A New Appreciation of Jimmy Carter with Jonathan Alter
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2024
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, an in-depth discussion of the life and legacy of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, as seen through the eyes of presidential historian Jonathan Alter. The key points: Carter's remarkable journey from a relatively unknown Georgia governor to becoming the 39th U.S. President, and how the Watergate scandal helped propel him to the White House despite low initial poll numbers. Carter's presidency is often misremembered as a failure, but Alter argues that while Carter struggled politically, he was a "substantive and often visionary success" who achieved significant legislative and foreign policy accomplishments. Carter's post-presidency is highlighted as a model for how former presidents can continue to serve the public, through initiatives like the Carter Center, election monitoring, and Habitat for Humanity. The crucial role and influence of First Lady Rosalyn Carter is emphasized, with Alter describing her as one of the most important and impactful First Ladies in history. The depth of the Carter's 77-year marriage is also noted as an extraordinary love story. Overall, the interview provides a comprehensive and sympathetic reassessment of Jimmy Carter's life and legacy, underscoring his many substantive achievements. You can subscribe to Jonathan Alter's newsletter, Old Goats at OldGoats.substack.com and buy his biography of Jimmy Carter, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life here. Or his latest book, American Reckoning: Inside Trump’s Trial―and My Own here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, good friends, and welcome back to the Bill Press pod for our final podcast of |
| 0:12.6 | 24. You know, there have been so many unbelievable turns of events in 2024 that it's somehow |
| 0:20.0 | fitting. We end the year with this one, |
| 0:23.4 | celebrating the life of a man who is elected president by promising never to tell a lie. |
| 0:30.2 | One month after re-electing a man who never told the truth. |
| 0:34.9 | Go figure. |
| 0:36.2 | Jimmy Carter was a good man and a decent man, which is more than you |
| 0:40.9 | can ever say about Donald Trump. He was the model ex-president defending democracy around the |
| 0:47.5 | globe for decades, and most historians now agree he was also a damn good president, much better appreciated today for what he |
| 0:56.4 | in fact accomplished as president. Our good friend Jonathan Alter is one of Carter's foremost biographers, |
| 1:04.1 | author of a great biography called His Very Best, Jimmy Carter, A Life. You may remember we talked to Jonathan after the death of |
| 1:13.3 | First Lady Rosalind Carter about her and Jimmy. So we thought it would be appropriate today to |
| 1:18.7 | celebrate Jimmy Carter's remarkable life as seen up close over many years by revisiting our |
| 1:24.8 | interview with Jonathan Aut about both Carter's. |
| 1:28.3 | I began by asking Jonathan a question that's even more relevant today as we mourn President Carter's death. |
| 1:36.3 | How did Jimmy Carter go from being a dirt farmer in Georgia to a relatively unknown governor of Georgia |
| 1:43.3 | all the way to becoming the 39th president of the United |
| 1:47.7 | States. It's a remarkable story, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's an American epic. Just in terms of how he got |
| 1:56.8 | to be governor of Georgia, he left the Navy in 1953 when his father died. He had been |
| 2:06.7 | a protege of Admiral Hyman Rickover, who, for those of your listeners who don't know who he was, |
| 2:13.0 | he is the man who Colin Powell credited with winning the Cold War, |
| 2:20.3 | because he designed the first nuclear power. Nuclear sub, right? |
... |
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