The Life of Jimmy Carter Part I

Jimmy Carter is perhaps the most misunderstood president of the modern era. Carter who is just a few IQ points shy of being considered a genius is one of our smartest presidents yet his presidency was viewed as a failure by most. This episode covers the early years of Jimmy Carter.

Part I

Transcript

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22 BIOGRAPHY – Jimmy Carter

Intro

In the modern age of political discourse its not uncommon to hear something such as this

-insert Biden –

Or maybe this

-insert Trump

The man we are going to talk about today was more of this style

-insert Jimmy Carter

Often considered one of the worst presidents of the modern Era, As well as the most successful post presidency, Jimmy Carter is an Enigma, 

Carter had one of the highest IQ’s of any US president. His IQ is reportedly 153 Just shy of a Genius

Early years

Born in the rural, Plains Georgia October 1st 1924

From a town of only 600 people

As a child he used to grow peanuts and sell them in the local markets

He would prepare them and then walk to the town, where he would stay until he sold all of the peanuts. He would profit 1.00$ a day, the same amount a grown field worker would make.

His father taught him a valuable lesson as a child, When cotton reached its lowest point his father adviced him to invest his money into it and save it for when the cotton crop returned to normalcy.

As a child growing up in segregated rural Georgia Carter grew up playing with the African American children that worked for his father. He wrote of himself as a young child

 “ as a child I never thought about social or legal distincations about our white family and African American families that surrounded us in Archery (name of city). I knew of course that our house was larger than theirs, that my father gave the orders on the farm, and that we had an automobile or pickup truck while they had a wagon or mule. I assumed these advantages accrued to us because daddy worked harder and was fortunate in owning the land in which we lived. I took for granite that having separate schools and churches was just a matter of custom.

I didn’t realise only white people could vote in an election or serve in a jourey and I never heard anyone comment about these legal differences.

He remembers before the age of 14 he and his black friends used to act like children, playing, wrestling, always fighting to be leader, the leader normally was the person who won the last competition and then things changed, at the age of 14 or so he remembers approaching a pasture gate, they went to open it for Jimmy and then stepped back. He was confused and thought they must be playing a prank on him, maybe they set a trip wire. 

He believes probably they were heeding the words of their parents

From that time foreward there was always a distinction between them, friend and friend, race and race.

Carter unlike many of our modern presidents wasn’t born into wealth, he also wasn’t poor

His mother as a private nurse, at one point earning approximately 6$ for 24 hour duty

His father was a well respected, shrewd businessman and farmer

Carter as a young man worked hard, read a lot and graduated high school with all As. He dreamed of joining the navy after receiving numerous post cards and photos from his uncle who was in the navy and travelled all over the world.

After highschool, in 1941, he started undergraduate coursework in engineering at Georgia Southwestern College in nearby Americus, Georgia. The following year, he transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and he earned admission to the Naval Academy in 1943. He was a good student but was seen as reserved and quiet, in contrast to the academy's culture of aggressive hazing of freshmen. While at the academy, Carter fell in love with Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth. The two married shortly after his graduation in 1946.

Right after marriage he joined the navy as a commissioned Ensign, the lowest officer rank.

Carter served on battle ships and submarines, he rose from ranks from Ensign to Lieutenant 

He recalls in his autobiography a brush with death.

"I was standing watch on the bridge about two hours after midnight, with my feet on the slatted wooden deck, when I saw an enormous wave dead ahead. I ducked down beneath the chest-high steel protector that surrounded the front of the bridge and locked my arms around the safety rail," 
 

The wave, however, smothered the ship, several feet above Carter's head and he was ripped loose, lifted up and carried away from the ship.
 
 "I could only swim around in the turbulent water, striving to reach the surface. This was my first experience with impending death, but when the wave receded I found myself on the main deck directly aft of the bridge and was able to cling to our five-inch gun," he writes.
 
 

I realised how fragile was my existence, and how fallible were even the most dedicated and experienced seamen."
 
 
 

Carter distinguished himself in the navy and was hand chosen to work on America’s first nuclear submarine program.

Political Career

In 1953 After less than a year working on America’s nuclear submarine program carter received a message from home; his father was dying, he had to return home to work his peanut farm

Jimmy honouring his father returned home to Plainville Georgia to take his place on the peanut farm. His wife Rosalyn was furious at him for leaving behind such prestige.

Shortly after Jimmy unexpectedly decided to run for senate in his home state of Georgia,

He was successful running a very minimalist unfunded campaign.

After 2 terms in the Georgia senate he decided to run for state governor, Facing a segregationist named, Lester Maddox. Maddox was Famous for brandishing an axe handle to keep blacks away from his chicken restaurant. 

Jimmy ran by Promising better schools, better hospitals, better roads and a more competent government. 

The campaign was heated and in the end Carter lost by less than half a percentage point

After his loss, Jimmy was crushed, Jimmy who had always been religious had his faith shaken. He decided that Christ would always come first over politics in the future. He became a born again Christian, and after He went north and began spreading the gospel.

He decided a few years later to run for governor again. this time running against a corporate democrat who appealed to the black vote. Carter having learned from his defeat to Maddox; didn’t, he ran as a white populist. He was opposed to bussing, he was in favor of private schools, he would invite segregationist George Wallace to Georgia to give a speech, he wasn’t supporting segregationists but he was flirting with them. 

Jimmy pulled a big Switcharoo and After winning his gubernatorial campaign he quickly changed his message, He promoted racial equality and an end to racism. Many of his segregationist supporters were displeased. In his inaugural address he spoke of change and ending discrimination.

As Governor he was quite liberal and made several changes including prison reform. He put several portraits up of African American leaders in the Gubernatorial residence, and was supportive of women’s rights. He shifted the focus to energy problems and injustice.        

At this time in American politics roughly 100 years after the civil war, Southern Democrats were all but written out of American presidential races. Seen as renegades and outsiders, they were not heeded in DC

Jimmy wasn’t deterred and Shortly after he decided to run for president. The virtually unknown Peanut farmer from Nowhere Georgia, Jimmy Carter was running for the presidency.

 Carter had the appeal of character. The country was traumatized after Nixon and Watergate. 

Carter took the democratic nomination, as a shock. In the beginning running at about 5% of the vote he rapidly rose to 70%

The Postwar US economy dealt with Stagflation. In economics, stagflation or recession-inflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high, the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high.

Morale was low from the quick collapse of the South Vietnamese which had occurred the year before

No matter who was competing for the White House it was looking tough for Republican Incumbent President Gerald Ford, who dammed himself even more by Pardoning “The Crook” his predecessor Richard Nixon.

The Nixon pardon was controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men: that Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency.

Still in spite of all this, Carter was completely unknown, a heavily religious man, it didn’t appeal to mainstream America
 Carter wanted to appeal to a broader range of people, and not come of as such a goody-two-shoes so he gave an interview to Playboy Magazine. 

Carter during the interview spoke frankly and spoke on many subjects. The Southern Baptist spoke on his lack of fear in getting assassinated. The reason, he said was his Christian faith- Which led to a long discussion on the Christian subject of sin and redemption, the pious Carter responded to a question “

 “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.”

This shocked the nation who saw the devout carter as pure and clean.

BBC radio commentator Alistair Cooke opined at the time that the confessions were a liability, not because Americans looked down on someone who admitted to sin, but because the admissions seemed to come from an unfamiliar world, the world of the washed-in-the-blood Southern Baptist.

They gave us, he said, “The uncomfortable and growing feeling that we don’t quite know who Carter is or what he’s really up to.”

Time magazine accounted it among the “Top 10 Unfortunate Political One-liners.”

This moment tanked carter in the polls, before the playboy interview Carter every poll indicated that the 1976 presidential election would have been a landslide victory by Carter. The situation was tense; until the Presidential debates…

Carter was saved from probably the worst political debate remark in US history, uttered by Ford

Insert ford comment on SOVIET OCCUPATION

This blunder saved the presidential election for Jimmy Carter. The virtually unknown southern Baptist from Georgia won the election and became the 39th US president by one of the closest margins in American History.

Although the two were adversaries both politically and ideologically, Ford and Carter would go on to form an intimate relationship

During Carters presidency, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.

PRESIDENCY –

Carter was a breath of fresh air for the American people, He walked to the white house on the street with the people. 

Carter wanted to keep his image as a man of the people, His wife was invited to presidential meetings, his daughter Amy went to public school and was best friends with a Chilean cook’s child.

After the lies of the Nixon and LBJ administrations he was perfect for the role. The honest good intentioned outsider who was going to bring in new people to fill his cabinet, he was going to put human rights first and foremost.

-insert carter inaugural address--

Carters inaugural address emphasized his focus on human rights and peace.

On the first day of his presidency, Carter pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders by issuing Proclamation 4483. 

Carter brought in a team of outsiders for his cabinet which scared the establishment democratic party. 
 after a short time in the white house he addressed his first major problem, Energy. He gave a fireside speech asking the people of the USA to waste less.

He led by example installing solar panels onto the white house turning off the air conditioning and using more energy efficient forms of transportation. Energy was what he put first and foremost. A reason for this was US dependence on foreign oil and what deleterious effects it could have on the US economy, as demonstrated by the still in memory, 1973 gas crisis.

He used his Christian beliefs to bring humility to the white house, food was more simplistic, and liquor was no longer served at gatherings.

Carter refused to be corrupt, he was against Quid Pro Quo. If someone tried offering him a deal in exchange for something he was immediately turned off by it. This would hurt him as the swamp that is Washington DC saw him as suspicious and didn’t trust him.

Carter was not a Franklin Delenor Roosevelt New Deal democrat, He was not LBJ with his Great Society, Carter was a centrist. He isolated the leftist wing of the democratic party by his refusal to increase spending. Carter pledged he would not increase the debit and he intended on sticking to that. Many democrats wanted to return to institute new social programs, Carter would not. 

His goal was to Cut budgets and reduce the deficit dramatically.

“the democratic party needs to remove the stigma of unjustified spending” Carter said

Carter’s blunt easy to understand way of speaking made him attractive to the American public. His popularity skyrocketed in his early days in office.

PANAMA CANAL

One of Carter’s first moves was to improve relations with Latin America. Latin America had always had a mixed relationship with the American continents superpower the United states. Carter wanted to show good relations and negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaties Whereby the Panama Canal, built and paid for by the USA and on Panamanian soil would be returned to Panama within the century.

It was a very controversial move, The Conservative party was enraged at Carter giving away vital American assets.