Episode 797: Remembering President Jimmy Carter

Newt's World

Gingrich 360

News, Politics

4.7 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newt reflects on his personal memories of President Jimmy Carter, highlighting Carter's unique blend of characteristics as a South Georgia farmer, a nuclear engineer, and a reform-oriented politician. He describes Carter's rise from a one-term governor to the presidency, emphasizing his ability to connect with diverse voter groups and his commitment to big ideas. Despite Carter's initial success and notable achievements, such as the Camp David Accords, his presidency faced significant challenges, including the energy crisis and the Iranian hostage situation. Newt also discusses Carter's post-presidential contributions, particularly his work with Habitat for Humanity and The Atlanta Project. Newt provides a nuanced view of Carter as a dedicated and intelligent leader whose presidency was marked by both remarkable achievements and significant difficulties.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	on this episode of Newt's World, I want to spend some time today talking about
0:08.4	President Jimmy Carter and my memories of him personally.
0:28.5	I was a teacher at West Georgia College when he was governor.
0:31.6	He was a very reform governor, and he was very open.
0:35.8	I would go and visit him regularly, and we would talk about big ideas.
0:40.1	He was very much an odd mixture of a South Georgia farmer, somebody who in the one hand could appeal to George Wallace segregationist voters,
0:46.0	and on the other hand could appeal to modern integrationists and to the African-American
0:50.9	community. And he balanced all of that. He was very committed to ideas.
0:55.4	He was, after all, a nuclear engineer and a graduate of the Naval Academy.
1:01.2	And he somehow blended all that.
1:04.2	So I knew him.
1:05.1	I watched him.
1:06.6	And he had been visited by all the major Democratic candidates in 1972 and said to his staff,
1:14.8	you know, if these guys can run for president, I might as well run.
1:18.5	And when he did announce the Atlanta Constitution headline was Jimmy Carter's running for what?
1:25.2	He was seen almost as a joke.
1:27.3	He was this one-term governor,
1:29.6	and he's going to go out now and win the Democratic nomination and maybe win the presidency.
1:35.2	So I watched this evolving, and I can tell you, I'd run for Congress in 74, got 48.5% in the
1:43.3	middle of Watergate. Now I was going to run again in 76,
1:46.9	and all of a sudden, here's James Earl Carter, and he is going to run for president, and I know
1:53.8	if he's head of the Democratic ticket, I got a big, big problem in Georgia. Well, I'll never forget
	...

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