Jan.01

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10 Short Stories about Jimmy Carter, Part II

Today's set of short stories about the late Jimmy Carter come, more or less, from the first half of his presidency.

1. Keepin' It Real: Carter and his wife were well-known for not "putting on airs" and for trying to remain humble. On Inauguration Day, James Earl Carter was sworn in as "Jimmy," which was the first time a president was sworn in using a nickname. It's happened two times since, with William Jefferson Clinton and Joseph Robinette Biden. After being inaugurated, the Carters chose not to ride in a limousine in the customary inaugural parade, and walked instead:
   
   
   
   Although you can't see it in the photo, Carter supporters flew a giant peanut-shaped balloon behind them as a reminder of their humble roots.
   
   There were many other ways in which the 39th president tried to put this part of his worldview into practice. He carried his own briefcase and mended his own clothes when they were damaged. He arranged for the sale of the presidential yacht, the USS Sequoia, which Carter found to be both pretentious and needlessly expensive (upkeep cost $800,000 a year, equivalent to $4.5 million a year in 2024). He also never owned a single item of clothing from the bespoke tailor Brooks Brothers. That may not seem too unusual, but it's true of only five presidents. George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all served before the tailor opened for business. Ronald Reagan had his own personal tailor, and never purchased anything. And then there was the peanut farmer.
   
   When it comes to this sort of "common man" stuff, presidents walk a fine line. On one hand, voters like presidents that they could have a beer with. On the other hand, the president is the United States' head of state, and is expected to be a peerless example of Americanism, sitting on a pedestal, like the monarch of the United Kingdom. From a political standpoint, Carter probably erred too much in favor of the "common man" side of the line. When he recounted his daughter's views on nuclear proliferation during a presidential debate, for example, or when he delivered the famous "malaise" speech, in which he did not actually use that word, but he did make reference to what he was hearing during his conversations with regular Americans, he was attacked for being "small" and "unserious" and "not up to the challenges of the presidency."
   
   
2. Grace...: Carter's political career took place in a time when opposing politicians could wage a spirited campaign, but then could still respect each other as public servants and as Americans. That custom is currently in abeyance, perhaps temporarily, perhaps permanently.
   
   In his inaugural address, Carter decided to make reference to his predecessor's controversial pardon of Richard Nixon, declaring: "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." This was not without risk; even today, many Americans think Ford did wrong in letting Nixon off the hook. In 1977, that sentiment was even more common. Many years after leaving the White House, Carter reflected on that moment: "[A]lthough we were hot competitors, I had an admiration for him because I knew the difficult circumstances under which he had become president. So there wasn't any personal animosity or vituperation there. There was one of respect for a very worthy opponent..."
   
   The Fords, who did not behave like petulant children after Jerry's defeat, were in the audience (and, indeed, the front row on the dais) to hear Carter offer his thanks. They were much humbled and gratified by his kind words. And, as with several sets of presidential rivals (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama and George W. Bush being notable examples), they struck up a warm friendship. In 1988, they worked together to produce a report on U.S. domestic problems, The American Agenda, to present to H.W. Bush after his inauguration in 1989.
   
   
3. ...and Graceland: In yesterday's entry, we noted that the Carter campaign enlisted the help of numerous popular Southern musicians, among them the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson and the Marshall Tucker Band. One very popular Southern musician missing from the list was Elvis Presley. The wannabe president did not reach out to the King, primarily because Presley's politics were much more aligned with those of the Republican Party:
   
   
   
   That said, the Carters did know Presley a little, having met him backstage at a concert in Atlanta on June 30, 1973. And in early summer of 1977, Presley decided to try to leverage that "friendship," calling the White House from Graceland to lobby for a presidential pardon for a friend. Carter recalled the incident many years later:

   When I was first elected President, I got a call from Elvis Presley. He was totally stoned and didn't know what he was saying. His sentences were almost incoherent. I talked to him for a long time, and I finally extracted that [he wanted a presidential pardon for a sheriff he knew. I asked him what the sheriff's sentence was, and he said that he hadn't been tried in court yet. Well, I said, "Elvis, I can't consider a pardon until after a trial and sentencing and everything." I don't think he understood that.

   Presley also asked for help with the "sinister forces" he was being "shadowed" by. Carter tried to talk him down from those delusions. The musician called the White House several times more, but Carter did not take any further calls. And a couple of months after that phone conversation, of course, Elvis died. The White House issued a statement eulogizing him:

   Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than 20 years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense, and he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness, and good humor of his country.

4. Detail-Oriented: Carter was extremely detail-oriented, and generally had trouble delegating. This extended to such trivial things as the White House tennis courts; the President personally handled the scheduling for them. Needless to say, this tendency was sometimes detrimental, both in terms of wasting his valuable time, and also in terms of aggravating his colleagues and underlings.
   
   However, there were also occasions where Carter's tendencies proved to be an asset. For example, there was much politicking surrounding what became the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) tried to sneak some verbiage into the legislation that would be useful to real estate developers who were also his benefactors. He swore, up and down, to Carter that the added provisions would not have a negative environmental impact. The problem was that Carter has carefully studied maps of Alaska, and had done his own impact analysis, and knew that Stevens was full of it. So, the President told the Senator that he would not sign the bill if those provisions were retained. "That son of a bi**h knew as much about my state as I did," Stevens complained to a staffer, following this setback.
   
   
5. High Time: The Nixon administration was extremely aggressive about punishing drug usage and possession; the Ford administration continued that policy, though with less enthusiasm.
   
   Aided by the fact that 11 states had decriminalized marijuana possession by 1976, Carter decided that this was an issue where he could create a politically useful contrast with the Republicans. He talked about legalization on the campaign trail, and the invitees to his inaugural ball included John Lennon and Yoko Ono (who were nearly deported by the Nixon administration due to suspected drug use). In his August 2, 1977, message to Congress, Carter followed through on his campaign promise, urging the legislature to reduce or eliminate the penalties for marijuana use. "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself," he declared. "Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."
   
   Obviously, Carter was not successful, and no president since him has confronted the issue so directly. That said, he got something of a consolation prize. In 1978, Congress passed, and the president signed, a bill that legalized home beer making. Undoubtedly, brother Billy Carter was thrilled:
   
   
   
   
6. Oh My, What That Little Country Boy Could Play: Carter was a supporter of, and played a hands-on role with, the Voyager Program. In 1977, NASA put together two identical golden records inscribed with various bits of information about humanity and American culture—116 images, spoken greetings in 55 different languages, a written greeting from Carter, a library of "Earth sounds," and a handful of musical selections among them. Compositions by Mozart, Bach and Beethoven were easy calls, as were several folk songs drawn from around the world. Carter (and others) pushed for the inclusion of some American blues and rock music; he was the "rock and roll president," after all. Initially, the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" was going to represent rock, but their publisher refused to allow it. Carter helped choose the alternative, which DID get clearance: "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry.
   
   When the two golden-record-carrying Voyager probes were launched toward deep space on September 5, 1977, in hopes that one of them would one day be found by an intelligent extraterrestrial species, Carter shared with the general public the message he had included:

   We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some—perhaps many—may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.

   Hopefully it is the Vulcans who find the records and not the Romulans. Or the Founders.
   
   
7. A Man, a Plan, a Canal—Panama: We mention this only because it's in the news right now. Carter preferred to cede control of the Panama Canal, in part, because he felt it was the right thing to do. But another major consideration was that keeping it would almost certainly have required the U.S. to deploy its military and to get involved in some pretty ugly local military conflicts. The President did not want to be a part of that.
   
   Today, if the Panama Canal continues to be an issue, opinion will undoubtedly divide along partisan lines. In the 1970s, by contrast, the cession was highly controversial, but not especially correlated with party membership. One good indication of this is the fact that before Carter tried to hand over the Canal, Richard Nixon did the same (and failed, obviously, despite feverish negotiation). An even better indication is that the key figure in selling the treaty to the American public, and thus the Senate was, of all people... John Wayne.
   
   Wayne, of course, was a staunch conservative. Not only that, he even agreed to record a series of commercials calling for the U.S. to keep the Canal. Carter's people persuaded the President that if he could flip Wayne, he could succeed where Nixon had failed. And so, Carter set Panamanian president Omar Torrijos on the job. Wayne and Torrijos were already acquaintances and, besides, Torrijos was not a Democrat, and so did not trigger an automatic defensive response from Wayne when talking politics.
   
   Needless to say, whether your country has 3 million people or 300 million, you don't become leader without having some people skills. So Torrijos invited Wayne to come to Panama for a meeting and a tour. They held several lengthy conversations, in which Torrijos' central argument is that both he and Republicans believe in "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" and "making something of yourself," and that control of the Canal would allow Panama to do that as a nation. Torrijos also arranged for Wayne to talk to some U.S. soldiers who were stationed in Panama; the soldiers told The Duke that ceding the Canal was the best way to keep it operating and to fight communism.
   
   When Wayne got back to the United States, he came out loudly in favor of ceding the canal. The necessary treaties were completed and signed by Carter and Torrijos on September 7, 1977; both were approved by the Senate by identical 68-32 votes. Both votes saw 52 Democrats and 16 Republicans voting in favor, and 10 Democrats and 22 Republicans voting against. Wayne passed away a little over a year after the Senate vote; Torrijos eulogized his friend in The Washington Post.
   
   
8. Humorless?: Carter had something of a reputation for lacking in the humor department. "He never told a joke in his life," said one congressman. This is not entirely a fair assessment; Carter was no Reagan or Obama when it came to frivolity, but he was no Ford or Nixon, either. For example, this passage from remarks delivered to the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Dinner on September 24, 1977, is actually pretty witty:

   I appreciate the chance to come. You've probably noticed that I was a little late in arriving. I met [Roots author] Alex Haley outside, and I made the mistake of saying, "Alex, how's your family?" Unfortunately, he told me. And it took a while to get in. Alex and I have a lot in common. I just came up a few minutes ago from an afternoon of campaigning in Virginia, and was in Williamsburg right across from where my own folks came to this country, I think 340 years ago, across the river from Jamestown. He and I were both in the Navy. We both were famous enough last year to be interviewed by Playboy magazine. We both wrote a book. Mine was called Why Not The Best?; his was.

   Carter also managed to get off the occasional non-scripted bon mot. When a reporter asked him how he would feel if his daughter had an adulterous affair, Carter answered that he would be "shocked and overwhelmed." After all, he observed, "she is only 7 years old." While Carter was visiting Egypt, he toured the Great Pyramid of Giza and was told it took 20 years to build. "I'm surprised that a government organization could do it that quickly," he remarked. On another occasion, the President was scheduled to give a speech to Texas farmers who were suffering a drought, and to break the news that he had been unable to secure disaster relief funding. Shortly before his plane arrived, there was an unexpected, hourlong, torrential downpour. "You asked for either money or rain," Carter told the farmers. "I couldn't get the money so I brought the rain."
   
   
9. Trix Is for Kids, but Tris Is Not: This is an interesting, perhaps instructive, and yet little-known chapter in the history of federal government regulations. In 1971, the Nixon administration issued an order requiring that all children's clothing be treated with flame retardant. This was a response to the fact that most adults smoked at that time, and there had been numerous tragedies in which children's clothes had caught on fire.
   
   The clothing manufacture industry responded by treating children's clothes with a new chemical called Tris. It was cost-effective. It prevented fires. It did not dissipate after repeated washings. It was perfect... except that it also proved to be carcinogenic. A number of factory workers who worked with Tris developed liver cancer, and several of them died.
   
   In response, in 1977, the Carter administration attempted to ban Tris. The manufacturers went to court and got the ban temporarily suspended, so they would have time to prepare. While the clock was ticking, the White House launched a PR campaign meant to turn American consumers against Tris. This worked, though it left manufacturers with a large supply of Tris-treated clothes, and with unused Tris. To avoid taking a loss, the companies arranged to start exporting Tris-treated clothing to other nations, particularly India and Vietnam. Carter was outraged by this, especially since his ban had officially taken effect. So, he issued an executive order to bring an end to what he called "circle of poison," forbidding American companies from exporting chemicals, or chemically treated products, if those chemicals were banned in the United States.
   
   This was very unhappy news for the United States' largest chemical producers, particularly Monsanto and Dow. They went to court again, and lost. Nonetheless, Big Chem's unhappiness was short-lived. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, one of his first acts was to overturn the restriction on exporting banned chemicals, citing "excessive regulation." Three years later, he signed off on $50 million in reimbursements to Monsanto, Dow and the other producers, to compensate for any losses they had sustained due to Carter's actions. Who said big business doesn't get a fair shake in the United States? Oh, right, nobody.
   
   Since that time, numerous Democrats have tried to get Congress to pass a bill forbidding the export of banned chemicals. It was a pet issue, in particular, of Vermont's Pat Leahy. However, these efforts have gone nowhere. Meanwhile, the once-and-still toxic Tris has made a comeback in the United States; it's now used in furniture.
   
   
10. The Jewish Community: On the whole, there may be no president who was more a friend to America's Jewish community, and to the world's Jewish population, than Carter. Most famously, he negotiated the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. That's an accomplishment that seems even more impressive now than it did in 1977, given how many presidents have tried, and largely failed, to follow up on it.
    
    Carter also showed his support for the Jewish people in other ways, big and small. He appointed more Jews to the federal bench than any president had, at that point. He advocated, at the U.N. and at international conferences, for the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate. He made it easier for Jews in Iran to relocate to the U.S. as refugees. He increased funding for research into and testing for Tay-Sachs disease. He established the President's Commission on the Holocaust, which led to the founding of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He was the first president to include Hanukkah as part of the White House's holiday celebrations, and was also the first president to host a Passover seder in the White House (in 1977).
    
    Rabbi Alvin Sugarman was an early convert and supporter, and opined that Carter was "as gracious and generous and caring a human being as you'd ever want to know. think his life has been a reflection of the highest ideals of the Judeo-Christian understanding of what it means to be a child of G-d. His life was rooted in a prophetic understanding of looking at the world through G-d's eyes and what the prophets yearned for, a world of justice." Stuart Eizenstat, who served as an advisor to Carter, concurred: "No American President has done more to advance the security of the state of Israel, champion the rights of the Jewish people around the world, memorialize the victims of the Holocaust and honor its survivors, and embody the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, repairing the world, than Jimmy Carter, a devout Southern Baptist from the tiny hamlet of Plains, GA."
    
    That said, the relationship between Carter and the Jewish-American community was rather less cozy in the last decades of the former president's life. While a lifelong supporter of Israel, he also became an advocate for the Palestinian people, and wrote a 2006 book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, that triggered much outrage. Many Jewish supporters who held positions advising or serving on the board of the Carter Center tendered their resignations, other Jewish leaders tore into Carter. A particularly extreme response came from Alan Dershowitz, who decreed: "Jimmy Carter has literally become such an anti-Israel bigot that there is a special place in Hell reserved for somebody like that. He has no sympathy or understanding for the suffering of the Jewish people—for the plight of the Jewish people. He loves every Muslim extremist he can find."
    
    Dershowitz is not exactly a representative spokesperson for Jewish Americans; he's been a few fries short of a Happy Meal for many years now, and much of his assessment of Carter is clearly unfair and unsupported by evidence. That said, the vitriol he expressed is real, and was echoed by many other prominent American Jews. Does this mean that Carter changed positions dramatically between his presidency and the end of his life? That he chose his words poorly when he titled that book? That pro-Israel Jews tend to react, or overreact, very strongly when that nation is criticized? Maybe all of the above. In any event, our goal with this series is to explore different dimensions of Carter's story, and this is an important one.

When we come back on Thursday, we'll have 10 more stories from the latter part of Carter's presidency. (Z)