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Michael Green's avatar

A lovely piece, and it leads me to two stories that I think will resonate.

One was Tom Wicker's. Late in 1974, a politician visited him in DC and told him that he would be president. Yes, no one knew him then, but he was a Democrat, and that meant he belonged to the winning party in 1976 because of Nixon and Ford. He was a southerner, and that could be a problem, but he would pick up the Wallace voters who realized he was too demagogic to win. Among other Democrats, Scoop Jackson had too much baggage, Ted Kennedy wouldn't run, and Hubert Humphrey had too many issues. He said the only one who could beat him was Walter Mondale, and he didn't think Mondale would run. Wicker chuckled ... then went on a political scouting trip early in 1976 and asked a gas station attendant in the South who he was supporting. Well, he replied, he was a Wallace man but knew Wallace could win, so he thought maybe that other southern candidate could win. And Wicker said he had forgotten the first rule of politics, which is that you never know. Jimmy Carter knew when he came to see Wicker that day.

The other is that Carter is one of two men elected president whose hand I have shaken (the other was Al Gore--ahem). He spoke at UNLV when I was a student in the mid-1980s and requested to meet students. We traipsed over to the hall where he would lecture later. Eugene Moehring, one of our history professors, taught our Modern US class and was asked to introduce him. Gene said that teaching a course on America since 1945 meant that he had 40 years to cover at that time, and couldn't spend a LOT of time on Carter's term, but he realized now just how much Carter accomplished. He went down a list much like the one here. Then he said, "And he got US hostages home from Iran without trading arms for them with Nicaragua." Gene said later that from offstage he heard the sound of someone clapping. He looked and Carter was standing there applauding that line, with that famous grin.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Jim, as Carter’s chief speech writer, you have an intimate insight into Jimmy Carter, the man and the president.

As an outsider, I have distinct personal impressions. Regarding integrity, I recall his promising to the American people that he would never lie to them. How different from Nixon, Trump, and other presidents!

I was especially interested in his Herculean efforts at Camp David to obtain an agreement between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. (I had spent time with Sadat at his Pyramids home years before and had lunched with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister.)

What I recall is President Carter’s unflagging tenacity to bridge the vast gaps between Begin and Sadat. He should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and accomplishments.

The 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement was remarkable then and even more today given the current Middle Eastern situation.

We were in a period of ‘stagflation’ that permeated our entire country. He had the guts to bring in Paul Volcker, whose draconian measures, including inflation and unemployment in double digits and interest rates approaching 20%, broke stagflation in Reagan’s early years. Without committing to this politically damaging remedy, stagflation could have been a prolonged way of life.

I felt that President Carter sought to do what was right. His stance on the Panama Canal treaty was another such example. This was the right thing to do, after our long, jaded history with Panama and the canal. He was castigated by Reagan and Republicans, but persevered in obtaining Senate approval.

The Iranian hostage situation occurred on his watch. As a former Foreign Service Officer, I realized then that there was nothing that he could do to get them back safely.

From afar, I consider that how Carter conducted himself and what he accomplished for the United States was even more admirable after his presidency. He richly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.

I find it remarkable that President Carter, after many months in hospice, has reached his 100th birthday. I hope that he achieves his wish to vote for Kamala Harris. This would be a fitting capstone to a remarkable life.

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