Remarkable audio from Jimmy Carter's grandson on why the former president believed that unifying forces would ultimately prove stronger than ‘the divisiveness of our fears and our prejudices.’
I know this is several days late - but I’ve spent the last few hours watching the CBS News coverage from yesterday (January 7) of President Carter’s funeral procession to the Capitol and the ceremony in the Rotunda. I was very glad to see you as one of the guest commentators. Nice to hear from people who knew and worked with Carter. What beautiful, quiet solemnity and grace we saw in these ceremonies and hope to see tomorrow at the cathedral service. A small reminder of what president Carter believed was possible in our country and world. How very distant from the crass ugliness that is represented by the “once and future” denizen of the White House. Thank you for your remembrances of President Carter!
What would be the best site to view Jimmy Carter's funeral? I would appreciate informed commentary, from people like you, who worked with him, covered him, knew him.
Thanks for the alternative narrative from The American Conservative. Remembering the Carter years, I felt he was just the worst leader. His "malaise" speech (I know, I know) was a masterclass in unpersuasive rhetoric. His boycott of the Moscow summer Olympics, terrible and not his to disrupt, it being such a force for peace, and for no good reason. Always blamed his Polish advisor for that. Plus, I remember the winter Olympic hockey victory earlier in 1980 as being the first surge of heartfelt, nationwide patriotism since before Vietnam, and Carter had already writ "no more" fun like that! So, as all this hagiography explains, Carter the former president was a nice humanitarian man but certainly not on the scale of, let's say, Herbert Hoover, before and after his presidency. Forgot to mention that when I returned from my news-less honeymoon in July 1979, l was amazed to learn that genius-manager Carter had fired everyone in his cabinet! Good grief.
Thanks. On the "crisis of confidence" [aka "malaise"] speech, a little-known but "actually true" detail is this: Soon after it was delivered, it was "enormously" popular. and the subject of widespread "he's really read the mood of the country" press discussion. (I was gone from the team by then, but was observing this as a reporter.) I believe that Carter's approval rating went up by nearly 10 points after he speech. An academic named Kevin Mattson published a whole book about the speech and its aftermath: What the Heck are You Up To, Mr President?
About a week later, as you say, came the across-the-board cabinet shakeup. That began the long polling-and-popularity descent for Carter. But — you can look it up! — as of about a week before the 1980 election, nearly all polls showed the Carter/Reagan race as "margin of error" "too close to call." Then, of course, it all broke in Reagan's favor, and he carried 44 states. There's also the Iranian hostage issue, a subject for another time.
FWIW, Jimmy Carter has a sheer longevity advantage over Herbert Hoover. Hoover lived to age 90, and had about 30 years as ex-president. (Compared with age 100 and nearly 44 years for Carter.) And Hoover was a globally known figure before he became president, unlike Carter. But I think Carter's overall non-presidential record stacks up favorably in comparison even with Hoover's. and even counting Hoovers pre- and post-presidential eras.
Thanks for this, Jim, and all your other recollections and insights regarding Jimmy Carter... and all the rest that preceded that is hardly "breaking news" as much as it is informative and thought provoking. I have not read all the comments from the previous post and will be brief with two observations.
First, a post by Nell Minow on LinkedIn led me to this heartwarming article recounting Jimmy Carter's various visits to her hometown near Chicago and, in particular, when he attended a fundraiser held by her parents in 1978.
And then this morning I listened to Joshua Carter's speech attentively and was as moved as you suggested one should be, but I will still carefully note the certainty expressed at the beginning of his closing words taken from his grandfather's Nobel Lecture in 2002 (emphasis added):
"The bond of our common humanity IS stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices."
The eternal challenge of choice - individual and collective - is increasingly daunting in a world where prejudices and alliances are no longer delineated or defined by physical proximity as much as they are driven and too often manipulated by the virtual reach of the powerful "influencers" of ideas whether hard facts or dialectic realities. Josh Carter does refer to this in his reference to the tragically named "Citizens United" decision of the Supreme Court and, by implication, the "Fairness Doctrine" as defended by honorable souls like Newton Minow, Nell's father.
"The Vaste Wasteland" that Newton Minow described so presciently now essentially incorporates all the media that informs us all whether analog or digital and whether conveyed narrowly via professional institutions or more organically through the illusion of personal decisions. I just hope we have not amused ourselves - and allowed ourselves to be distracted - on the wrong side of the Rubicon...
I was *on* that trip to Chicago, for the "public" parts of the schedule. But obviously wasn't "in the room" (with the donors etc) at the Minows' house. That is a fascinating tale.
I had the good fortune of meeting Newton Minow many times in the years since then. What an extraordinary figure he was.
That very distinction between "campaigning" and "governing" seems to be a thing of the past, and I just found myself wondering which party was more inclined to ignore it first or whether it just snuck up on both sides [sic] without anyone realizing what had changed... alas.
Fwiw, Jim, I'm feeling rather pessimistic these days but at times wonder whether the impending "restoration" will be the harsher lesson the country needs... or that the demographics of Gen-Z and technology will transform both political parties into entities and our polity on the whole in ways we cannot readily anticipate just yet but might just find to be edifying for all.
PS: That comment's also a pretext to add Happy New Year to you and Deb and everyone in the Fallows family and its wake... including your readers here!
The truth of the promise of our Constitution, the first time in history that a nation was defined at its inception as the most extraordinary, the most crucial, the riskiest, and the most complex experiment in human government ever attempted, will prove out only if Americans understand, as the historian and filmmaker Ken Burns pointed out in his graduation address at Brandeis University this past June - There is only US (us).
Thomas Jefferson in his inaugural address noted that “We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists.” He was calmly ignoring the fact that he had been one of the instigators of the factionalism that made the election of 1800 one of the most brutal in our history.
The fact is that we must all be Americans first and members of any other subgroup second if this experiment has any chance of continuing success.
On a global scale JFK said it far better at American University following the most dangerous moment in world history, those thirteen awful days in October of 1962 when the world waited with bated breath of for resolution or Armageddon. “We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal”.
Those words should be graven in all our hearts. Our future depends on it.
I know this is several days late - but I’ve spent the last few hours watching the CBS News coverage from yesterday (January 7) of President Carter’s funeral procession to the Capitol and the ceremony in the Rotunda. I was very glad to see you as one of the guest commentators. Nice to hear from people who knew and worked with Carter. What beautiful, quiet solemnity and grace we saw in these ceremonies and hope to see tomorrow at the cathedral service. A small reminder of what president Carter believed was possible in our country and world. How very distant from the crass ugliness that is represented by the “once and future” denizen of the White House. Thank you for your remembrances of President Carter!
What would be the best site to view Jimmy Carter's funeral? I would appreciate informed commentary, from people like you, who worked with him, covered him, knew him.
Thanks for the alternative narrative from The American Conservative. Remembering the Carter years, I felt he was just the worst leader. His "malaise" speech (I know, I know) was a masterclass in unpersuasive rhetoric. His boycott of the Moscow summer Olympics, terrible and not his to disrupt, it being such a force for peace, and for no good reason. Always blamed his Polish advisor for that. Plus, I remember the winter Olympic hockey victory earlier in 1980 as being the first surge of heartfelt, nationwide patriotism since before Vietnam, and Carter had already writ "no more" fun like that! So, as all this hagiography explains, Carter the former president was a nice humanitarian man but certainly not on the scale of, let's say, Herbert Hoover, before and after his presidency. Forgot to mention that when I returned from my news-less honeymoon in July 1979, l was amazed to learn that genius-manager Carter had fired everyone in his cabinet! Good grief.
Thanks. On the "crisis of confidence" [aka "malaise"] speech, a little-known but "actually true" detail is this: Soon after it was delivered, it was "enormously" popular. and the subject of widespread "he's really read the mood of the country" press discussion. (I was gone from the team by then, but was observing this as a reporter.) I believe that Carter's approval rating went up by nearly 10 points after he speech. An academic named Kevin Mattson published a whole book about the speech and its aftermath: What the Heck are You Up To, Mr President?
About a week later, as you say, came the across-the-board cabinet shakeup. That began the long polling-and-popularity descent for Carter. But — you can look it up! — as of about a week before the 1980 election, nearly all polls showed the Carter/Reagan race as "margin of error" "too close to call." Then, of course, it all broke in Reagan's favor, and he carried 44 states. There's also the Iranian hostage issue, a subject for another time.
FWIW, Jimmy Carter has a sheer longevity advantage over Herbert Hoover. Hoover lived to age 90, and had about 30 years as ex-president. (Compared with age 100 and nearly 44 years for Carter.) And Hoover was a globally known figure before he became president, unlike Carter. But I think Carter's overall non-presidential record stacks up favorably in comparison even with Hoover's. and even counting Hoovers pre- and post-presidential eras.
Thanks for this, Jim, and all your other recollections and insights regarding Jimmy Carter... and all the rest that preceded that is hardly "breaking news" as much as it is informative and thought provoking. I have not read all the comments from the previous post and will be brief with two observations.
First, a post by Nell Minow on LinkedIn led me to this heartwarming article recounting Jimmy Carter's various visits to her hometown near Chicago and, in particular, when he attended a fundraiser held by her parents in 1978.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/12/31/glencoe-skokie-north-shore-remember-jimmy-carters-visit/
And then this morning I listened to Joshua Carter's speech attentively and was as moved as you suggested one should be, but I will still carefully note the certainty expressed at the beginning of his closing words taken from his grandfather's Nobel Lecture in 2002 (emphasis added):
"The bond of our common humanity IS stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices."
The eternal challenge of choice - individual and collective - is increasingly daunting in a world where prejudices and alliances are no longer delineated or defined by physical proximity as much as they are driven and too often manipulated by the virtual reach of the powerful "influencers" of ideas whether hard facts or dialectic realities. Josh Carter does refer to this in his reference to the tragically named "Citizens United" decision of the Supreme Court and, by implication, the "Fairness Doctrine" as defended by honorable souls like Newton Minow, Nell's father.
"The Vaste Wasteland" that Newton Minow described so presciently now essentially incorporates all the media that informs us all whether analog or digital and whether conveyed narrowly via professional institutions or more organically through the illusion of personal decisions. I just hope we have not amused ourselves - and allowed ourselves to be distracted - on the wrong side of the Rubicon...
Ed, thank you.
I was *on* that trip to Chicago, for the "public" parts of the schedule. But obviously wasn't "in the room" (with the donors etc) at the Minows' house. That is a fascinating tale.
I had the good fortune of meeting Newton Minow many times in the years since then. What an extraordinary figure he was.
That very distinction between "campaigning" and "governing" seems to be a thing of the past, and I just found myself wondering which party was more inclined to ignore it first or whether it just snuck up on both sides [sic] without anyone realizing what had changed... alas.
Fwiw, Jim, I'm feeling rather pessimistic these days but at times wonder whether the impending "restoration" will be the harsher lesson the country needs... or that the demographics of Gen-Z and technology will transform both political parties into entities and our polity on the whole in ways we cannot readily anticipate just yet but might just find to be edifying for all.
PS: That comment's also a pretext to add Happy New Year to you and Deb and everyone in the Fallows family and its wake... including your readers here!
Ed, thank you. We can only hope for a better year ahead. And work toward that end!
The truth of the promise of our Constitution, the first time in history that a nation was defined at its inception as the most extraordinary, the most crucial, the riskiest, and the most complex experiment in human government ever attempted, will prove out only if Americans understand, as the historian and filmmaker Ken Burns pointed out in his graduation address at Brandeis University this past June - There is only US (us).
Thomas Jefferson in his inaugural address noted that “We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists.” He was calmly ignoring the fact that he had been one of the instigators of the factionalism that made the election of 1800 one of the most brutal in our history.
The fact is that we must all be Americans first and members of any other subgroup second if this experiment has any chance of continuing success.
On a global scale JFK said it far better at American University following the most dangerous moment in world history, those thirteen awful days in October of 1962 when the world waited with bated breath of for resolution or Armageddon. “We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal”.
Those words should be graven in all our hearts. Our future depends on it.
Well put. Thank you. Onward.
James, thank you for this. The coming four years will require persistence and dedication. We owe it to our country to provide them…
Appreciate it. It's a challenging time ahead. We can use all the Carter-style examples and explanations we can get. (As you know.)
Thanks for these words of hope and warning.
All the best to you and Deb and your family in the New Year.
Thank you Phil. Best wishes from DC. Jim (and Deb)