Special Report: Former President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100

This is a special report from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Doug 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.359 Chrisner in New York. Jimmy Carter, the thirty ninth President 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.680 of the United States, has died at his home in Plains, Georgia, 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:12.480 at the age of one hundred. Carter was the longest 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.239 living former US president ever. In early twenty twenty three, 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.840 he opted to spend his remaining time at his home 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.239 in Plains while receiving hospice care. Bloomberg's John Tucker takes 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:25.919 a look at the life and legacy of Jimmy Carter. 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.280 Jimmy Carter served as a state senator and governor of 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.920 Georgia before running for the nation's highest office in nineteen 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:33.640 seventy six. 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.960 This man is Jimmy Carter, an uncommon man who is 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.960 now running for the Democratic nomination for president. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.720 Carter grew up in Georgia, attended the United States Naval Academy, 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.559 and then joined the Navy in nineteen forty six. He 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.640 later became an activist against racial segregation and supporter of 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.840 the Civil rights movement. He was a dark horse candidate 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.120 for the White House with little notoriety outside of Georgia, 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.840 defeating Generald Ford be Come thirty ninth President of the 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:02.680 United States. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.840 I Jimmy Carter to sell them this sware that I 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.920 will faithfully execute, that I will faithfully execute the office 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.800 of President of the United States the office of President 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.000 of the United States. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.880 Carter's tenure in the oval office was tumultuous, marked by inflation, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.760 a recession, and an energy crisis. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.760 Our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:27.920 its truck right now. 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:32.880 Carter encouraged energy conservation by all US citizens and created 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:36.600 the Department of Energy. A key achievement of his presidency 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:41.080 was mediating peace talks between Israel and Egypt in nineteen 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:41.760 seventy eight. 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.240 Today we've signed the peace treaty when both nations have won. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.320 Peace between Egypt and Israel has lasted since the treaty 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.840 went into effect, with Egypt eventually becoming an important strategic 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.800 partner of Israel. Leaders of both nations were awarded the 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.880 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.280 Good evening, the US Embassy in Tehran has been invaded 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:06.440 by Iranian students. 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.560 Carter's final year in office was marred by the Iran 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.919 hostage crisis, when fifty two American diplomats and citizens were 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.280 held in the US embassy in Tehran. Five months into 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.000 the affair, Carter ordered an operation to free the hostages, 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.680 which failed, leaving eight American servicemen dead. 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:29.120 It was my decision to attend the rescue operation. It 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.679 was my decision to cancel it when problems developed. The 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:34.640 responsibility is fully my own. 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:38.639 The Iran hostage crisis eventually contributed to Carter's loss to 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:43.480 Ronald Reagan in nineteen eighty. After politics, Carter committed much 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.560 of his time to peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts like Habitat 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:48.400 for Humanity. 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.200 Join us with Habitat for Humanity as we rebuilt homes 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:52.919 and lives. 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.880 Carter received numerous awards and accolades since exiting the White House, 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.959 including a United Nations Human Rights Prize nineteen ninety eight. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.320 In two thousand and two, he was awarded the Nobel 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.760 Peace Prize for his effort to find peaceful solutions to 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:09.280 international conflicts. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:17.040 Or may sometimes be unnecessary evil, but no matter how necessary, 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:23.360 it is always evil, never a good. We will not 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:29.040 learn how to live together in peace by killing each 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:29.880 other's children. 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.320 The Nobel Committee also noted Carter's efforts to advance democracy 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:39.000 and human rights and promote economic and social development. Jimmy 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.480 Carter was the longest retired president and the first to 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.280 live past the age of ninety five. He previously announced 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.119 plans to be buried at his home in Plains, Georgia, 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.160 John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.360 Carter was at his home alongside Rosalind, his wife of 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.400 seventy seven years, when she died in November twenty twenty 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.680 three at the age of ninety one. Carter lived long 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.680 enough to fulfill a final wish to cast a ballot 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.800 for Kamala Harris in the twenty twenty four presidential election. 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.640 Jimmy Carter, thirty ninth president of the United States, has 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.600 died at his home in Plains, Georgia, at the age 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:18.000 of one hundred. For more on the former president's legacy, 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:21.280 we go now to Bloomberg's Washington Bureau and Balance of 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:23.120 Power host Joe Matthew. 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:25.640 Joining us now to share thoughts on the life and 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.640 legacy of Jimmy Carter or Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis, 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.320 partner at Stone Court Capital, and Genie Shanzano, political science 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.240 professor at Iona University. Thanks to both of you for 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.080 being here at this important moment. Genie, how will Democrats 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:41.520 remember President Carter? 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.080 You know, I think they will remember him as a 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.279 president who took over the reigns of the White House 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.760 at a very difficult time post Watergate, obviously post the 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.280 loss in the Vietnam War. He was an improbable victor 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.840 of that office, you know, running essentially zero percent in 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.960 the polls in seventy four or when he started his 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.479 campaign lived in Iowa, made the Iowa caucus what it 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.880 is today, and went on to win, you know, shockingly 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:12.000 against Ford in a close selection. And of course I think, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:13.880 you know, one of the things that I long say 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:16.520 is that while his presidency he doesn't have, you know, 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:21.040 doesn't register high in the anals of what historians categorized presidents, 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.360 as I do think a re examination of it as 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.640 we go forward were revealed that he was a much 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.320 stronger president that he's given credit for, and potentially not 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.400 as strong of a post president as he is given 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:32.880 credit for. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:33.880 Rick. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.640 Republicans have a different view than Democrats, largely when it 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.600 comes to the life of James Earl Carter, and usually 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.800 not for the better, as I think Genie's referencing here 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.800 frequently comparing him recently to Joe Biden, how would you 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.599 describe the mark that he left on American politics. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.080 Yeah, I mean there are, as Genie said, lots of 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.760 questions related to the presidency at Jimmy Carter, you know, 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.960 Peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia who rose to the president's 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.560 But I think one of the things that's most intriguing 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:04.960 to me is how much the Middle East played in 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:09.920 his presidency, both as a positive and a horrible negative. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.360 Probably his greatest accomplishments in president of the Camp David 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.159 Accords in nineteen seventy eight, you know, that led to 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:20.320 a treaty between Israel and Egypt and really created the 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.080 framework for the Middle East that we know today. And 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.479 yet it was the Iran takeover the US embassy and 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.800 the hostages that were held that really I think, you know, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.840 signaled the end of his presidency. It was something that 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.520 as much as he tried, he couldn't overcome, and people 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.600 saw that as a mandate against his, you know, his 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:45.520 ability to govern. And so it's just intriguing that this 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.000 man from Georgia, you know, was so defined by a 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.040 place that was so far away and so complicated at 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.560 the time, and the minds of Americans. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:55.599 Isn't that right? Did he deserve to be defined in 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:55.880 that way? 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:56.279 Janie? 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.920 You know, I think some of it is what has 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.240 when we look at things in the moment, and as 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.120 we look backwards, as historians do, I think we will 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.760 revisit some of that. You know, I agree with Rick 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.680 in terms of his foreign policy accomplishments. You know, certainly 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.320 the Camp David Accords were a shining moment. It's interesting 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.760 that Carter himself pointed to something different as a shining moment, 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.120 although he did take credit for that, and that was 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.080 normalization of relations with China, and as we think about 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.840 it today, the global economy we have today would not 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.400 be possible without that. And of course you can add 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.840 to that on a foreign policy perspective the Panama Canal 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.880 Treaty as well, So he did have some foreign policy 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:40.640 victories really worth noting. Of course, the Iranian hostage crisis 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.200 was a very very difficult time at his presidency and 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.960 twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan has inaugurated, those hostages are 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.480 sent home, So you know, it is it is his 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.600 negotiations that get them back. But as is typical with Carter, 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.480 he doesn't get political credit in the moment. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.680 For any of the symbol of Jimmy Carter's political struggles 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.080 came on the fifteenth of July nineteen seventy nine and 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.720 addressed to the nation that became known as the Malaise Speech, 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.200 despite the fact that he never actually used the word malaise. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.280 The president was originally set that day to deliver a 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.680 speech about the energy crisis. He replaced it with one 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.080 about a crisis of confidence, as he put it, in 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.280 which he asked Americans to consume less and depend less 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.040 on the accumulation of goods. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:31.239 It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.880 that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:38.640 of our national will. We can see this crisis in 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.320 the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives, 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.200 and in the loss of a unity of purpose for 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:50.120 our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.240 is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:57.000 of America. 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.520 It's hard to imagine a president today delivering that speech, Genie. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.200 Is that why so many associate it with Jimmy Carter? 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:07.720 They do? And I'm so glad you said he never 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.000 used the word malaise in that speech, and it's the 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.000 speech worth rereading. It's one of the most important of 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.120 the twentieth century. And you know, he does something really, 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.720 as you mentioned, unprecedented, where he admits his shortcomings and 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.520 then he talks about a spiritual crisis among people in 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.199 the United States, too materialistic, too consumerist, and this moves 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.360 him into his sort of energy strategy. And as we 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.000 get out of that speech, rather he gets like an 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.080 eight point boost in the polls. It's received well, but 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.000 then he goes on to fire cabinet members, almost all 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.280 of them. It's a sign of instability. His poll numbers drop, 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.320 and the speech is sort of you know, gets this 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.439 moniker of malays and it's remembered that way ever since. 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.080 But I do think again it's part and person of 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.720 his challenges he had with the politics of the White House, 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.240 more so than the policy of the White House. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.760 Well, that's interesting, Rick Davis. You're known for, of course, 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.920 managing the presidential campaign of a candidate who was known 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.199 to tell it like it is. Was this a teachable 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:09.200 moment for modern politicians about being too honest? 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.360 It was for me. I was a young political operative 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.440 on the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign when that speech was given, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:22.360 and it really did actually define for me the parties 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.760 at the time. Democrats, you know, were sort of, you know, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.920 arguably studying their navels when it came to the economy. 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.400 They had no real plan. As Genie said, there were 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:38.760 economic and energy issues. People had long lines at gas stations. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.880 There was this thing called the misery index, you know, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.760 a combination of inflation and interest rates. I mean people forget, 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.480 interest rates were sky high, much triple to quadruple what 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:55.240 they are today. And the Republicans under Ronald Reagan's leadership 0:10:55.520 --> 0:11:00.679 as a candidate for president, really defined an economic renaissance 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:05.440 for the country and use that against Jimmy Carter in 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.000 the kinds of discussions he was trying to have with 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.640 the country over these kind of spiritual issues really who 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.240 we are and what we mean. And ron Reagan said, well, 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.520 you know, we are the greatest country for good in 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.160 the world, and what we need is an economy that 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:21.559 people can prosper with. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.280 I mentioned earlier Genie that he's so frequently compared to 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:29.400 Joe Biden and vice versa by Republicans today when you 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.920 add the inflation piece, the sense of malaise that some 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:38.160 people have and sort of the modern culture here in America. 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.560 And we even go back to the fact that Jimmy 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.000 Carter's first presidential endorsement from an elected official outside of 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:48.840 Georgia came from a young senator named Joe Biden. Why 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.560 not the Best was a campaign theme which sounds a 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.800 lot like build back Better and shares the same spirit. Genie, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:58.920 how similar are these two political creatures? 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.400 Do you think there are similarities? And it's fascinating that 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.800 was his first endorsement from a young Joe Biden at 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.280 the time. You know, one positive way in which I 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.360 think they are very similar is that we long forget 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.040 but that Jimmy Carter had forty major pieces of domestic 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.360 legislation during his time. He creates the Education Department FEMA, 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:23.600 he reforms civil service, fifteen pieces of environmental legislation on energy, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.439 and you know, I think he was, you know, almost 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.360 ahead of his time in some ways. He before he 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.120 leaves the White House, he talks about global warming, says 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.600 he's going to tackle in the second term, which never 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:36.640 comes about, and we can think now about what that 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.640 would be like. He famously installs solar panels on the 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:41.920 White House that people mock him for you know, so 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.920 he was somebody who was ford thinking, did have a 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.160 lot of major pieces of legislation, but in some senses 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.400 related to Joe Biden. And again it's hard to say 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.760 this because Biden's still in the White House, is that 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.760 he has difficulty allowing or getting the public to see 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.600 where he is headed and what benefits those will have 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.480 in store for him. And you know, I think there's 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.360 a lot of elements of that. You know, I look 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.200 at Rick was talking about inflation and interest rates, they 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.640 were sky high. What does he do? He does something difficult. 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.000 He gets Paul Volkler in there with the harsh, harsh, 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.559 you know, real steps at vulgar takes which don't benefit 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.760 Carter but certainly benefit Reagan when he comes in. And 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.680 so he's forward thinking in that way, but not to 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:25.400 his political benefit necessarily. 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.000 There's something here about the image of the presidency Rick 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.439 that changed with Jimmy Carter. And I don't know if 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.600 you want to invoke Joe Biden in this somehow, but 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.200 there was Remember there was no more hail to the Chief. 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.280 He wore a regular suit when he was sworn in, 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:44.000 no more yacht jeans worn in the White House for 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:48.240 some people, these were admirable developments that made him more relatable, 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.680 that brought the White House closer to the people. For others, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.400 it was a lack of decorum. It was a turn culturally. 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.360 Well, it was one of the very first sort of 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.319 insurgent presidencies of our modern presidency, right. I mean, his 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:07.560 team was a bunch of guys from Georgia who were 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.880 able to navigate his campaign to the presidency, and they 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:12.960 were used to that kind of casual nature. They were 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.560 used to having barbecues on weekends, which Carter made good 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.320 use of in trying to control the Congress into supporting 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.440 his legislation. And you're right, I mean it was a 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.200 shock to most of official Washington at the time because 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.160 up until that point in time, Washington hadn't changed much 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.000 over the course of the previous twenty five or forty years. 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.000 And so, you know, you could argue that it was 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:40.240 a breath of fresh air or a really destabilizing influence 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.680 into the establishment of Washington. Since then, there's been a 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:48.200 lot more instability in Washington. And yet I think you 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.560 can look back to the Carter presidency as a way 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.200 where so much of what we thought was standard operating 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:59.040 procedure was turned on its head, and now I think 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.120 there's more of a sense of vivity that with new 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.720 presidents come new teams, and that was certainly I think 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.880 more prevalent with Donald Trump, who brought in a whole 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:13.120 new crew to Washington, much the way I think Jimmy 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:14.520 Carter did. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.160 Some prescient words in his farewell addressed Genie. This is 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:22.160 from the fourteenth of January nineteen eighty one, when Jimmy 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.240 Carter spoke to the nation and delivered a warning on 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:26.360 his way out of the White House. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:30.920 We're increasing the drawn to single issue groups and special 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:35.840 interest organizations to ensure that whatever else happens, our own 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:40.960 personal views and our own private interest are protected. This 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:45.360 is a disturbing factor in American political life. It tends 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:46.920 to distort our purposes. 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.840 This is before Fox News and msnbcon and the rest 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.600 the blogs, the Internet and all of it. Genie, that 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:56.920 was a warning that a lot of us should have 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.120 been listening to. And when you look back at it now, 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.400 it's pretty remarked how spot on he was about the 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:03.520 direction we were taking. 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.200 That's right, I mean, he was really prescient in that, 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.400 you know, a long history of farewell addresses from Washington's 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.480 famous warnings about factions to Carter's and beyond. And his was, 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.400 you know, very forward looking, to the extent that he said, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.840 we are before the advent of social media and everything else, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.960 we are increasingly being very divided. And he did see 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:29.000 the United States as having something of a religious you know, 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.840 a faith a challenge. He was a very faithful person, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.640 and he wanted the United States to stop being as 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.680 materialistic as it was and start to address its spirituality 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.760 and do so together and remember that we had things 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.480 bigger than ourselves that we should think about. And of 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.800 course that sounds a bit pollyannish as we look back today, 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.480 but it's very much in keeping with who Carter was. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:53.480 You know. 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.920 I remember Hamilton Jordan defined him as, you know, almost 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.840 a pacifist in some ways, and I think it's sort 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:03.560 of indicative of the fact that he you know, it's 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.640 very tough to be president when you're seen as a pacifist. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.560 But this was Carter, and he battled with those kinds 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.960 of things and tried to move forward as a faithful 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.919 person and a faithful president. And you know, here was 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:19.240 somebody who opposed abortion but had to govern under Row, 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.479 so a very challenging place for him to be, and 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.280 he did it. You know, I think, as you know, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.200 as honestly as an individual can. 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.560 Of course, a naval veteran who was a graduate of 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.720 the Naval Academy, which a lot of people don't know. 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:34.960 Rick. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.399 The post presidency, many would suggest, was redefined by Jimmy 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.639 Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in two thousand and 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:47.480 two and developed the Habitat for Humanity, which really showed 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.720 to the world that someone could be more than just 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:51.679 a former president. 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.880 Yeah, his influence post presidency is really a special thing 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.800 and frankly redefined who he was in the American eye, 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.800 both with the work he did overseas. He would bring 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:09.400 delegations to countries budding democracies to oversee elections, to promote 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.720 democratic freedoms that were not very popular at the time 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.080 in the early nineteen eighties and nineties in some parts 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.800 of Latin American Africa. And then you know, as you 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:24.439 point out his passion and compassion for people who couldn't 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:29.040 support themselves, you know, through things like Habitat for Humanity. 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.879 I spent time building houses in Habitat Humanity myself and 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:39.280 the bringing together of communities to be able to give 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.720 something like home ownership to individuals who'd never had it before, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:47.360 whose families benefited for generations after that was really something special. 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.800 So it was really I think, you know, he blossomed 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.320 in his post presidency, and I think that's part of 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.560 what people have on the top of their mind when 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:57.720 thinking about Jimmy Carter. 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.639 Today's really something, Genie. We've been talking for some time 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.359 here about the many challenges and struggles that Jimmy Carter 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:09.480 had politically in his time at the White House. Yet 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.679 for presidents now he's become the model for what you 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:13.440 do when you leave. 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.320 He has, and it's fascinating. When he spoke about that, 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:19.600 he would often say he didn't have a plan because 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:21.639 he thought he was going to be president for another 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.479 four years, and there he found himself and so he 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.200 establishes the Carter Center. He also, I think, and I've 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.320 heard other people say this, and I agree with this, 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:35.320 he will, you know, obviously be remembered very warmly by Americans, 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.159 but by people around the world. You know, Carter is 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.200 an even bigger deal than many of our post presidents 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.720 because he did so much. I mean, if you just 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.560 look at guinea worm disease. He takes that from three 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.480 point five million to twenty five cases, and that had 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.680 destroyed many African countries, river blindness, as Rick mentioned, Habitat 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.560 for Humanities, his work on you know, monitoring elections, seeking 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.320 to end civil wars and crises, all of which he 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.840 won the Nobel Peace Prize as you talked about. And so, 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.720 you know, for people around the world, Carter is remembered 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.320 as one of the most important post presidents we've ever had, 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:14.680 and he did, you know, sort of lead the way 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.639 now for modern presidents as they leave the White House 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.240 for what they can sort of hope to be. He 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.400 stands as sort of a shining example in that realm. 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.439 He was the seventy sixth Governor of Georgia and the 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:30.000 thirty ninth President of the United States. Remembering Jimmy Carter 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:35.080 on Bloomberg with Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Genie Shanzano. 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.280 Many thanks to both of you for sharing insights on 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.600 this important day. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. This is 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:42.160 Bloomberg