The Life and Legacy of Jimmy Carter

from The New York Times I'm Michael. Babar this is the. [Music]. daily. today for many the presidency of Jimmy. Carter who died yesterday at the age of. 100 has become synonymous with. failure but as my colleague Peter Baker. explains the very qualities that hurt. Carter as president or the foundation of.

a post presidency that has both redeemed. and Rewritten his. [Music]. legacy it's Monday December. [Music]. 30th Peter you are a White House. reporter who has covered the last five. presidents you're also a historian of. the presidency itself and in those roles. I'm curious how you've been thinking.

about the life and now the death of. Jimmy Carter yeah it's really. interesting Michael because you know. I've spent the last few years writing. Jimmy Carter's obituary and I know that. sounds a little weird but that's. something we do at the newspaper right. to be prepared for these big moments and. researching and reflecting on his legacy. I've concluded that it's really hard to. imagine anybody like Jimmy Carter ever. being elected president again I mean he. was a very unusual man and it was a very. unusual presidency well talk about that.

this unusual man and his unusual. presidency and what in your mind is the. first chapter of that story that we. should understand right well first of. all we should know that Jimmy Carter. it's the American story in the sense of. our mythology how we believe in. ourselves he comes from very humble. beginnings in rural Georgia you know was. a peanut farmer he wore blue jeans and. had dirty fingernails you know his. childhood home had no running water.

electricity and he was openly religious. he talked about the Bible a lot he liked. to quote verses from it by the time he's. running for president the United States. he'd basically been a one-term governor. with no connections to Washington and. that meant that he was running a. campaign as an. outsider I see an America poised not. only at the beginning of a new century. now I mean today that's kind of a cliche. right A lot of people run for president. these days as an outsider he really was.

an outsider in every possible sense of. that word it defined his identity and it. defined his campaign and ultimately. would Define his presidency I see an. America that is turned away from. scandals and Corruption I see an. American president who governs with. Vigor and with vision and affirmative. leadership and he was the man that was. right for that moment it felt like. because at the country was hungry for an. outsider this is my vision of America I. hope you share it you know in 1976 when.

he was running for president you know. America had been through these multiple. traumas the war in Vietnam which killed. 50,000 American troops and divided the. nation and the angry and often violent. reactions to the civil rights movement. and you had Watergate the Scandal that. forced a President to resign for the. first time you know things that had. really sort of tore apart our society in. a lot of ways as we struggle with who we. were and what we wanted to be and so. Carter shows up but this particular.

moment is kind of a theoretically at. least an antidote to some of that and he. tells the country I'll never tell a line. I'll never make a misleading statement I. will never lie to you at a moment when. that really matters and unlike a lot of. politicians people really thought he may. have meant it he might have actually. been telling the truth about telling the. truth he might have actually been. telling the truth now it's really hard. for politian to not lie ever but he was. committed to.

[Music]. that ABC News presents political Spirit. of 76 and that does it ABC Now projects. Carter is the winner with 272 electoral. votes and he wins the election by our. projection James Earl Carter the next. president of the United States he beats. an incumbent President Gerald Ford who. was Nixon's former vice president and in. many ways the final shadow of the. Watergate era and prettyy much from the.

get-go Cara begins redefining the. presidency as an institution you know he. banned the playing of Hail to the Chief. when he walked in the room he sold the. presidential yacht called the Sequoia he. he carried his own bags onto Air Force. One when he traveled good evening. tomorrow will be two weeks since I. became president he gave these Fireside. Chats once most famously of course in a. cargan sweater very casual from the.

White House something we were not used. to in a president I'll report to you. from time to time about our government. both our problems and our achievements. he was really trying to be something. different than we had seen in the white. house before right a kind of president. who in some ways is unpresidential like. a a President Who despite holding the. most powerful office in the country is. constantly projecting humility exactly. and in the process demystifying in a way. the presidency. [Music].

but in some ways that doesn't go over. well you know he brings his georgean. style to Washington but he also brings. this small codery of Georgia advisors to. Washington who didn't know the place. very well didn't know Congress didn't. know how it worked didn't know National. politics and didn't seem to want to. adjust to it certainly he didn't and so. even though Carter has this really. powerfully strong Democratic majority in. Congress he ends up misplaying his.

relationship with them from the get-go. how so well one of the very first things. he does is he attacks a ritual that. lawmakers really love bipartisan by way. local water projects these are pork. barrel spending things that allow them. to go home to their constituents and say. I built this and I built that and he. basically tried to pull the plug on them. and he just refused to Curry favor with. lawmakers he didn't smooze or Dine with. them he wasn't like an LBJ or a FDR he. just didn't uh it wasn't his style of.

governance one time the Speaker of the. House tip O'Neal shows up at the White. House for a breakfast well with a. congressional leadership with Carter and. all there are are pastries and he's mad. that there's not a hot. breakfast small as that is he feels like. he's disrespected and that's the kind of. thing Carter disdains he disdains that. sort of what he thinks is kind of a. pomposity of Washington why should I. have to serve you a hot breakfast. because you're so full of it and instead. of adjusting another politician would.

simply adjust serve him some breakfast. serve him some eggs whatever he stands. on principle and what we learn about. Carter here is he's actually very. stubborn really stubborn as a George am. mule if you will and he's very certain. of his own rectitude as the guy who's. the outsider he has the Mandate he. believes to shake up Washington and. that's all well and good but it means. he's not playing the game and the game. players don't want to help him get his. agenda through and there's a cost to. that stubbornness h and the problems.

began to mount and they were the. problems of his own creation and the. problems that were not of his own. creation OPEC the organization of oil. producing countries which has thrown the. industrial world into grave turmoil. opens inflation starts Rising because of. an oil crisis in the Middle East the. prices in many San Diego stations have. gone up 12 cents a gallon since last. summer gas prices Skyrocket this gas. line at one station on the upper west. side ran from from 96th Street and West.

End Avenue all the way up to 102nd. Street shortages mean that you can't. fill your tank on any given day lines. stretch out around the block at gas. stations nightmare scenes on the Evening. News isn't this disgusting why doesn't. anybody contact the president why is he. letting this happen to us and Carter. responds by giving out series of energy. speeches all of us must learn to waste. less energy basically telling people how. they can conserve energy we simply must.

balance our demand for energy with our. rapidly shrinking resources small. sacrifices they can make if we learn to. live thriftily and remember the. importance of helping our neighbors then. we can find ways to adjust ways that. could be more responsible Mr President. uh recent polls show that job rating is. dropping and continues to drop and. people are just not hearing it his. approval ratings are tanking. [Music].

so he knows his presidency isn't going. smoothly and he's talking about giving. another energy speech and everybody says. not another energy speech even rosn his. wife says nobody wants to hear you give. another energy speech they just want to. know that you're going to fix the. problem and it really causes him to. think through what's going on here and. his his adviser Pat cadell says you need. to talk about where the country is the. country is having a crisis of confidence. and Carter takes that to heart he goes. up to Camp David and he basically.

Retreats from the world for about 10. days just he won't come back out of Camp. David while he's thinking through what. he wants to do what he wants to say to. the country and he brings dozens of. people in and out of this mountain. Retreat through the course of more than. a week Jesse Jackson shows up Bill. Clinton shows up he was the governor of. Arkansas at the time to give them their. ideas of what they think is going on in. the country and there's Jimmy Carter in. the lodge at Camp Davis sitting on the. floor taking notes as people are you. know giving him their ideas and he's.

he's crafting this speech he wants to. give to the country he's crafting this. address he wants to connect to the. country and address their shared issues. and so he comes down off the mountain at. last and he tells his staff I'm ready to. speak to the country I think it's time. and they arrange with the networks to. have him get an address from the Oval. Office he puts on the suit and he sits. at the desk the Resolute desk in the. summer of 1979.

evening this is a special night for me. and for 30 minutes he tells the country. what he thinks is going. wrong it's clear that the true problems. of our nation are much. deeper deeper than gasoline lines or. energy shortages deeper even than invl. or. recession and he he delivers this very. risky speech the kind of speech you. never hear from president it's a.

president who in a very bracing and. blunt way is telling the country to get. its act together it is a. crisis of. confidence it is a crisis that strikes. in the very Heart and Soul and Spirit of. our national. World he's diagnosing a larger problem. with the American public not just. politics human. identity is no longer defined by what. one.

does what one. owns he talks about the notion that we. worship self-indulgence and consumption. this is a very much of a Preacher speech. in some ways rather than a president. speech and these wounds he's talking. about are very deep and he's also. talking about himself in a way that. presidents generally don't do I want to. share with you what I've. heard first of all I got a lot of. personal.

advice let me quote a few of the typical. comments that I wrote. down very self-critical president you're. not leading this. nation you're just managing the. government he quotes some of the people. who come through Camp David telling him. how he's getting it wrong how he's not. doing it right the people enough. anymore and it's this remarkable. self-critique that I think it in in some. ways really actually resonates at First.

with the audience that they've never. heard a president open up like this and. admit that he isn't leading to his own. satisfaction that he's willing to accept. that his presidency is not going the way. he wants it to be working together. without common. faith we cannot. [Music]. fail thank you and good night.

imagine a modern president doing that. today right I really can't I mean but it. very much seems to reflect that campaign. promise Peter that Jimmy Carter would. never lie to the American people in some. ways this is a rather extraordinary dose. of Truth it is exactly right he is the. truth teller in this instance and his. view he is being very honest with the. American public about how he sees the. problems of the country. and it goes over well at first because.

it is so unusual because it is so. refreshing in its own way it was sort of. celebrated for its cander and you know. at first people think he has actually. broken through but then he does. something to undermine the whole purpose. of it which is what he fires his whole. cabinet he fires his whole cabinet yeah. he asked for all of the resignations all. of them he ends up keeping most of them. but he ends up using it as a way of. cleaning out a few of them and it it.

sends a statement that he may not have. intended to the country it may have been. meant as a cleansing idea a fresh start. but it actually caused a lot of. Americans to doubt his judgment they. don't think he knows what he's doing and. even his own vice president Walter. Mondale was so upset about this that he. started contemplating whether he was. going to stay on the ticket or maybe. even resign as vice president he thought. this was such a ham-handed badly handled. move it was amateurish in his mind so. this reset that Jimmy Carter has.

attempted to undertake with those. meetings at Camp David with this speech. with this theoretical cleansing of his. cabinet it is all very much seeming to. backfire yes and after all that drama. that self-critical speech that he. delivered that so many people originally. connected with suddenly looked different. through a different lens people start to. see the speech as a sign of weakness and. it becomes known as the Malay speech.

even though he never even uses the word. Malay is in it but it's a marker at this. point for his presidency for years to. come people would remember that speech. as an example of somebody who couldn't. lead right and the reason it's called. the Malay speech is not just because it. was about American malaise because it. seemed to embody Jimmy Carter's malaise. as President right right he had. alienated his own party and when it came. to the domestic side his presidency he. was being seen as a.

disappointment but what was making him. unsuccessful at home his outsiderness. his stubbornness His image of himself as. this unvarnished truth teller all of. that helps him make him a success in one. particularly intractable problem. overseas we be right.

back Peter after all these domestic. stumbles tell us about this success that. Carter has overseas so amid all these. troubles at home Carter decides he's. going to try to do something that no. president ever done before which is to. resolve one of the biggest conflicts in. the Middle East at that time between. these two longtime enemies Israel and. Egypt I mean people may not remember. this now but Egypt was one of the. strongest Arab Nations at the time and. like the the rest of the region hadn't.

even accepted Israel's right to exist. since it had been established in. 1948 and so they basically been at War. for 30 years at this point off and on. and it was the core instability of the. region so he wants to dive on in he. believes through this same stubbornness. that he is uniquely qualified to bring. them together good evening the scene is. Camp David the president's Mountain. Retreat 75 Mi Northwest of here the. participants so he invites manakum Bean.

the prime minister of Israel and anir El. Sadat the president of Egypt to Camp. David in September 1978 how long they'll. stay in the mountains and what they'll. say when they come down Nobody Knows the. Middle East for what would become 13. days of pretty remarkable. negotiations it's an insanely complex. negotiation over land and politics and. religion and history and throughout. these 13 days it's Carter singularly.

holding the whole thing together the. this crazy Enterprise that seems like. it's going to break down at any. moment he's almost literally physically. throwing himself in the door to prevent. this side or that side from throwing up. their hands and leaving H at one point. you know the the Egyptians packed their. bags and single they were done with. these talks and it's Carter who has to. talk them out of leaving at another. point he brings photographs of himself. to sign for each of Bean's eight. grandchildren which reminds the two of.

them at that moment what they're doing. this for for the Next Generation Carter. he's appealing to anything he can think. of to get these two enemies to come. together and make. [Music]. peace when we first arrived at Camp. David the first thing upon which we. agreed was to pray that our negotiations. would be successful those prayers have. been answered far beyond expectations. and it works they actually reach a deal. one of the most extraordinary moments in.

the history of diplomacy Israel and. Egypt have agreed to two documents. taking a giant step toward achieving. peace in their troubled corner of the. world Israel and later it's immortalized. in this photo it's it's one of the most. famous photos of his presidency probably. of him standing between these two. leaders bean and Sadat at a ceremony on. the lawn of the White House and the. three of them are holding hands together. and they have these big grins on their. faces and it feels like such an. invigorating inspiring moment.

[Music]. the Kamp David conference should be. renamed it was the Jimmy Carter. [Music]. conference and everybody agrees that had. it not been for him it never would have. happened and here we see Carter's. stubbornness paying off he was. single-minded in his Pursuit he was the. only one there at Camp David who thought. he could pull it off president. Carter for long days and nights you.

devoted your time and energy to the puru. of Peace Sadat later called him the. Unknown Soldier of the peacemaking. effort and bean agreed he says that. Carter would be quote remembered and. recorded by generations to come as far. as my historic experience is concerned I. think that he worked harder than our. forefathers did in Egypt building the.

pitam and it is in fact this singular. accomplishment that is probably the one. most lasting enduring and triumphal. moment of the Carter presidency but of. course there's another moment a final. chapter of this presidency that's just. as defining as the Camp David Accords. and that is remembered for generations. to come so tell us about that yeah just. as defining but not at all triumphant in. fact this really is the moment that. leads to the end of Carter's presidency.

and that's the Iran hostage. crisis good evening a tearful Shaw of. Iran left his country today on a. vacation from which he may never return. and for the in 1979 in Iran Muslim. clerics lead a revolution that. overthrows the leader of the secular. government there that's the Sha of Iran. who'd been a close Ally of the United. States and after the Sha was overthrown. and left the country he became sick and. needed Medical Medical Care and as a US.

Ally wanted to come to the United States. for help there was a ton of pressure on. Carter to let him in when you had people. like Henry Kissinger and David. Rockefeller they're all pushing Carter. let him in let him in it's the right. thing to do for an ally but Carter knew. how risky this was and maybe in a way. almost nobody else did he told his AIDs. that he feared it would lead to violence. against American diplomats in. [Music]. Iran and why did he fear that well he. had seen what had happened in an earlier.

stage of the uprising that had led to a. shortlived Siege of the embassy in Tyron. it didn't last long and there only a few. casualties but he saw the potential for. violence there and he realized that the. shaw came the United States would be so. offensive to this newly ascended crowd. in tyan that would put the embassy in. danger but given the pressure on him. from the Sha's American Allies from. within and outside of the government. Carter invites him to the US anyway and. just like he predicted. several hundred young people mainly.

students at Teran University had taken. over the embassy we are not occupiers. they said we have thrown out the. occupiers militants in tran storm the US. Embassy and hold scores of US government. workers there hostage demanding that the. Sha be returned to Iran to stand trial. this morning for the first time since. the hostages were put under lock and key. one of the captives blindfolded was. brought out into the open Yankee go home. they cried but they made no attempt to. harm him Carter refuses to send the Sha.

back to Iran and the militants refused. to release these hostages and it becomes. this incredible standoff really of a. generation an enormous story heard. around the world the special report that. we planned to bring you tonight was. about domestic politics but we think the. crisis in Iran is more urgent right now. than the campaign here at home it's on. around the clock TV coverage families of. the employees are on television pleading. for the release Americans are tying. yellow ribbons around trees in front of.

their houses it's an all consuming story. for much of America 222nd day of. captivity the 285th day of captivity the. 377th day of captivity for American. hostages in Iran every night you have. the anchors saying day 138 of the. hostage crisis day 420 of the hostage. [Music]. crisis and it really. just consumed the country and it.

consumed Carter's presidency how does it. consume Carter's presidency well you. know he had the choice of putting this. to the side or at least making it one. issue of many but instead he chose to. cancel speeches out of town to cancel. campaign events he made this the number. one priority of his presidency and these. same qualities we're talking about the. sort of stubborn single-minded. determination that we saw at Camp David. that worked well for him there really. kind of works against him here because.

he wants to solve this problem and he's. going to do nothing but focus on it no. matter what else is happening basically. and that becomes in effect the cinon. test of his presidency if he can solve. this then he is successful if he can't. solve it it means he's not and he. inadvertently creates the the metric by. which he's going to be judged what is. your understanding of why President. Carter would make this hostage crisis. which of course looks terrible for any. president it's a hostage crisis why does. he decide to make it so Central to his.

presidency in this moment why not. basically put it in the background he. took it very personally he felt. responsible for these diplomats who in. fact work for him right he's the. president of United States and they were. there in trouble in some ways because of. a decision he made to let the Shaw in so. he took it very personally and it's a. little like the Malay speech in the. sense that he can't help himself but to. communicate that to the public right. he's communicating what he thinks and. feels in a way that most presidents. might not most presidents might try to.

focus on other things so as not to. elevate this particular crisis among the. many he had to deal with but that wasn't. Carter's way he always wants to be you. know transparent with the country about. what he's thinking what he's feeling. right he wears his worry in a very big. public way he wears his worry in a very. big public way it's a good way to put it. and therefore the country worries with. him and instead of being able to sort of. Judge it among the many different. priorities that a president has it. becomes the sing focus of not just the.

president but the country as a whole and. in effect what he tries is what he did. at Camp David which is that if he simply. puts enough determination into it he. feels he can solve the problem so what. does Carter do to try to free these. hostages and turn this test into a. success he engages on this sort of. marathon diplomatic negotiation through. intermediaries other countries anything. he can find to try to you know obtain. the release of these hostages that goes. nowhere the Iranians are not willing to.

budge they're not willing to make the. deal that he wants them to make and and. he finds himself frustrated time after. time without any great success to show. for it and so five months into the. crisis he then finally turns to the. military and he says okay it's your. turn and he sends in a mission meant to. rescue the hostages from the embassy in. the middle of a big urban city Big. Challenge really hard.

idea late yesterday I cancelled a. carefully planned operation to position. our Rescue Team for a later withdrawal. of American hostages and that failed. equipment failure and the Rescue. helicopters made it necessary to end the. mission eight of the crewmen of the two. aircraft which collided were killed and. several other Americans were hurt in the. accident they miscalculate the number of. helicopter they need number of American.

military personnel are killed and. instead of this dramatic Rescue of. Americans from tan you have this. enormous embarrassment on the. international stage a failed military. rescue operation that leaves Carter in a. worse position than he was even before. we will seek to continue along with. other nations and with the officials of. Iran a prompt resolution of the crisis. without any loss of life and through. peaceful and diplomatic.

means thank you very. [Music]. much right and because he is so fixated. on this and as a result the media is so. fixated on this that failure becomes a. kind of political disaster it's a. complete political disaster his. secretary of state resigns says he never. thought that was a good idea in the. first place people question his. Effectiveness as a commanderin-chief he. looks week and people begin to lose.

faith in it and so you know the crisis. just continues to go on and on for day. after day week after week month after. month 1979 drags into 1980 and while at. first voters were kind of supportive of. them because they were rallying around. their present in a time of Crisis as the. ordeal goes on and drags on and on they. lose faith in him he loses support among. the public and of course unfortunately. for Carter he is up for. reelection that same year. right he's facing a challenge in the.

primaries from Ted Kennedy he beats him. back but then he has to face this. charismatic former actor and governor of. California Ronald Reagan and Reagan is. attacking him for failing to end this. crisis basically saying he will be the. one to end it if he is elected president. and it just puts Carter on the defensive. he has a hard time arguing the case of. his presidency when he feels so much. Under Siege by the day-to-day diplomacy. and and this failed military operation.

so he runs what is called a Rose Garden. Campaign which is to say that he doesn't. leave the White House that much to do. the traditional stump speeches and you. know rallies and so forth because he. feels that would be inappropriate with. these American diplomats facing life and. death in tyan and he ends up losing by a. wide margin Reagan ends up winning a a. pretty substantial uh. Landslide and then of course is going to. take office in January of 1981 and never. forget that day cuz on that day the.

inauguration Carter is trying up until. the last minute to get these hostages. out and he thinks he finally has a deal. around 6:30 in the morning they tell him. yes we've got a deal the hostages are. going to be released before noon before. you leave office and he's excited he. calls Reagan to tell him but Reagan is. asleep and the AIDS won't wake up the. president-elect to tell him so he's. frustrated by that and he goes with. Reagan later in the morning to the. capital and even then thees are still on. the plane but the plane hasn't been. released yet it hasn't been allowed to.

take off he's watching his watch he's. waiting for the word nothing happens and. there is Reagan taking the oath of. office and ending the Carter presidency. day one of Ronald Reagan's presidency. and day one of freedom for 52 Americans. and only at that point the new president. had not been in office an hour when the. former hostages became free men and. women again did the Iranians finally let. the plane take off one last cruel. indignity meant to torture Jimmy Carter. that he could not releasee them on his.

watch they released in the first minutes. of the Reagan presidency the last. indignity for a humbled president Peter. it's almost as if the Iranians having. already contributed to Carter's. re-election loss want to further. humiliate him even after that defeat. well it definitely felt that way at the. time and Carter certainly felt that way. you know that they were tormenting him. in effect that they were adding insult. to injury look it's important remember. there were other factors going on in.

that election as well and it's possible. Carter would have lost anyway I mean. there was kind of an exhaustion with him. at this point and Americans were. struggling with inflation and. unemployment and economic uh troubles. Reagan famously said in one of the. debates you know are you better off than. you were four years ago and a lot of. Americans thought the answer was no and. Reagan was this more optimistic figure. at a time when the country was looking. for it he was the anti- malaise. candidate in a way right he talked about. America as a shining city on a hill and.

he didn't uh appear in a cardigan he. believed in the Grandeur of the office. and so where Carter wanted to uh make. the presidency smaller more accessible. more approachable less Pomp and. Circumstance Reagan was this Hollywood. actor turned governor who wanted to. bring back kind of Black Tie Swagger to. Washington and convince America that it. was his exceptional place in the world. which is what a lot of Americans wanted. to hear then it feels complicated though. right Peter because as you explained a. little bit earlier the idea of Jimmy.

Carter in. 1976 when he's first running as an. outsider after all these excesses. Watergate in Vietnam was indisputably. alluring the kind of smaller version of. the office but then it seems the reality. of Jimmy Carter turned out to be less. appealing yeah I mean I think these are. attributes that really worked for him in. 1976 when there was this Watergate. hangover this Vietnam hangover they just. didn't work for him in 1980 when there. was kind of a Carter malaise if you will.

right that they didn't serve him as. effectively while he was president and. running for re-election as they did the. first time he asked voters to put him in. office in the first place and he didn't. adjust he didn't adapt but when he. leaves office it turns out that it. wasn't an act this was who he was well. just explain that what about his post. presidency shows us that this is who. Carter was. well what distinguishes it is its utter.

modesty right most presidents after. leaving office become rich they sign. multimillion doll book deals or uh like. with President Obama podcast and TV. deals they give paid speeches and they. live a life that resembles the Splendor. of the office that they had held but. Carter didn't do that he first literally. goes back to Plains Georgia to the same. house this little ranch house that he. and rosalin had lived in since 19 61. modest very unassuming at one point the.

house in fact is worth less than the. large Secret Service vehicles that are. parked outside of it and the first thing. he does is start teaching Sunday school. wow and when he does finally reappear in. the public Arena it's when he opens the. Carter Center in 1982 just two years. after his defeat in the election and. it's through this nonprofit group that. we witness a post presidency of service. and Civic mindedness that's really. unlike anything we've seen in the modern. political era do you have the voter ID.

cards here yeah he travels the world. promoting human rights and monitoring. elections in emerging democracies. countries like Panama and Nicaragua and. Venezuela well we have five minutes to. go here on voting and uh at this. particular place it turn out has been. 83% which is quite good he physically. shows up during these elections he. stands at the polls and watches people. vote election after election to assure. that the process is free and fair the. worm comes out in a joint say in your. knee they it swells up and destroys a.

tissue so he starts a program to. eradicate guinea worm the very painful. and debilitating disease in the. developing world that in the 1980s. affected millions of people and of. course these kids can't go to school the. pain is too great and they need medical. care and he persuades Volunteers in tens. of thousands of villages to treat the. water where the worms grow and the. Carter Center hands out millions of. specialized drinking St that filter out. these worms and basically guinea worm is.

almost gone now as a result of some of. the things that he did and and now I. call upon the Peace Prize Laurette of. 2002 Jimmy. Carter all this finally I think leads to. the Nobel Peace Prize that he didn't win. while he was in office members of a. Nobel committee from. Norway it is with a deep sense of. gratitude that I accept this prize and. during his acceptance speech Carter.

demonstrates his humility a genuine. humility the scope and character of our. sin's activities are perhaps unique but. in many other ways they are typical of. the work being done by hundreds of. non-governmental. organizations that strive for human. rights and peace he praises the tireless. efforts of other humanitarian workers. God gives us a capacity for choice we. can choose. to alleviate. suffering we can choose to work together.

for peace and he urges others to devote. themselves to the small humble work that. had defined the last several decades of. his life we can make these. changes and we. must thank. [Applause]. [Music]. you and you know it's this service and. modesty that he demonstrated that.

finally I think in some ways allows him. to redeem himself for the failures of. the time when he was in office in fact a. lot of people say Carter was a better. former president than he was president. at one point one of his biographers Kai. bird said Carter is the only president. ever to use the White House as a. stepping stone to doing bigger things. and it earned Carter a lot of respect. even among Republicans who otherwise. didn't particularly like him and. Democrats who were kind of disappointed. in him but certainly I think the way.

most Americans remember Carter today is. is the man from Plains Georgia who's. trying to use his platform of a former. president to achieve things that in fact. he couldn't do while in. office the modern presidency in some. ways requires compromises he wasn't. really willing to make and and and kind. of performances that he wasn't maybe. capable of and every successor everybody. who's come after him has thought about.

how not to be the kind of presid Jimmy. Carter was even as they respect the kind. of man that Jimmy Carter. was and that's why for good or bad it. feels like we're never going to see. someone like Jimmy Carter in the. presidency. [Music]. again Peter thank you very much thank. you appreciate it. [Music]. I prayed more when I was in the Oval.

Office than any other time to my. life and I never did pray that I would. be popular or that I would be reelected. I prayed that I could keep my country at. peace I could find peace for others that. I could U have patience and an adequate. element of wisdom judgment Paul said. these are the only things that are. important Justice truth humility. service compassion love those are the. things that that make a great. [Music].

life over the next week the body of. former President Carter is expected to. be taken by motorcade from his home in. Plains Georgia to Atlanta where he will. lie in Repose at the Carter center after. that he will be flown to Washington. where he will lie in state at the US. capital before a formal funeral at the. national naal. Cathedral per Carter's wishes he will be.

interred back in Georgia at a simple. family. [Music]. plot we'll be right back. [Music].

here's what else you need to know today. investigators are trying to determine. what caused a South Korean passenger. plane to Skid across a runway on Sunday. morning and crash into a barrier killing. nearly all. 181 people on board it was one of the. deadliest Aviation disasters in years. shortly before the crash the control. tower at the airport warned of a.

possible bird strike and soon after the. plane's Pilots issued a. [Music]. Mayday today's episode was produced by. Carlos PRI and Sydney Harper with help. from Alexandra Lee Young and will Reed. it was edited by Lisa chow and Devin. Taylor fact checked by Susan Lee. contains original music by Mary and. Lozano Dan Powell Rowan misto and Sophia.

lman and was engineered by Alyssa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben Lanser of. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael. Babar see you tomorrow.