Re-assessing President Jimmy Carter with Jonathan Alter
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After watching the memorial service for First Lady Rosalyn Carter last month, we decided it’s time to take another look at our 39th President, Jimmy Carter. And the very best person to do that is journalist and historian Jonathan Alter. His 2021 book, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life, is out in paperback and you can get it here. Alter is also the author of a very good Sub-stack newsletter, Old Goats. You can see that here. Bill and Jonathan discuss the legacy of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, and his wife, Rosalyn Carter. They argue that while Carter's presidency is often viewed as ineffective, he actually accomplished a great deal and set a new standard for post-presidencies with his extensive public service. They also highlight Rosalyn Carter's significant contributions as First Lady, including her instrumental role in passing the Mental Health Act of 1980. The discussion also touches on Carter's deep faith and his commitment to environmental issues.
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Transcript
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| 1:08.2 | Hello, good friends. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays and welcome to this special holiday edition of the Bill Presspot. |
| 1:13.1 | You know, like many of you, watching the memorial service for First Lady Rosal Carter last month, it got me thinking. Maybe it's time to take another look at our 39th |
| 1:20.1 | president, Jimmy Carter. How will history remember him, and do we remember him fairly enough? |
| 1:26.9 | Was he really as ineffective a president as most people |
| 1:30.4 | believe, or did he actually get a lot done? And isn't he, in fact, the model former president? |
| 1:38.3 | Well, Jonathan Alter, former Newsweek columnist, was the first to raise these questions in a profile of Carter that he wrote a couple of years ago called His Very Best. |
| 1:49.6 | Jonathan also writes about Jimmy Carter and Rosalind often in his weekly newsletter, O'Goats. |
| 1:55.7 | So just before the holidays, we were lucky to catch up with Jonathan Alter for the chance to reassess Jimmy Carter |
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