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The Life and Legacy of Jimmy Carter
00:40:55
In 1976, after the Watergate scandal and the country’s withdrawal from the Vietnam War, American voters elected Jimmy Carter, a Washington outsider who had served one term as governor of Georgia, to the presidency. Mr. Carter brought a new humility to the Oval Office but, by 1980, many Americans had tired of his modest sensibility and chose not to re-elect him. As it would turn out, the qualities that hurt Mr. Carter in the White House formed the foundation of a post-presidential period that helped redefine, and redeem, his legacy in the final decades of his life. Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, explains the life, death and legacy of former President Jimmy Carter.
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- [00:00]
T. Rowe Price
Build the retirement you want with actionable insights from T. Rowe Price on the award winning Confident Conversations on Retirement podcast. T. Rowe Price uses the power of curiosity to explore topics like how the psychology of money influences financial behaviors, how to maximize savings through retirement, and the unretirement trend. Get insights to help confidently navigate your retirement planning journey. Better questions, better insights. Listen to confident conversations on retirement on your favorite podcast platform or visit t rowprice.com podcast from the New York Times.
- [00:36]
Michael Balbaro
I'm Michael Balboro. This is the Daily Today, the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 99, has become synonymous with failure. But as my colleague Peter Baker explains, the very qualities that hurt Carter as president were the foundation of a post presidency that both redeemed and rewrote his Legacy. It's Monday, December 30th. Peter, you are a White House reporter who has covered the last five presidents. You're also a historian of the presidency itself. And in those roles, I'm curious how you've been thinking about the life and now the death of Jimmy Carter.
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Peter Baker
Yeah, it's really interesting, Michael, because, you know, I've spent the last few years writing Jimmy Carter's obituary and I know that sounds a little weird, but that's something we do at the newspaper, right, to be prepared for these big moments and researching and reflecting on his legacy. I've concluded that it's really hard to imagine anybody like Jimmy Carter ever being elected president again. I mean, he was a very unusual man and it was a very unusual presidency.
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Michael Balbaro
We'll talk about that. This unusual man and his unusual presidency. And what in your mind is the first chapter of that story that we should understand, right?
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Peter Baker
Well, first of all, we should know that Jimmy Carter, it's the American story in the sense of our mythology, how we believe in ourselves. He comes from very humble beginnings in rural Georgia, you know, was a peanut farmer. He wore blue jeans and had dirty fingernails. You know, his childhood home had no running water or electricity. And he was openly religious. He talked about the Bible a lot. He liked to quote verses from me. By the time he was running for president of the United States, he'd basically been a one term governor with no connections to Washington. And that meant that he was running a campaign as an outsider.
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Narrator
I see an America poised not only at the beginning of a new century now.
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Peter Baker
I mean, today that's kind of a cliche, right? A lot of people run for president these days as an outsider, but he really was an outsider in every possible sense of that word. It defined his identity and it defined his campaign, and ultimately it would define his presidency.
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Narrator
I see an America that has turned away from scandals and corruption. I see an American president who governs with vigor and with vision and affirmative leadership.
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Peter Baker
And he was the man that was right for that moment. It felt like because the country was hungry for an outsider.
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Narrator
This is my vision of America. I hope you share it.
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Peter Baker
You know, in 1976, when he was running for president, you know, America had been through these multiple traumas. The war in Vietnam, which killed roughly 50,000American troops and divided the nation, and the angry and often violent reactions to the civil rights movement. And you had Watergates, the scandal that forced a president to resign for the first time. You know, things that had really sort of tore apart our society in a lot of ways as we struggle with who we were and what we wanted to be. And so Carter shows up at this particular moment as kind of a, theoretically, at least an antidote to some of that. And he tells the country, I'll never tell a lie.
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Narrator
I'll never make a misleading statement.
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Peter Baker
I will never lie to you at a moment when that really matters. And unlike a lot of politicians, people really thought he may have meant it.
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Michael Balbaro
He might have actually been telling the truth about telling the truth.
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Peter Baker
He might have actually been telling the truth. Now, it's really hard for a politician to not lie ever. But he was committed to that.
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Narrator
ABC News presents political spirit of 76, and that does it. ABC now projects Carter is the winner.
- [04:47]
Peter Baker
With 272 electoral votes, and he wins the election. By our projection, James Earl Carter, the.
- [04:55]
T. Rowe Price
Next President of the United States.
- [04:57]
Peter Baker
He beats an incumbent president, Gerald Ford, who was Nixon's former vice president and in many ways, the final shadow of the Watergate era. And pretty much from the get go, Carter begins redefining the presidency as an institution. You know, he banned the playing of Hail the Chief when he walked in the room. He sold the presidential yacht called the Sequoia. He carried his own bags onto Air Force One when he traveled.
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Narrator
Good evening. Tomorrow will be two weeks since I became president.
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Peter Baker
He gave these fireside chats once, most famously, of course, in a Cargan sweater, very casual looking from the White House, something we were not used to in a president.
- [05:37]
Narrator
I'll report to you from time to time about our government, both our problems and our achievements.
- [05:44]
Peter Baker
He was really trying to be something different than we had seen in the White House before.
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Michael Balbaro
Right? A kind of president who in some ways is unpresidential, like a president who, despite holding the most powerful office in the country is constantly projecting humility.
- [06:00]
Peter Baker
Exactly. And in the process, demystifying, in a way, the presidency. But in some ways, that doesn't go over well. You know, he brings his Georgian style to Washington, but he also brings this small coterie of Georgia advisors to Washington who didn't know the place very well, didn't know Congress, didn't know how it worked, didn't know national politics, and didn't seem to want to adjust to it. Certainly he didn't. And so even though Carter has this really powerfully strong Democratic majority in Congress, he ends up misplaying his relationship with them from the get go.
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Michael Balbaro
How so?
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Peter Baker
Well, one of the very first things he does is he attacks a ritual that lawmakers really love. Bipartisan, by the way, local water projects. These are pork barrel spending things that allow them to go home to their constituents and say, I built this and I built that. And he basically tried to pull the plug on them, and he just refused to curry favor with lawmakers. He didn't schmooze or dine with them. He wasn't like an LBJ or a fdr. He just didn't. It wasn't his style of governance. One time, the speaker of the house, Tip O'Neill, shows up at the White House for a breakfast with the congressional leadership with Carter, and all there are are pastries, and he's mad that there's not a hot breakfast, small as that is. He feels like he's disrespected. And that's the kind of thing Carter disdains. He disdains that sort of what he thinks is kind of a pomposity of Washington. Why should I have to serve you a hot breakfast? Because you're so full of it. And instead of adjusting right, another politician would simply adjust. Serve him some breakfast, serve him some egg. He stands on principle. And what we learn about Carter here is he's actually very stubborn, really stubborn as a Georgia mule, if you will. And he's very certain of his own rectitude as the guy who's the outsider. He has the mandate, he believes, to shake up Washington. And that's all well and good, but it means he's not playing the game. And the game players don't want to help him get his agenda through. And there's a cost to that stubbornness.
- [08:03]
Michael Balbaro
Hmm.
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Peter Baker
And the problems began to mount. And there were the problems of his own creation and the problems that were not of his own creation.
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Narrator
Opec, the organization of oil producing countries, which has thrown the industrial world into grave turmoil.
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Peter Baker
Inflation starts rising because of an oil crisis in the Middle East.
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Narrator
The prices in many San Diego stations.
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Peter Baker
Have gone up 12 cents a gallon since last summer. Gas prices skyrocket.
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Narrator
This gas line at one station on the Upper west side ran from 96th street and West End Avenue all the way up to 102nd Street.
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Peter Baker
Shortages mean that you can't fill your tank on any given day. Lines stretch out around the block at gas stations. Nightmarish scenes on the evening news. Isn't this disgusting? Why doesn't anybody contact the president?
- [08:51]
T. Rowe Price
Why is he letting this happen to us?
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Peter Baker
And Carter responds by giving a series of energy speeches.
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Narrator
All of us must learn to waste.
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Peter Baker
Less energy, basically telling people how they can conserve energy.
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Narrator
We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources.
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Peter Baker
Small sacrifices they can make.
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Narrator
If we learn to live thriftily and remember the importance of helping our neighbors, then we can find ways to adjust.
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Peter Baker
Ways they can be more responsible.
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Narrator
Mr. President, recent polls show that job rating is dropping and continues to drop.
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Peter Baker
And people are just not hearing it. His approval ratings are tanking, so he knows his presidency isn't going smoothly. And he's talking about giving another energy speech. And everybody says, not another energy speech. Even Rosalind, his wife, says, nobody wants to hear you give another energy speech. They just want to know that you're going to fix the problem. And it really causes him to think through what's going on here. And his advisor, Pat Cadell, says, you need to talk about where the country is. The country is having a crisis of confidence. And Carter takes that to heart. He goes up to Camp David and he basically retreats from the world for about 10 days, just. He won't come back out of Camp David while he's thinking through what he wants to do, what he wants to say to the country. And he brings dozens of people in and out of this mountain retreat through the course of more than a week. Jesse Jackson shows up. Bill Clinton shows up. He was the governor of Arkansas at the time to give them their ideas of what they think is going on in the country. And there's Jimmy Carter in the lodge at Camp Davis, sitting on the floor, taking notes as people are, you know, giving him their ideas. And he's. He's crafting this speech he wants to give to the country. He's crafting this address. He wants to connect to the country and address their shared issues. And so he comes down off the mountain at last, and he tells his staff, I'm ready to speak to the country. I think it's time. And they arranged with the networks to have him get an address from the Oval Office. He puts on the suit and he sits at the desk, the Resolute desk, in the summer of 1979. And for 30 minutes he tells the country what he thinks is going wrong.
- [11:13]
Narrator
It's clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper. Deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation or recession.
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Peter Baker
And he delivers this very risky speech, the kind of speech you never hear from a president. It's a president who in a very bracing and blunt way, is telling the country to get his act together.
- [11:40]
Narrator
It is a crisis of compromise. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national world.
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Peter Baker
He's diagnosing a larger problem with the American public, not just politics.
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Narrator
Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.
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Peter Baker
He talks about the notion that we worship self indulgence and consumption. This is a very much of a preacher's speech in some ways, rather than a president's speech. And these wounds he's talking about are very deep. And he's also talking about himself in a way that presidents generally don't do.
- [12:31]
Narrator
First of all, I got a lot of personal advice. Let me quote a few of the.
- [12:37]
Peter Baker
Typical comments that I wrote down, very self critical. He quotes some of the people who come through Camp David telling him how he's getting it wrong, how he's not doing it right. And it's this remarkable self critique that. That I think in some ways really actually resonates at first with the audience. That they've never heard a president open up like this and admit that he isn't leading to his own satisfaction, that he's willing to accept that his presidency is not going the way he wants it to be.
- [13:19]
Narrator
Working together with our common faith, we cannot fail.
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Peter Baker
Thank you and good night. Imagine a modern president doing that today.
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Michael Balbaro
Right. I really can't. I mean. But it very much seems to reflect that campaign promise, Peter, that Jimmy Carter would never lie to the American people. In some ways, this is a rather extraordinary dose of truth.
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Peter Baker
It is exactly right. He is the truth teller in this instance. In his view, he is being very honest with the American public about how he sees the problems of the country. And it goes over well at first because it is so unusual, because it is so refreshing in its own way. It was sort of celebrated for its candor. And, you know, at first people think he has actually broken through, but then he does something to undermine the whole purpose of it, which is what he Fires his whole cabinet.
- [14:25]
Michael Balbaro
He fires his whole cabinet?
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Peter Baker
Yeah. He asks for all of the resignations. All of them. He ends up keeping most of them. But he ends up using it as a way of cleaning out a few of them. And it, it sends a statement that he may not have intended to the country. It may have been meant as a cleansing idea, a fresh start, but it actually caused a lot of Americans to doubt his judgment. They don't think he knows what he's doing. And even his own vice president, Walter Mondale was so upset about this that he started contempl whether he was gonna stay on the ticket or maybe even resign as vice president. He thought this was such a ham handed, badly handled move. It was amateurish in his mind.
- [15:03]
Michael Balbaro
So this reset that Jimmy Carter has attempted to undertake with those meetings at Camp David, with this speech, with this theoretical cleansing of his cabinet, it is all very much seeming to backfire.
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Peter Baker
Yes. And after all that drama, that self critical speech that he delivered that so many people originally connected with suddenly looked different through a different lens. People started to see the speech as a sign of weakness and it becomes known as the malaise speech. Even though he never even uses the word malaise in it. But it's a marker at this point for his presidency. For years to come, people would remember that speech as an example of somebody who couldn't lead.
- [15:48]
Michael Balbaro
Right. And the reason it's called the malaise speech is not just because it was about American malaise, because it seemed to embody Jimmy Carter's malaise as president. Right?
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Peter Baker
Right. He had alienated his own party. And when it came to the domestic side of his presidency, he was being seen as a disappointment. But what was making him unsuccessful at home? His outsiderness, his stubbornness, his image of himself as this unvarnished truth teller. All that helps in making a success in one particularly intractable problem overseas.
- [16:32]
Michael Balbaro
We'll be right back.
- [16:36]
T. Rowe Price
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- [17:08]
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- [18:14]
Michael Balbaro
All these domestic stumbles, tell us about this success that Carter has overseas.
- [18:21]
Peter Baker
So amid all these troubles at home, Carter decides he's going to try to do something that no president had ever done before, which is to resolve one of the biggest conflicts in the Middle east at that time between these two longtime enemies, Israel and Egypt. I mean, people may not remember this now, but Egypt was one of the strongest Arab nations at the time and like the rest of the region, hadn't even accepted Israel's right to exist since it had been established in 1940. And so they'd basically been at war for 30 years at this point, off and on, and it was the core instability of the region. So he wants to dive on in. He believes through this same stubbornness that he is uniquely qualified to bring them together.
- [19:02]
Narrator
Good evening. The scene is Camp David, the president's mountain retreat, 75 miles northwest of here. The participants.
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Peter Baker
So he invites Menachem Begin, the prime Minister of Israel, and Anwar El Sadat, the president of Egypt, to camp David in September 1978.
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Narrator
How long they'll stay in the mountains and what they'll say when they come down, nobody knows for what would become.
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Peter Baker
13 Days of Pretty remarkable negotiations. It's an insanely complex negotiation over land and politics and religion and history. And throughout these 13 days, it's Carter singularly holding the whole thing together. This crazy enterprise that seems like it's going to break down at any moment. He's almost literally physically throwing himself in the door to prevent this side or that side from throwing up their hands and leaving. At one point, you know, the the Egyptians pack their bags a single they were done with these talks, and it's Carter who has to talk them out of leaving. At another point, he brings photographs of himself to sign for each of Begin's eight grandchildren, which reminds the two of them at that moment what they're doing this for. For the next generation. Carter, he's appealing to anything he can think of to get these two enemies to come together and make peace.
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Narrator
When we first arrived at Camp David, the first thing upon which we agreed was to pray that our negotiations would be successful. Those prayers have been answered far beyond expectations.
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Peter Baker
And it works. They actually reach a deal.
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Narrator
One of the most extraordinary moments in the history of diplomacy. Israel and Egypt have agreed to two documents taking a giant step toward achieving peace in their troubled corner of the world.
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Peter Baker
And later it's immortalized in this photo. It's. It's one of the most famous photos of his presidency, probably of him standing between these two leaders, Begin and Sadat, at a ceremony on the lawn of the White House. And the three of them are holding hands together and they have these big grins on their faces. And it feels like such an invigorating, inspiring moment.
- [21:16]
Narrator
The Camp David Conference should be renamed. It was the Jimmy Carter Conference.
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Peter Baker
And everybody agrees that had it not been for him, it never would have happened. And here we see Carter's stubbornness paying off. He was single minded in his pursuit. He was the only one there at Camp David who thought he could pull it off.
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Narrator
President Carter, for long days and nights, you devoted your time and energy to the pursuit of peace.
- [21:48]
Peter Baker
Sadat later called him the unknown soldier of the peacemaking effort. And Begin agreed. He says that Carter would be, quote, remembered and recorded by generations to come.
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Narrator
As far as my historic experience is concerned, I think that he worked harder than our forefathers did in Egypt building the pyramids.
- [22:13]
Peter Baker
And it is, in fact, this singular accomplishment that is probably the one most lasting, enduring and triumphal moment of the Carter presidency.
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Michael Balbaro
But of course, there's another moment, a final chapter of this presidency that's just as defining as the Camp David Accords and that is remembered for generations to come. So tell us about that.
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Peter Baker
Yeah, just as defining, but not at all triumphant. In fact, this really is the moment that leads to the end of Carter's presidency. And that's the Iran Hostage Crisis.
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Narrator
Good evening. A tearful Shah of Iran left his country today on a vacation from which he may Never return.
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Peter Baker
In 1979, in Iran, Muslim clerics lead a revolution that overthrows the leader of the secular government there. That's the Shah of Iran. Who'd been a close ally of the United States. And after the Shah was overthrown and left the country, he became sick and needed medical care and as a US ally, wanted to come to the United States for help. There was a ton of pressure on Carter to let him in. When you had people like Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller, they're all pushing Carter, let him in, let him in as the right thing to do for an ally. But Carter knew how risky this was and maybe in a way almost nobody else did. He told his aides that he feared it would lead to violence against American diplomats in Iran.
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Michael Balbaro
And why did he fear that?
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Peter Baker
Well, he had seen what had happened in an earlier stage of the uprising that had led to a short lived siege of the embassy in Tehran. It didn't last long and there were only a few casualties, but he saw the potential for violence there and he realized that the Shah came. The United States would be so offensive to this newly ascendant crowd in Tehran that it would put the embassy in danger. But given the pressure on him from the Shah's American allies from within and outside the government, Carter invites him to the US Anyway. And just like he predicted, several hundred.
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Narrator
Young people, mainly students at Tehran University, have taken over the embassy. We are not occupiers, they said. We have thrown out the occupiers.
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Peter Baker
Militants in Tehran storm the US Embassy and hold scores of US government workers there hostage, demanding that the Shah be returned to Iran to stand trial.
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Narrator
This morning, for the first time since the hostages were put under lock and key, one of the captives, blindfolded, was brought out into the open. Yankee go home, they cried. But they made no attempt to harm him.
- [24:41]
Peter Baker
Carter refused to send the Shah back to Iran and the militants refused to release these hostages. And it becomes this incredible standoff really of a generation, an enormous story heard around the world.
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Narrator
The special report that we planned to bring you tonight was about domestic politics. But we think the crisis in Iran is more urgent right now than the campaign here at home.
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Peter Baker
It's on round the clock TV coverage. Families of the employees are on television pleading for the release. Americans are tying yellow ribbons around trees in front of their houses. It's all consuming story for much of America.
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Narrator
222Nd day of captivity, the 285th day of captivity. The 377th day of captivity for American hostages in Iran.
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Peter Baker
Every night you had the anchors saying, day 138 of the hostage crisis, day 420 of the hostage crisis. And it really just consumed the country and it consumed Carter's presidency.
- [25:43]
Michael Balbaro
How does it consume Carter's presidency?
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Peter Baker
Well, you know, he had the choice of putting this to the side or at least making it one issue of many, but instead he chose to cancel speeches out of town, to cancel campaign events. He made this the number one priority of his presidency. And these same qualities we're talking about, this sort of stubborn, single minded determination that we saw at Camp David that worked well for him there, really kind of works against him because he wants to solve this problem and he's gonna do nothing but focus on it, no matter what else is happening, basically. And that becomes, in effect, the sine qua non test of his presidency. If he can solve this, then he's successful. If he can't solve it, it means he's not. And he inadvertently creates the metric by which he's gonna be judged.
- [26:28]
Michael Balbaro
What is your understanding of why President Carter would make this hostage crisis, which of course looks terrible for any president. It's a hostage crisis. Why does he decide to make it so central to his presidency in this moment? Why not basically put it in the background?
- [26:45]
Peter Baker
He took it very personally. He felt responsible for these diplomats who in fact work for him. Right. He's the President of the United States and they were there in trouble in some ways because of a decision he made to let the Shah in. So he took it very personally. And it's a little like the Malay speech in the sense that he can't help himself but to communicate that to the public. Right. He's communicating what he thinks and feels in a way that most presidents might not, might try to focus on other things so as not to elevate this particular crisis among the many he had to deal with. But that wasn't Carter's way. He always wants to be, you know, transparent with the country about what he's thinking, what he's feeling.
- [27:22]
Michael Balbaro
Right. He wears his worry in a very big public way.
- [27:26]
Peter Baker
He wears his worry in a very big public way. It's a good way to put it. And therefore the country worries with him. And instead of being able to sort of judge it among the many different priorities that a president has, it becomes the singular focus of not just the president, but the country as a whole. And in effect, what he tries is what he did at Camp David, which is that if he simply puts enough determination into it, he feels he can solve the problem.
- [27:51]
Michael Balbaro
So what does Carter do to try to free these hostages and turn this test into a success?
- [27:56]
Peter Baker
He engages on this sort of marathon diplomatic negotiation through intermediaries, other countries, anything he can Find to try to, you know, obtain the release of these hostages. That goes nowhere. The Iranians are not willing to budge. They're not willing to make the deal that he wants them to make. And he finds himself frustrated time after time without any great success to show for it. And so five months into the crisis, he then finally turns to the military and he says, okay, it's your turn. And he sends in a mission meant to rescue the hostages from the embassy in the middle of a big, urban, big challenge, really hard idea.
- [28:42]
Narrator
Late yesterday, I canceled a carefully planned operation to position our rescue team for a later withdrawal of American hostages.
- [28:52]
Peter Baker
And that fails.
- [28:54]
Narrator
Equipment failure in the rescue helicopters made it necessary to end the mission. Eight of the crewmen of the two aircraft which collided were killed, and several other Americans were hurt in the accident.
- [29:07]
Peter Baker
They miscalculate the number of helicopters they need, number of American military personnel are killed. And instead of this dramatic rescue of Americans from Tehran, you have this enormous embarrassment on the international stage. A failed military rescue operation that leaves Carter in a worse position than he was even before.
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Narrator
We will seek to continue, continue, along with other nations and with the officials of Iran, a prompt resolution of the crisis without any loss of life and through peaceful and diplomatic means. Thank you very much.
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Michael Balbaro
Right. And because he is so fixated on this, and as a result, the media is so fixated on this, that failure becomes a kind of political disaster.
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Peter Baker
It's a complete political disaster. His secretary of state resigns, says he never thought that was a good idea in the first place. People question his effectiveness as a commander in chief. He looks weak, and people begin to lose faith in him. And so, you know, the crisis just continues to go on and on for day after day, week after week, month after month. 1979 drags into 1980. And while at first voters were kind of supportive of him because they were rallying around their president in a time of crisis. As the ordeal goes on and drags on and on, they lose faith in him. He loses support among the public.
- [30:33]
Michael Balbaro
And of course, unfortunately for Carter, he is up for reelection that same year, right?
- [30:39]
Peter Baker
He's facing a challenge in the primaries from Ted Kennedy. He beats him back. But then he has to face this charismatic former actor and governor of California, Ronald Reagan. And Reagan is attacking him for f. Failing to end this crisis, basically saying he will be the one to end it if he is elected president. And it just puts Carter on the defensive. He has a hard time arguing the case of his presidency when he feels so much under siege by the day to day diplomacy and this failed military operation. So he runs what is called a Rose Garden campaign, which is to say that he doesn't leave the White House that much to do the traditional stump speeches and rallies and so forth, because he feels that would be inappropriate with these American diplo facing life and death in Tehran. And he ends up losing by a wide margin. Reagan ends up winning a pretty substantial landslide. And then, of course, is going to take office in January of 1981. And I'll never forget that day, because on that day, the inauguration, Carter is trying up until the last minute to get these hostages out. And he thinks he finally has a deal. Around 6:30 in the morning, they tell him, yes, we've got a deal. The hostages are going to be released before noon, before you leave office. And he's excited. He calls Reagan to tell him, but Reagan is asleep, and the aides won't wake up the president elect to tell him. So he's frustrated by that. And he goes with Reagan later in the morning to the Capitol. And even then the apostas are still on the plane, but the plane hasn't been released yet. It hasn't been allowed to take off. He's watching his watch. He's waiting for the word. Nothing happens. And there is Reagan taking the oath of office and ending the CARTER Presidency.
- [32:20]
Narrator
Day one of Ronald Reagan's presidency and day one of freedom for 52Americans.
- [32:25]
Peter Baker
And only at that point, the new.
- [32:27]
Narrator
President had not been in office an hour when the former hostages became free.
- [32:31]
Peter Baker
Men and women again, did the Iranians finally let the plane take off. One last cruel indignity meant to torture Jimmy Carter, that he could not release them on his watch. They were released in the first minutes of the Reagan presidency, the last indignity for a humbled president.
- [32:47]
Michael Balbaro
Peter, it's almost as if the Iranians, having already contributed to Carter's reelection loss, want to further humiliate him even after that defeat.
- [32:58]
Peter Baker
Well, it definitely felt that way at the time, and Carter certainly felt that way, you know, that they were tormenting him, in effect, that they were adding insult to injury. Look, it's important to remember there were other factors going on in that election as well, and it's possible Carter would have lost anyway. I mean, there was kind of an exhaustion with him at this point. And Americans were struggling with inflation and unemployment and economic troubles. Reagan famously said in one of the debates, are you better off than you were four years ago? And a lot of Americans thought the answer was no. And Reagan was this more optimistic figure at a time when the country was looking for it. He was the anti malaise candidate in a way. Right. He talked about America as a shining city on a hill, and he didn't appear in a cardigan. He believed in the grandeur of the office. And so where Carter wanted to make the presidency smaller, more accessible, more approachable, less pomp and circumstance, Reagan was this Hollywood actor turned governor who wanted to bring back kind of black tie swagger to Washington and convince America that it was this exceptional place in the world, which is what a lot of Americans wanted to hear then.
- [34:06]
Michael Balbaro
It feels complicated though, right, Peter? Because as you explained a little bit earlier, the idea of Jimmy Carter in 1976, when he's first running as an outsider after all these excesses, Watergate in Vietnam was indisputably alluring, the kind of smaller version of the office. But then it seems the reality of Jimmy Carter turned out to be less appealing.
- [34:31]
Peter Baker
Yeah, I mean, I think these are attributes that really worked for him in 1976 when there was this Watergate hangover, this Vietnam hangover. They just didn't work for him in 1980 when there was kind of a Carter malaise, if you will. Right. That they didn't serve him effectively while he was president and running for reelection, as they did the first time he asked voters to put him in office in the first place. And he didn't adjust, he didn't adapt. But when he leaves office, it turns out that it wasn't an act. This was who he was.
- [35:00]
Michael Balbaro
Well, just explain that. What about his post presidency shows us that this is who Carter was?
- [35:08]
Peter Baker
Well, what distinguishes it is its utter modesty. Right. Most presidents, after leaving office, become rich. They sign multimillion dollar book deals, or like with President Obama, podcasts and TV deals, they give paid speeches, and they live a life that resembles the splendor of the office that they had held. But Carter didn't do that. He first literally goes back to Plains, Georgia, to the same house, this little ranch house that he and Rosalind had lived in since 1961. Modest, very unassuming at one point. The house, in fact, is worth less than the large Secret Service vehicles that are parked outside of. And the first thing he does is start teaching Sunday school.
- [35:51]
Michael Balbaro
Wow.
- [35:52]
Peter Baker
And when he does finally reappear in the public arena, it's when he opens the Carter center in 1982, just two years after his defeat in the election. And it's through this nonprofit group that we witness a post presidency of service and civic mindedness that's really unlike anything we've seen in the modern political era.
- [36:10]
Narrator
Do you have the voter ID cards here?
- [36:12]
Michael Balbaro
Yeah.
- [36:12]
Peter Baker
He travels the world promoting human rights and monitoring elections in emerging democracy countries like Panama and Nicaragua and Venezuela.
- [36:21]
Narrator
Well, we have five minutes to go here on voting. And at this particular place, the turnout has been 83%, which is quite good.
- [36:29]
Peter Baker
He physically shows up during these elections. He stands at the polls and watches people vote election after election to assure that the process is free and fair.
- [36:37]
Narrator
The worm comes out of a joint, say, in your knee. It swells up and destroys the tissue.
- [36:44]
Peter Baker
He starts a program to eradicate guinea worm, the very painful and debilitating disease in the developing world that in the 1980s affected millions of people.
- [36:54]
Narrator
And of course, these kids can't go to school. The pain is too great, and they need medical care.
- [36:59]
Peter Baker
And he persuades volunteers in tens of thousands of villages to treat the water where the worms grow. And the Carter center hands out millions of specialized drinking straws that filter out these worms. And basically guinea worm is almost gone now as a result of some of the things that he did. And now I call upon the peace.
- [37:18]
Narrator
Prize laureate of 2002, Jimmy Carter.
- [37:25]
Peter Baker
All this finally, I think, leads to the Nobel Peace Prize that he didn't win while he was in office.
- [37:30]
Narrator
Members of a Nobel committee from Norway. It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I accept this prize.
- [37:39]
Peter Baker
And during his acceptance speech, Carter demonstrates his humility, a genuine humility.
- [37:44]
Narrator
The scope and character of our center's activities are perhaps unique, but in many other ways, they are typical of the work being done by hundreds of non governmental organizations that strive for human rights and peace.
- [37:59]
Peter Baker
He praises the tireless effort of other humanitarian workers.
- [38:03]
Narrator
God gives us a capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.
- [38:14]
Peter Baker
And he urges others to devote themselves to the small, humble work that had defined the last several decades of his life.
- [38:21]
Narrator
We can make these changes, and we must thank you.
- [38:37]
Peter Baker
And, you know, it's this service and modesty that he demonstrated that finally, I think, in some ways, allows him to redeem himself for the failures of the time when he was in office. In fact, a lot of people say Carter was a better former president than he was president at one point. One of his biographers, Kai Bird, said Carter's the only president ever to use the White House as a stepping stone to doing bigger things. And it earned Carter a lot of respect, even among Republicans who otherwise didn't particularly like him, and Democrats who were kind of disappointed in him. But certainly, I think the way most Americans remember Carter today is that he's the man from Plains, Georgia, who's trying to use his platform of a former president to achieve things that in fact he couldn't do while in office. The modern presidency in some ways requires compromises he wasn't really willing to make and kind of performances that he wasn't maybe capable of. And every successor, everybody who's come after him, has thought about how not to be the kind of president Jimmy Carter was, even as they respect the kind of man that Jimmy Carter was. And that's why, for good or bad, it feels like we're never going to see someone like Jimmy Carter in the presidency again.
- [40:00]
Michael Balbaro
Peter, thank you very much.
- [40:03]
Peter Baker
Thank you. Appreciate it.
- [40:10]
Narrator
I prayed more when I was in the Oval Office than any other time in my life. I never did pray that I would be popular, that I would be reelected. I prayed that I could keep my country at peace, I could find peace for others, that I could have patience and an adequate element of wisdom, judgment, paul said. These are the only things that are important. Justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love. Those are the things that make a great life.
- [40:45]
Michael Balbaro
Over the next week, the body of former President Carter is expected to be taken by motorcade from his home in Plains, Georgia to Atlanta, where he will lie in repose at the Carter Center. After that, he will be flown to Washington, where he will lie in state at the U.S. capitol before a formal funeral at the National Cathedral. Per Carter's wishes, he will be interred back in Georgia at a simple family plot. We'll be right back.
- [41:36]
T. Rowe Price
How could market forces impact investment strategies? Tune into the Angle from T. Rowe Price for sharp insights on today's key trends. From the blue economy and AI to the impacts of the US Election, this award winning podcast brings you an information edge with thought provoking questions to changing market themes and gives curious investors dynamic perspectives from their global investing team and special guests. Better questions, better insights Listen and subscribe to the Angle on Spotify or Apple podcasts and learn more attrowe price.com TheAngle podcast.
- [42:08]
American Petroleum Institute
This podcast is supported by Meta. Meta's open source AI is an open invitation. It enables small businesses, startups, students, researchers and more to download and build with the models at no cost. Which means more people can build amazing things. Because when AI is open source, it's available to all and when AI is available to all, everyone benefits. Learn more about Meta's open source models@aimeta.com.
- [42:36]
T. Rowe Price
Open you're taking a late afternoon scroll. From outfits to sports highlights to wedding pics, a New York Times cooking post stops you in your tracks. The most delectable ragu dish you've ever seen. Sadly, life gets in the way. The grocery line, the cars, in the shop that show is on, but on the recipe you see a button that changes everything. Shop ingredients on Instacart music to your taste buds. Get ingredients delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. Learn more@mytcooking.com Instacart.
- [43:15]
Michael Balbaro
Here'S what else you need to know today. Investigators are trying to determine what caused a South Korean passenger plane to skid across a Runway on Sunday morning and crash into a barrier, killing nearly all 181 people on board. It was one of the deadliest aviation disasters in years. Shortly before the crash, the control tower at the airport warned of a possible bird strike, and soon after, the plane's pilots issued a mayday. Today's episode was produced by Carlos Prieto and Sydney Harper, with help from Alexandra Lee Young and Will Reed. It was edited by Lisa Chow and Devin Taylor. Fact Checked by Susan Lee contains original music by Marion Lozano, Dan Powell, Rowani Misto and Sophia Landman and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. That's it for the Daily I'm Michael Balbaro. See you tomorrow.
- [44:40]
T. Rowe Price
From gift swaps with friends to office holiday parties to big family dinners, tis the season to spend with loved ones. Walgreens knows the holidays are busy, so they make getting vaccinated quick and easy. Walk in or schedule ahead to get both your flu and COVID 19 vaccines for free, all in one trip. Help keep your family protected at your neighborhood. Walgreens vaccines available at no cost to you with most insurance. Check with your insurance plan for eligibility. Vaccines subject to availability, stage, age and health related restrictions may apply.