There’s little doubt that Jimmy Carter doesn’t have long to live: he has liver cancer, and now four spots of melanoma have metastasized to his brain from an unknown source. The prognosis is, of course, very dire. (See the New York Times article here.)
Characteristically, Carter held a press conference yesterday at his eponymous Center to discuss his diagnosis and his reaction to the bad news. Here’s the whole thing. His statement lasts until 7:50, and then he answers questions from the press.
Highlights: The most striking thing, to me, is the sense of humor and calmness with which Carter describes the road ahead, even seeing it as a “new adventure.” This is truly a man at peace with his fate, and his conference is punctuated by many smiles. Perhaps he’s sustained by his faith, but I like to think that it’s simply his bravery when facing the inevitable. And he maintains his eloquence throughout.
4:10: Carter says, smiling, that he’s finally going to cut down his extensive workload for the Carter Center
8:30: He describes his reaction after the diagnosis, saying that he was “surpringly at ease” in view of his long and gratifying life. He adds in responding to the next question that he’s “completely at ease with whatever comes” and he’s “very grateful for his time”.
15:10: Carter notes he still hopes to go to Nepal, but there’s a hitch since it conflicts with his treatment schedule.
16:00: He reflects on his performance as an ex-President, and on the formidable achievements of the Carter Center.
22:25: When asked about his greatest achievements, he says, beaming, “The best thing I ever did was marry Rosalynn. That’s the pinnacle of my life, and we’ve had 69 years together–still together. And that’s the best thing that happened to me.” This made me tear up a bit, for few relationships last that long, much less remain strong that long.
23:37: He gives a funny answer to a question about what he would have done differently during his life. I’ll let you listen to that yourself.
This is the best ex-President ever.
I totally agree that President Carter is the “best ex-President ever”. What he has accomplished since he left the presidency is both amazing and inspirational. I only wish that all religious people would “walk the walk” like him.
Imagine the world if the Templeton Foundation had used their billions as The Carter Center uses their millions.
Indeed.
Indeed! Carter may be inspired by the dictates of his faith, but, unlike Templeton, he doesn’t enable faith by funding theologians!
President carter has, I think, a track record of reaching past his own experience for the greater good. He was a decorated Naval officer and graduate of the US Naval Academy who pardoned those who evaded the draft during Vietnam as his first act in office.
The American Statesman is a vanishingly rare creature. All the more frustrating that this one should be stolen by such a petty thief as cancer.
He will be missed.
President Carter, excuse my typo. It was not meant to be a sign of disrespect.
In regards religion, consider that before his White House days, Carter resigned from the Baptist Church in Plains as a protest against its segregationist policies. That’s always won him big points in my book. (Consider, too, that Jimmy’s predecessor as governor of Georgia was arch-racist Lester Maddox.)
Carter is as sharp and intelligent and thoughtful as ever.
Jimmy Carter is much too civilized,empathetic and just too nice to be a politician
I agree Carter is the best ex president ever. I also liked him when he was president.
I’m grateful that he is speaking openly like this about his condition. I’t makes me reflect on my own mortality and hope I have some of the same strength and agility in dealing with however that unfolds.
While not disparaging the President and not disagreeing with the fact that Mr. Carter was a fine, gentle president, I wanted to remind everyone that eight service members died during the rescue attempt.
His comment on what he’d do differently bears on what you said.
Re. that, Col Charlie Beckwith, commander of the aborted Delta Force raid to free the American hostages in Iran, told him: “Mr. President, me and my boys think that you are as tough as a woodpecker’s lips.”
That botched operation in the Iranian desert cost Carter the 1980 election more than anything else — that, and Reagan’s back-channeling of the ayatollahs to snake Carter’s subsequent efforts to negotiate the hostages’ release (the same way Nixon snaked the Paris peace process in ’68 to win his election against Hubert Humphrey). Quite the patriots and statesmen, those Republicans.
Just congenially curious, would you have recommended to Carter that he not pursue the mission?
Hmmm, although the commandos had complete knowledge of the terrain and maybe partial surprise, they were entering totally surrounded and enemy controlled territory, the target area and hostages would have seriously been clogged with non-combatants, the hostage takers were “true believers” that weren’t afraid to die for Allah and the revolution……so no I would not have recommended a hostage rescue. I believe that Munich, the Moscow theatre and even Mogadishu would have been the most likely of outcomes.
Regarding a U.S. helicopter – for whatever good or not-so-good reason(s) – colliding with a C-141 transport jet on the ground soon after the mission was aborted, I trust that it will not be too unreasonable and inappropriate to also observe/remind that:
1983: 241 U.S. service members died when their barracks were bombed in Beirut.
1985: 248 service members died in an air crash in Newfoundland.
1975: the Mayaguez incident, at least 23 U.S. service members dying, a few captured and executed by the Khmer Rouge. (Did the public not elect Ford on account of this?)
1966: a B-52/KC-135 collision/crash over Spain, the B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs, some contamination, one bomb recovered from a depth of 2800 ft. after a herculean effort. Seven service members died.
1967: the USS Forrestal fire, killing 134 and injuring 161.
1963/1968: submarines Thresher/Scorpion accidents, 129/99 dying. Nuclear weapons also involved in one of these incidents.
(How about the tsunami of service member suicides in the wake of the Iraq adventure?)
In all these situations the POTUS has inescapable ultimate responsibility, but surely not always culpability/accountability.
Carter’s having one additional aircraft, so as to possibly complete the mission, was no guarantee that no accident would happen due to, say, the carelessness/culpability of on-site personnel (as opposed to that of someone sitting in the White House Situation Room unable to directly act or influence the actions of others on the other side of the planet).
Had the mission otherwise succeeded would the noble U.S. voters have re-elected Carter? Well, they certainly re-elected Reagan after the Beirut barracks bombing, eh?
Thanks Filippo. One could also wonder about the loss of life during Vietnam and the Iraq invasions both of which were far more predictable than the hostage raid.
Against that perspective, bringing up the eight smells suspiciously like ‘looking for a stick to beat him with’.
cr
I’m sure Jimmy Carter was as grief-stricken as anyone else–besides the victim’s families– that the mission ended like it did. And I suspect the military-action death toll during Carter’s term was lower than that of any other president post-Viet Nam.
The best ex-president ever? Indeed! I remember making that statement probably 20 years or so ago, and he’s done vastly more good since then.
Let’s not forget Reagan’s post presidency. He solicited money for his presidential library and trimmed branches from horseback on his ranch.
And, don’t forget Nixon either. He defended himself to the grave and gave a very entertaining interview.
But, you are right about Carter. By far the best.
Sub
Bravery, contentment, happiness, and a Bilbo-bian sense of adventure. If faith is involved, I do not see it.
This is kind of a nice thing to see… his home town of Plains, GA.
People may say what they like about his presidency, but after the national trauma and deep betrayal of trust that was Watergate, he was exactly what we needed, the opposite of everything Nixon was.
Yep, Jimmy Stewart with a Georgia drawl, come to clean up the town after Liberty Valance had been driven from office.
He was the last president I voted for… Reagan was elected and I moved to Canada. Carter made profoundly good use of his life. I’ll miss him.
Smart move! Not to mention prescient in light of how Reagan’s (continued) policies have proven so disastrous. Except for the 1-2%, of course.
Smart move, yes, but I’m not prescient. I was about 20 at the time and it just felt right. Too young to be dodging the draft or otherwise running from anything, just off on an adventure that’s never ended. It has been interesting, though, watching how things unfolded down in the USA these past years. Glad I made the move.
A very good move north. We have been moving south since.
Thanks. There’s room for many more up here.
My dear wife and I were taken with Victoria, BC.
The Republic of Canukistan welcomes you.
Victoria: One of our favourite places, too! (And its got palm trees!)
Wow. A lot of us threatened to decamp for Canada if Reagan ever got his mitts on the keys to the White House, but you actually did it. Respect.
My wife and left for Peru on the day Reagan was sworn into office. Unfortunately, after four weeks we had to return.
Thanks, Ken. 35 years and counting. No regrets. It’s good.
His reply to what he would have done differently has been the same for a long time.
The equanimity that comes from a long, well-lived life that saw James Earl Carter overcome his fair share of adversity.
Rosalyn Carter — While I can summons a mental image of her during the Carter administration, for me at least she lacks the clear connection to causes or wrenching historical events that triggers an almost visceral response, pro or con, to the names of almost every other woman who has called the White House home within my living memory: Jackie, Lady Bird, Pat, Betty Ford, Nancy, Babs, Hillary, and now Michelle. The only other First Lady lacking such a clear connection is Laura Bush, who is rapidly receding into my memory’s recesses.
I know what you mean, but she was very much his personal ambassador, doing a lot of behind-the-scenes things outside the country that didn’t get much press coverage. Essentially, I think she was too busy to have a persona for public consumption. I got this from comments he makes about her in his White House Diary, which I recommend.
The sense of it I get is that she was an intensely private person who, left to her own devices, likely wouldn’t have chosen a life on the world stage for herself. (The same is probably true of Laura Bush.) In the case of the Carters, Jimmy’s mama Lillian, and sister Ruth, stand out as more memorable public personas than Rosalynn.
Well, I fear you are mistaken. She was probably the closest to a co-president we had till the Clintons came along. The difference was that she kept quiet about it for the most part. Her autobiography post-presidency was more interesting than his. She was regarded as more politically-minded than her husband; he often mentioned how valuable he found her input.
“By the time she had held the office of First Lady for two years, Time magazine called her the “second most powerful person in the United States.” Carter was cited by her husband as an equal partner many times, even called her a “perfect extension of myself.”[30]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalynn_Carter#First_Lady_of_the_United_States
I don’t doubt it, Diane. Rosalynn may well have had a lot of clout, and used it wisely, behind the scenes.
My point had more to do with public persona. (Jackie in the black veil, with Caroline and John-John beside her, walking behind the caisson bearing JFK’s casket; Lady Bird and highway beautification; plastic Pat, in her respectable Republican clothe coat, at Nixon’s side during Watergate; Betty Ford stoned on Percodan heading off to rehab … that kind of thing.)
As I said above, Mama Lillian and Sister Ruth had higher public profiles during the Carter years than Rosalynn — but that’s certainly no knock on her.
My recent novel in TAMIL is Land, Water, Air.
It opens with the following quote of President Carter. He also appears at a few places.
…our most precious possessions: the AIR we breathe, the WATER we drink, and the LAND which sustains us.
If America paid attention to President Carter’s stance on pollution and alternative energy and acted upon it, our country (and world?) would be a much better place today. “Global Warming” was barely a whisper in the 70’s, but President Carter understood carbon pollution and the need for green energy. I’m sure most people know he put solar panels on the White House (which Reagan promptly and pompously removed).
So when I hear people decry his Presidency, I just shake my head with the profound knowledge of what could have transpired. He would have been one of the most visionary Presidents of the 20th century had the people and Congress took seriously the policies he wanted to enact.
At least he became the best ex-President ever (that I can think of); I’m happy about that. His brave acceptance of death is in accordance to his great humanity.
I always considered removing those solar panels such a small-minded, nasty, petty thing.
It’s the same instinct that drove right-wingers to dine out on endangered species and to collect Kruggerands during apartheid.
Funny, I always considered Reagan a small-minded, nasty, petty thing.
If it were me, I would have left Jimmy’s solar panels on the White House roof. I would, however, have dug up JFK’s old swimming pool (the one Dick Nixon had filled in as soon as he moved into the White House) and invited Fiddle & Faddle’s daughters over for a swim. (Which is Reason #451 why I would never run for office.)
It should be remembered that cancer runs in the Carter family. Both his parents died of the disease and all his siblings died of the disease, at much younger ages then Carter’s 90. He has been living on borrowed time for at least 15 years.
Cancer will get us all if we live long enough. Those replications have got to screw up sometime.
An indelible link in my mind from the Carter years: a buddy of mine was musical director for a local radio station that carried live broadcasts of all Carter’s speeches and pressers. Before the last echo of Jimma’s voice had stilled, my buddy would segue immediately to Randy Newman’s “Mr. President (Have Pity On the Working Man)”.
Sometimes amidst the scrape and churn of human corruption, a good and great person briefly emerges in a position of power. This happened with Mr. Carter, as I believe it is currently happening with a humble Argentinian priest who was once named Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
Happy trails, Mr. President. For me, those solar panels of yours will always remain on the White House roof.
Cancer is such a bastard. Even comes after you in the 90s.
Best ex-President ever, I concur, but he was a far, far better President than most people remember. A truly great man.
He is about the only ex-president I can think of who did much of anything, other than play golf and shill for dollars. His work at the Carter Center has been remarkably commendable. Those who ridicule him reveal their own lack of character and humanity.
And then there are the people celebrating his getting cancer. Because partisan politics, I presume.
Ugly, ugly minds.
” . . . people celebrating his getting cancer . . . Ugly, ugly minds.”
And likely significantly younger than Carter. I assume that they wish to live to at least his age, in reasonably good health.
I like carter. However, when he says “god wills” and then is all about the chemo, I’m rather bemused at another Christian who really wants to delay meeting his god.
I would imagine that, if asked, Jimmy Carter would say that god expects us to do what we can to help ourselves. We shouldn’t just leave all the work to Him.
(Or something along those lines).
cr
yup, I agree. Alas, his ancestors were stuck without the ability to help themselves thanks to science.
Am reminded that JFK ended his inaugural address with a similar sentiment.
I suspect he’d say he has more to do on earth.
The second sentence of the NY Times article: “He flashed the fleshy smile that once launched a thousand caricatures.”
Could they not simply leave that alone on this particular occasion?
I’d like to evaluate the “fleshy”-ness of the snarky grins (and any other physical characteristics) of these two reporters, and that of the editor who lets them get by with this. I’m getting more and more inclined to skip the first two paragraphs of most NY Times articles. I don’t need to be bloody entertained in order to prompt my interest in what is going on in the world. But apparently more than a few human primates do.
A great Man, much maligned, its very sad.
Ronald Reagan fans conveniently overlook Jimmy Carter’s many accomplishments
particularly his appointment of Paul Volcker to the Federal Reserve in 1979.
As Fed Chairman he instituted tight money policies that finaly vanqushed the
1970’s high inflation rates which were destroying the economy. Reaganistas claim it
was due to tax cuts (Reagan in fact raised taxes) and eliminating government
regulation (that sure worked well) but Volcker and Carter are the ones who should
get credit for the 80’s and 90’s economic growth. In fact Bill Clinton’s budget was balanced. “W” didn’t take long to screw that up.
Jimmy’s primary political problem was that he had no reliable constituency, no base he could count on through thick and thin.
Northern lefties like me were never going to be entirely comfortable with an evangelical former southern governor. Nor were the Democratic party regulars or the labor- and big-city bosses who still wielded considerable power then (and, frankly, to his credit, he didn’t do much to engender their support either). And by the time Jimmy came on the national scene, a decade after LBJ had rammed the Civil Rights Acts through congress, the racist old Southern Democrat machine was in shambles, with mass party defections to the GOP.
Thus, when things got rocky — when the economy hit the skids, when his administration made the inevitable mistakes and bumbles — JEC was left swinging in the political winds.
Jimmy did, however, manage to wring a peace agreement out of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David — and that ain’t nothing.
A truly good man….shame that the link shows a picture of a cat looking through a hole cut in drywall. What the heck is up with that?
This just goes to show that even prominent and knowledgeable atheists can be extremely ignorant. Carter is a supporter of terrorism, and a personal friend of terrorist leaders.
I wouldn’t write him off just yet. He’s receiving an anti-PD1 immunotherapy and some of the results have been amazing.
I applaud his work on curing disease, tape worms and his humanitarian work in Africa.
For other things I have no respect for him, like his coddling of Islamic terror group Hamas, and his weak presidency and his misery index.
” . . . his weak presidency . . . .”
A few examples, evidence, please.