When former President Jimmy Carter died at home in Plains, Georgia, the 100 years The former president was under hospital care, leaving life on his own terms.
The one-term president lost his bid for re-election in 1980, with his successes at the polls overshadowed by a stagnant economy and the Iran Hostage Crisis. For the next four decades, Carter lived a life of service and example. He spoke with 60 Minutes three times, addressing his life and legacy, from his time in the White House to returning home to the Plains. That’s what”60 minutes: a second look“He learned from four decades of talking to Carter:
Jimmy Carter in 1980
On the eve of the Democratic National Convention in August 1980, Carter spoke with Dan Rather in the Oval Office. The president was fighting for a second term on multiple fronts, fending off a Democratic primary challenge from Senator Ted Kennedy while also campaigning against Republican challenger Ronald Reagan and third-party candidate John Anderson.
Carter was also struggling with the Iran hostage crisis. As the hostages were held longer and longer, the problem became a bigger problem for Carter.
“We are dealing with a group of bigots who have violated every principle of human decency and human rights by holding 52 absolutely innocent Americans hostage away from their families, away from freedom, away from communication with the world outside, away from medical care for the last few months,” Carter said in his 1980 interview with 60 Minutes.
Rather asked Carter if he thought the hostages were more likely to be released if Reagan was elected.
“After all, there would be good reason, then, for the Iranians to want to make a gesture to a new administration,” Rather said.
Carter said he couldn’t predict what would happen.
“But I don’t think that the election of a certain person in our country as president is at all the determining factor,” he said.
Carter was also facing serious financial problems; Oil was hard to come by and expensive to get. High interest rates kept people out of the housing market. Inflation and unemployment were so persistent that economists coined the term “stagflation.”
But whether the administration failed or succeeded, Carter was quick to point out that at the end of the day, Americans should look to him and him alone for accountability.
“The president has a unique responsibility. You cannot share it with others,” he said.
Carter also qualified. And while he actively ran for re-election, he didn’t directly give As. Carter earned a B- in foreign policy, a B or C in domestic policy, an A in energy and a B in leadership.
Despite the mediocre grades Carter gave himself, he was confident about his political future.
“I have no doubt that in November I will be elected president,” he said. “Because in all my life, there has never been a sharper difference between two parties and two men than there will be in 1980. The only possible time that would even approach the significance of this election is be when Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson.”
Jimmy Carter in 1985
Despite his confidence during his 1980 interview, Carter lost to Reagan; prevailed in only six states and the District of Columbia. It was a stinging defeat, and on the same day Reagan was sworn into office, Iranian revolutionaries released the American hostages.
Carter left Washington with his wife, Rosalynnand their young daughter and returned home to Georgia for a simpler life, with the former president even teaching Sunday school.
Reagan was re-elected in 1984, maintaining his popularity and an image of strength and competence in a way that Carter did not. At this point, Carter was again a political outsider, just as he had been when he started his political career from Georgia.
When Carter met Mike Wallace in 1985the former president said he was “not really” jealous of Reagan and what Wallace described as Reagan’s “Teflon presidency.” Carter, by comparison, had a “paper presidency,” Wallace said.
“I think it’s true. When I was there, there was no doubt who was in charge,” Carter said.
Carter said Reagan succeeded in “not being responsible for anything nasty,” blaming Carter for the problems. His criticism of Reagan went beyond accountability.
He said Reagan had “basically abandoned” the US commitment to “the human rights policy that we adopted.”
“I don’t know what their motivations are, but the result has been that the world now sees that our country is not a defender of human rights, but is at best numb to our persecution,” he said. Carter .
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter took it a step further.
“I think this president makes us comfortable with our prejudices,” he said.
Jimmy Carter in 2010
Thirty years later, Lesley Stahl visited Carter in 2010 to take stock of how things had changed. By then, Carter’s post-presidency life was winning praise. The Carter Center had become known for its role in promoting human rights around the world. Carter had been closely associated with his work building houses for Habitat for Humanity. And in 2002, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Stahl spoke with Carter about launching his “White House Diary.” Carter, 85, harshly criticized Ted Kennedy in the book, still upset that Kennedy had run against incumbent Carter in 1980.
“The fact is, we would have had comprehensive health care now had it not been for Ted Kennedy deliberately blocking legislation that I proposed in 1978 or ’79,” Carter said.
And of course, Carter hadn’t forgotten about Reagan either. He wrote that if he had been elected to a second term, there would not have been a resurgence of racism and selfishness.
“I don’t remember when I said that, but I can’t deny that I felt that way,” Carter said.
Carter also called out former President Bill Clinton for Monica Lewinsky and called former President George W. Bush the worst president in history.
When George HW Bush was in office, Carter wrote a secret letter to the United Nations asking the Security Council to vote against the resolution to go to war against Saddam Hussein, asking members to vote against the U.S. . Carter told Stahl he did not regret the letter.
“I felt very deeply about the fact that war was not necessary,” he said.
Outside the political world, Carter lived a life without luxuries. The Carters had always been frugal, and decades later, Carter insisted that, in the long run, Americans would appreciate his values and what he had accomplished. He also defended his decision not to go to war.
“We spent four years. We never fired a bullet. We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile,” Carter said.
He believed that the United States should be a champion of peace, even though he knows that, to the public, the president’s image can be improved by going to war.
“I never liked that,” Carter said.