing the "larger public interest."
    • Carter: "He was willing to alienate a lot of people if he thought what he was doing was in the public good" (05:58).

• Political Challenges:

  • Discussing the infamous "Malaise" speech, Carter explains his intention to address America's overreliance on materialism and the challenges posed by the energy crisis and inflation.
    • Carter: "It was a really extraordinary sermon, but he was trying to warn us Americans about the environment, about the limits of our view of ourselves as a nation" (06:48).

• Views on Modern Politics:

  • Critiques the influence of money in politics, particularly following the Citizens United decision, which he terms "legal bribery" that undermines democratic integrity.
    • Carter: "The Supreme Court's ruling on Citizen United is one of the stupid and most counterproductive decisions that the Supreme Court of the United States has ever made" (12:38).

• Advice to Future Leaders:

  • Offering wisdom to President Obama, Carter emphasizes leveraging one's talents and experiences for the greater good, especially in fostering international understanding.
    • Carter: "Use the talent and ability you already have that got you in the White House and the experience and knowledge... to the utmost beneficial use of other people" (14:04).

Notable Quotes:

• Carter on Segregation: "When I was at home, I really enjoyed the feeling of being in a deep and penetrating and harmonious community with my African American friends" (10:22).
• Carter on Campaign Finance: "It's completely distorted the democratic purity or legitimacy of our elections in the United States" (13:12).

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Conclusion

This bonus episode of NPR's Book of the Day offers a profound exploration of Jimmy Carter's enduring legacy. Through the scholarly perspectives of Kai Bird and firsthand reflections from Carter himself, listeners gain a deeper appreciation of his presidency's achievements and the principled stands he took both in office and beyond. The episode serves as a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of Carter's contributions to American society and global human rights.

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Key Takeaways:

• Reevaluation of Carter's Presidency: Challenging the conventional view, Carter's administration made significant strides in deregulation, social legislation, and foreign policy.
• Carter's Personal Reflections: His memoir provides intimate insights into his upbringing, racial dynamics, and the motivations behind his political decisions.
• Enduring Impact: Carter's post-presidential work underscores his commitment to human rights and democracy, setting a standard for future leaders.

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For those interested in a nuanced understanding of Jimmy Carter's life and presidency, this episode is a must-listen, offering both historical analysis and personal anecdotes that illuminate his remarkable journey.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbaugh]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Former President Jimmy Carter has died. He had a long life, and he leaves behind a really interesting and complex legacy in both what he accomplished and how we think about him today. Carter wrote a book that came out in 2015 that looked back on his early life and his political career. But before we hear from the man himself, I want to play this interview that takes a bird's eye view of his presidency. It's from 2021, and it's between NPR, Steve Inskeep and historian Kai Bird, who wrote a book called Jimmy Carter the Outlier. And in it he argues that contrary to popular opinion, Carter actually got a lot accomplished in the short time he was in office. Here it is after the break.

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[Kai Bird]

Would like you to reconsider his presidency.

[Steve Inskeep]

People sort of make a joke of the fact that Jimmy Carter is the only president to have used the Oval Office as a stepping stone to doing greater things.

[Kai Bird]

Kai Bird knows Carter is considered the greatest post president. Since leaving office, Carter has observed elections, spoken for human rights, hammered nails to build houses for Habitat for Humanity, and taught Sunday school far into his 90s. The conventional wisdom calls Carter's actual presidency a failure. The man from Plains, Georgia, served a single term, elected in 1976, defeated in 1980. Byrd's book the Outlier insists on a closer look at those four years.

[Steve Inskeep]

I would argue he was the hardest working president we had in the 20th century, probably the most intelligent and well read and without a doubt the most decent. It's forgotten, but he actually got a lot done during his four years in office.

[Kai Bird]

What are some of the things that he got done?

[Steve Inskeep]

Well, you think about seat belts and airbags that happened during his presidency. He deregulated the alcohol industry, giving us the opportunity to drink boutique beers in every American city instead of just Budweiser.

[Kai Bird]

Deregulated the airlines.

[Steve Inskeep]

He deregulated airlines which allowed middle class Americans to travel instead of driving long.

[Kai Bird]

Distances because the regulated airlines were More limited flights for higher prices. They were out of the range of a lot of people.

[Steve Inskeep]

Exactly. He deregulated natural gas. He deregulated the trucking industry. He passed a lot of social legislation. He appointed more African Americans and women to the federal judiciary than all his predecessors put together. His presidency was very consequential. And then on the foreign policy field, it's an incredible record. He passed the Panama Canal Treaty against strong opposition. He negotiated a SALT II arms treaty. He normalized relations with China, passed immigration reform. He made human rights the centerpiece of US foreign policy. And none of this has been walked back. You know, it's a very clean record.

[Kai Bird]

He is portrayed as a big government liberal. That's how Ronald Reagan, who defeated him for the presidency, described him. But you've just been talking about deregulation, about shrinking the role of government in many instances. In what way was he a liberal and in what way was he. Maybe not at all.

[Steve Inskeep]

Well, this is what attracted me to writing about his life and presidency. He's very complicated. You know, he was a social liberal. He was a white southern man who was the first southerner elected to the presidency in 140 years. But he was an anomaly. That's why I call the book the Outlier. He came from the deepest part of segregated South Georgia and yet he was a liberal on race, but he was a fiscal conservative on the federal budget and on spending.

[Kai Bird]

When people said he was a big government liberal, did they actually just mean that they disagreed with his views on race? Because he was appointing black people to the judiciary? Because he was giving back the Panama Canal, because he was worried about the US image in formerly colonized places? Was that really what it was all about?

[Steve Inskeep]

Well, in the end, I argue that was essentially why he was defeated in 1980. He was only a one term president and he won in 1976 with the votes of white Southerners and evangelical voters and the Jewish vote and the union vote. And in 1980, just four years later, he lost the evangelicals largely because he insisted on a separation of church and state and refused to allow white academies in the south to have tax exempt status.

[Kai Bird]

Oh, these are schools that were started after the time of segregation so that white parents could continue to keep their kids away from black students.

[Steve Inskeep]

Exactly. And Carter disapproved of that.

[Kai Bird]

When you talk about the number of people who were formerly supportive of him, who he was willing to upset, you say he was willing to upset labor unions, he's willing to upset white evangelicals. He was willing to upset a lot of Progressives. When he did those things, who was he for? Who did he think he was acting for?

[Steve Inskeep]

He thought he was acting in the larger public interest. To him, that meant lower middle class, poor people. For instance, he was willing to expand food stamps, adding 2 or 3 million to the rolls of food stamps that benefited largely African Americans in the South. He canceled, vetoed the B1 bomber because he realized it was just too damn expensive and unnecessary. But this alienated a lot of liberal congressmen where the B1 bomber would have been built in their districts. You know, Carter was willing to alienate a lot of people if he thought what he was doing was in the public good.

[Kai Bird]

Was this part of his political problem also, that Americans didn't want to hear, that there were problems with America that needed to be fixed?

[Steve Inskeep]

Oh, that was very much an issue. Recall his famous Malaise speech in July of 1979. He never actually used the word malaise, but it was an extraordinary speech given after 10 days of retreat in Camp David where he sat down and listened to a lot of criticism of his administration and came out with a speech that talked about the limits of American exceptionalism, the limits of finding happiness through material goods. It was a really extraordinary sermon, but he was trying to warn us Americans about the environment, about the limits of our view of ourselves as a nation that could be a shining light on the Hill. To others, he wanted to tell the American people that we have to be aware that we cannot seek happiness simply in material goods.

[Kai Bird]

I have a question about that. Did he give the wrong speech that hurt him or just lose the argument over what it meant? Because you pointed out at the beginning, he never even used the word that is used to describe the speech, malaise.

[Steve Inskeep]

Well, actually, when he gave the speech, it was most Americans were stunned and they could respond to what he was saying. They knew that there was some truth in this. But this came, you know, in the wake of long gas lines all summer long and an energy crisis and inflation rates of 13, 14%. And, you know, there was a lot of people were kind of tired of the late 70s.

[Kai Bird]

Kai Bird author of the Outlier the.

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[Andrew Limbaugh]

Former President Jimmy Carter was 90 when he wrote his book A Full Life. He spoke to NPR's Eric Westervelt back in 2015 when it came out. And it even though that doesn't seem like that long ago, there's still a couple exchanges in here that make it feel like a complete time capsule when you consider how much presidential politics has changed since.

[Eric Westervelt]

In just over 18 months, President Barack Obama will join the ranks of ex presidents. He'll be 55 when he leaves office and among the youngest to become former presidents, alongside Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. President Carter remains a model a of what an active, productive life can look like after leaving the White House. And the 39th president of the United States joins us now from the Carter center in Atlanta. His new memoir is A full reflections at 90. President Carter, thank you for joining us.

[Jimmy Carter]

It's a pleasure to be with you and all your listeners around the world.

[Eric Westervelt]

In a Full Life, you write that growing up in Archery in southwest Georgia since The Jim Crow, 1920s and 30s, almost all of your playmates and closest friends were African American neighbors and children of farmhands. You played and worked together, yet you also went to separate schools and separate churches as a boy. How did this separateness affect your friendships?

[Jimmy Carter]

Well, I didn't really think much about it because it was just a custom and everybody did it and nobody challenged it. So it was just life. And when I was at home, I really enjoyed the feeling of being in a deep and penetrating and harmonious community with my African American friends. And when I went to church or went to school, it was just going into a different and somewhat strange environment for me. I was always glad to get back to Archery and to resume my previous life, which I had always enjoyed with my basically black friends.

[Eric Westervelt]

That was a long time ago. What are your thoughts on race relations today?

[Jimmy Carter]

Well, a good portion of my book describes my relationship with other people around Plains, because when I went off to the Naval Academy and became a naval officer and stayed in the Navy for a good while and came home, my wife and I were more progressive on the race issue than most of the people around Plains. So I describe that a good bit in the book. After the Civil Rights movement, there was a kind of a breath of a sigh of relief in the south among many people, while the race issue is over and now we're going to be fully equal and the millstone will be removed from the neck of both white people and black people. But I would say that over A period of decades since then, since the Voting Rights act and so forth was passed. Both the Congress, the Supreme Court and the general public in America have kind of backed away from that commitment to going out of our way to make sure that everything is equal in a racial relationship. And I think the fact is that we've kind of let down our guard. And there's another kind of a resurrection of the indication that a lot of racial tendencies still exist in our country.

[Eric Westervelt]

In 1976, you and Gerald Ford ran what many consider respectful, positive, you know, no attack ad campaigns for the presidency. And both campaigns were financed only with public money. Today, of course, the campaigns combined will spend several billion dollars and with special interest in corporate super PAC spending, additional billions. In your book, you call it legal bribery. What's your view of the impact of this money arms race on American democracy?

[Jimmy Carter]

Well, nowadays people don't not several million dollars, but several hundred million dollars. And the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizen United is one of the stupid and most counterproductive decisions that the Supreme Court of the United States has ever made. And I think it is basically taken away a lot of the democratic ideals of elections in the United States that we've enjoyed down through the previous generations. So I think it's completely distorted the democratic purity or legitimacy of our elections in the United States.

[Eric Westervelt]

Legitimacy, that's strong words.

[Jimmy Carter]

Well, it's true and it's legal bribery, as I said, because the rich people, when they give a candidate $100,000 or whatever through various devious means, they expect something in return. And they also influence through those major campaign contributions, the outcome of elections that shapes the tax rates and gives special benefits to the major corporations and heavy contributors in a campaign.

[Eric Westervelt]

You left the White House when you were 56 years old, one of the youngest ex presidents ever. And you've had a lot of second and third acts, including your work on human rights and voting rights with the Carter Center. President Obama will be 55 when he leaves office. If you had one piece of wisdom to impart to President Obama for life after the White House, what would it be?

[Jimmy Carter]

Well, just use the talent and ability you already have that got you in the White House and the experience and knowledge of our country and the world that you've gained in the White House to the utmost beneficial use of other people. And I think since he's African American background and race, I think that his influence in very poor countries where people have different color skin would be quite invaluable. And whatever he does, I'll respect it.

[Eric Westervelt]

Nobel Peace Prize winner President Jimmy Carter. His new book is A full reflections at 90. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

[Jimmy Carter]

I've enjoyed being with you. Thank you very much.

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