Let Us Now Praise Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter's Unfinished Presidency... That was a wonderful lead editorial in today's New York Times about Jimmy Carter, who has entered hospice care at age 98 in his Plains, Georgia home. Written by progressive journalist Kai Bird, who authored a 2021 biography of Carter (The Outlier), the editorial makes a strong case that Carter's exemplary post-presidency (which includes building homes for the poor, as well as mediating international conflicts and stamping out plagues for the Carter Center) is actually "an extension" of his one-term presidency.
Bird cited Carter's many accomplishments as president -- including the Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt, the SALT II nuclear treaty with the Soviet Union, the integration of human rights into U.S. foreign policy, the redirection of the country toward renewable energy, the appointment of more minorities and women than any president before him, etc. Carter's mistakes came when he caved to the relentless pressure from the right -- including the powerful lobbying of Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, and his own national security advisor Zbigniew Brezezinski on behalf of the exiled Shah of Iran. When Carter finally gave in and allowed the sick monarch to live out the rest of his days in the U.S., our embassy in Tehran was promptly seized by protestors, and the 444-day hostage crisis became the biggest challenge for Carter.
As Bird points out, it was the treasonous Paris meeting in summer 1980 between William Casey -- the snaky advisor to GOP nominee Ronald Reagan and his future CIA chief -- and representatives of Ayatollah Khomeini that sealed President Carter's doom. Casey's secret deal with the ayatollah's men led to Reagan's presidential victory, as well as to the Iran-Contra scandal.
Jimmy Carter also deserves credit for attacking the Israeli government for sabotaging his Camp David agreement by building settlements in Palestinian territory. Carter bravely labeled this Israeli policy what it is -- apartheid. For his courage, Carter was condemned as anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic, neither of which is true.
Jimmy Carter at the end of his life deserves our acclaim for venturing into the sick cauldron of politics, during his presidency and afterwards, and trying to elevate human affairs. It was and is an impossible task. But he never gave up.
