Today we begin our look back at the brief but remarkable tenure of President Jimmy Carter. The late 70s is a fascinating period on a number of levels. Civil Rights groups had fractured into several pieces, the Vietnam era had come to a disgraceful close and the economy was beginning to falter after more than two decades of astounding post-war growth for the middle class in particular. The GOP’s grip on Washington was tenuous after Nixon’s resignation and the country wasn’t sure whether Ford was up to the task. For their part, Democrats were still healing from the ‘68 Convention and being sidelined by Nixon’s GOP. Out of the fog came a slow talking southern boy named Jimmy who shocked the world and secured the Democratic nomination for president. This is his origin story.

Chapters

Intro: 00:02:04

Chapter One: The Origin Story. 00:08:18

Chapter Two: A Good Old Boy Bids for the White House. 00:14:29

Post Show Musings: 00:23:22

Outro: 00:30:06

Resources

Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute: The Panama Canal and the Torrijos-Carter Treaties 

The New York Times: Jimmy Carter’s Unheralded Legacy 

The Atlantic: The Passionless Presidency

Vox: The Republican myth of Ronald Reagan and the Iran hostages, debunked 

Politico: The Humiliating Handshake and the Near-Fistfight that Broke the Democratic Party 

Brookings: Today’s global economy is eerily similar to the 1970s, but governments can still escape a stagflation episode

Book Love

Kai Bird: The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter

David Rockefeller: Memoirs

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