Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President (2020) - full transcript

[Projector clicking, whirring]

- I've never had more faith
in america than I do today.

We have an america that
in Bob Dylan's phrase,

is "busy being born,"
not busy dying.

[Cheers and applause]

[Bob Dylan's
"Mr. Tambourine man"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ hey Mr. Tambourine
man... ♪

- All right.
- ♪ play a song for me... ♪

- Sounds familiar.
- ♪ I'm not sleepy ♪

♪ and there is no place
I'm going to ♪



♪ hey Mr. Tambourine man
play a song for me ♪

♪ in the jingle jangle morning
I'll come following you ♪

♪ ♪

♪ though I know that
evening's empire ♪

♪ has returned into sand ♪

♪ vanished from my hand ♪

♪ left me blindly here
to stand ♪

♪ but still not sleeping ♪

♪ my weariness amazes me ♪

♪ I'm branded on my feet ♪

♪ I have no one to meet ♪

♪ and the ancient
empty street's ♪

♪ too dead for dreaming ♪

- I used to know all the big
Bob Dylan's records



before I was governor
in the ’80s,

and, uh...And I...I know I think
everything that Bob did

that, uh, Willie Nelson
ever wrote,

and of course
the Allman brothers

helped put me in
the white house

by raising money when
I didn't have any money.

[Rock music playing]

- ♪ 'Cause there's
a man down there ♪

♪ might be your man
I don't know ♪

♪ ♪

- Gregg and I,
we're good friends.

The Allman brothers
have been here,

and Bob Dylan
has not been here,

but Willie Nelson
has been here,

and...and Johnny cash
has been here.

- ♪ We got married
in a fever ♪

♪ hotter than a pepper sprout ♪

- I was there when he
brought June cash

down here to meet me.

We always claimed
that she was my cousin.

[Rock music]

[All singing]

♪ ♪

When Willie Nelson wrote
his autobiography,

he confessed that he smoked
pot, uh, in the white house

one...one night when he
was spending the night with me,

and he says that his companion
that shared the pot with him

was one of the servants
at the white house.

That is not exactly true.

It actually was one of my sons,

which he didn't want to, uh,
you know,

categorize as a...As
a pot smoker like him.

[All singing]

There were some people who
didn't like my being deeply

involved with Willie Nelson
and Bob Dylan

and disreputable, you know,
rock and rollers,

but I didn't care about that
because I was doing

what I really believed
and the response I think

from the followers
of those musicians

was much more influential than
a few people who thought that

being associated
with rock and roll

and radical people was, uh,
inappropriate for a president.

- ♪ Whether the wrath of ♪

♪ the storm-tossed sea ♪

♪ ♪

♪ the master of ocean ♪

♪ and earth and skies ♪

♪ shall sweetly ♪
[Cheering]

- One of the things that
has held america together

when we've been together has
been the music that we share

and...and love.

Well, I'd say that
the common beat

that people have within them,

a desire for country music,
a desire for rock and roll,

or a desire for jazz,

or a desire
for classical music,

is something that
binds people together.

- [Humming]

- When I was a child,
for instance,

I used to go
to gospel performances

just of local singers

and sometimes we'd have
all night gospel sings,

at various churches around
where I lived,

and so I think that the origin
of...Of jazz and maybe later

rock and roll came out of,
uh, gospel music.

- Jimmy Carter
was from Georgia

and he wasn't from Atlanta,
by the way.

He was from this little town
down there in South Georgia

so to appreciate gospel music

and to understand what
Shirley Caesar was about

was real and...
And you could tell it.

- Jimmy Carter would go
to a black church

and they'd start singing.
He'd start singing.

He wouldn't pick up
the hymn book.

He knew all the words
to the songs.

- ♪ Gonna lay down my sword
and shield ♪

♪ down by the riverside ♪

♪ study you know war
no more ♪

♪ I ain't gonna study war
no more ♪

♪ study war no more ♪

♪ ain't gonna study no war
no more ♪

♪ hallelujah ♪

- Yeah, we were raised, uh,
on mahalia Jackson.

Uh, but what you always heard

in mahalia's voice
was healing.

I guess that's why they called
rock and roll

"the devil's music" because
gospel was god's music,

and that's where it all began,
through it,

and the, uh...The black sheep
of the family

was rock and roll, right?
Uh...

- But in the south it
was so connected because

I grew up singing
in the church choir

which was...Which was fine.

It was, you know,
traditional church,

you know, songs,

but I also grew up
a huge Elvis Presley fan

and Elvis was so influenced
by gospel.

- Gospel music is derived
from deep within

the heart of human beings.

We have been to Waycross,
Georgia,

where they have
all-day singing.

It's about out
at being 24 hours.

We've been down
to Bonifay, Florida,

where they have 24-hour sings

and we apologize for cutting
this one short.

[Upbeat music]

- ♪ Can't nobody
do you like Jesus ♪

♪ can't nobody ♪

♪ do you like Jesus ♪

- There was a wonderful
compatibility

between the church songs
that were prevalent

in white churches and...
And church songs

that were prevalent, uh,
in African-American churches,

and so I think music broke
down barriers between people

not only geographically but,
um, with...Between

the two races.

- I grew up listening to that
because dad...

That's part of what
dad played.

We were liberals,
and we were not racist,

and in plains,

that meant that you had,
like, two other friends.

- He grew up in a county
that was 80% black

and he probably never
had white friends

until he went to the Navy.

H...he was just an anomaly that
I'd never seen before.

[All singing upbeat music]

- ♪ I'll fly away oh glory ♪

♪ I'll fly away ♪

♪ when I die
hallelujah by and by ♪

♪ I'll fly away ♪

♪ ♪

Oh!

[Cheers and applause]

[Tambourine rattling]

[Train wheels clacking]

- Plains.

Pioneering white men fought
to claim the land

of the Indians
they sent west to die.

Our families moved in then
to occupy the rolling plains

that gave the town its name.

There were only half
a thousand souls...

White and black,
the master and the slave.

Neither side ever forgot
each other's ways

to reach their common goals.

- But now as equals free
to rise and fall together,

we've learned we must depend
on one another.

Though the town is small,
we Cherish it as haven,

home, and friend,

and won't let strife
or missed chance

bring to all our dreams...
Our modest,

tempered dreams...An end.

That's beautiful.

[Country music]

♪ ♪

[Chickens clucking]

♪ ♪

- My folks,

they've been farmers
in Georgia

for more than 200 years

and we've been living around
here for, oh, 150 years.

Well, I grew up in a home
that didn't have running water

or electricity until
I was a teenager.

And although I've had a chance
to get an education

as an engineer and a scientist,

nobody in my family before
my generation

ever had a chance
to finish high school.

We've always worked
for a living.

We know what it means to work.

- I never did...I never
did spank him.

No, he was...I don't...
Did I ever spank...

Well, I might have given you
a little licking in passing,

but as for real whipping,
I never gave him one.

That was...I left that
with his father.

- We had a battery radio,

and in the times
where we used it,

daddy was very stingy with how
many hours a day we used

the battery radio so we
wouldn't run the battery down,

but we could get Nashville and,

uh, sometimes we could
get Chicago,

and we could hear
country music then,

and I would listen
to Glenn Miller for 15 minutes

so that was my only contact
you might say

with the outside world at all.

[Jazz music]

♪ ♪

- I look at the great
composers

that have come before me

and I see how they
changed society.

I see how...As Harry Belafonte
once said to me...

That, um, artists are
the gatekeepers of truth.

- Did your dad ever play
an instrument?

- The stereo.

[Laughs]
He played the stereo well.

When...when we had
no money at all,

dad spent $600 on the best
stereo in plains, Georgia

with the huge speakers and...

I mean, it would blow you out.

It was fantastic, so...

And he would let us
as children...

Me and my brothers, uh,
play our music on it,

and he would stay in there
and...And learn the songs

and try to figure out what
we were doing that way.

It's one of the ways that he
kind of stayed in touch

with his children.

- I'd like to welcome our
special guest this morning

to the open line program,

former state senator
and gubernatorial candidate

Jimmy Carter.

[Rock music]

- Well, I replaced
Lester Maddox

in the governor's mansion,

and Lester Maddox's symbol
was a pick handle

that he used to drive away
African-American customers

who came to his
chicken restaurant.

He bragged on that

as being a stalwart defender
of racial segregation.

[Tense music]

♪ ♪

- It was a really
hard time politically.

When I was in high school,

I got beat after school
every single day

because I refused
to denounce African-Americans.

I mean, I would...My shirt
would be torn off.

I would go home and my mother
would take a new shirt for me

to...to wear, um, the rest
of the last half

of the classrooms.

It was...It was
a bad time back then.

- For years, the solid south
were very segregationist

and very...Let's just call it...
Racist.

They were anti-black.

- Uh, when I came into
the governor's mansion,

one of the first things I did

in the governor's office
in the capitol building

was to hang Martin Luther King
Jr.'s portrait there,

because he had won
the nobel peace prize.

He was the only Georgian
to become the recipient

of the nobel peace award,

and whereas
the reverend Dr. King was a man

who placed the welfare
of his fellow men above his own

and who assumed the burden
of demanding of a country,

that it remedy the inequities
and discrepancies experienced

by the black man
and poor man of whatever color.

- ♪ Oh Georgia ♪

[Piano music]

♪ Oh Georgia ♪

- Jimmy Carter was a, um...
A leader in civil rights.

He was part of this
transitional generation

of southern governors that were
just absolutely magnificent.

- The greatest thing that ever
happened to the south

was the passage
of the civil rights act

and the granting to a minority
group for a chance to vote,

to hold a job,

to buy a home,
to be educated,

to travel,
on an equal basis,

in accordance
with their own choice.

- There were southerners who,
a lot of them

went to the Ivy leagues
and then came back home.

They started bipartisan
think tanks.

They were freedom riders.

There was this Camelot decade
or two in the south

that Carter was part of.

- Jimmy Carter represented
the new south.

He represented, um, hope for,
um, the south where...

As the old slaves used
to sing...

"There'd be plenty good room
for all god's children."

And...and he did.

He represented that
and embodied it.

- ♪ Oh Georgia ♪

[Chuckles]

♪ My little Georgia ♪

♪ mm-hmm ♪

♪ oh no, no, no, no
peace I find ♪

♪ ♪

♪ this old sweet song ♪

♪ ♪

♪ keeps Georgia on my mind ♪

♪ ♪

- So Georgia is this very
interesting place.

As a black musician,

you can't help

but be influenced
by James brown lyrics,

and when James brown goes,

"the name of this place,
good god, is Augusta, ga,"

Georgia, in our heads,
has a different kind of vibe.

- Music has the capacity
to speak on multiple levels.

I mean, there's the level
of...Of the words, the lyrics.

That's there.

But sometimes,
there's a deeper level

on what the music
connects inside the brain

and maybe better yet,
inside the soul.

- ♪ What ♪

♪ bring it out ♪

♪ we all get together
in any type of weather ♪

♪ do it, what ♪

- We were coming into
a new era,

and the Allman brothers
was an integrated band,

with Jaimoe on drums,

and I think Carter,
you know,

he did that politically

while we were doing it
perhaps musically.

- In those days it was mostly
rock and roll,

but I was...We
were all into folk a good bit

because of the politics of it.

[Folk music]

♪ ♪

- ♪ I ain't gonna work on
Maggie's farm no more ♪

- When I was governor
and my sons

were living in
the governor's mansion with me,

Bob Dylan's music permeated
the, uh, governor's mansion.

My sons and I were brought
closer together

through Bob Dylan's songs.

Chip knew every lyric
of every Bob Dylan song

that had ever been written.

- I remember he
and I had a spat,

and I spent over a year
without speaking to him,

and we would communicate
by the third song

on the second Bob Dylan album

and blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah for over a year

without ever actually
talking to each other.

- ♪ Well he hands you
a nickel ♪

♪ he hands you a dime ♪

♪ he asks you with a grin ♪

♪ if you're having
a good time ♪

♪ and he fines you every time
you slam the door ♪

♪ I ain't gonna work for
Maggie's brother no more ♪

- Bob Dylan and his band
performed in Atlanta,

and I was governor,
so I invited

Bob Dylan and the band
to the governor's mansion,

and my sons were very eager
to be with the band,

and...and I was honored
because Bob Dylan asked me

to go out in the garden,
as a matter of fact,

and have a private
conversation with him,

and the only questions
he asked me

were questions about
my Christian faith

and what it meant to me

and the basic principles
of it.

- When I first met Jimmy,

the first thing he did
was quote my songs back to me.

It was the first time
that I realized my songs

had reached into...Basically,
into the establishment world,

and I had no experience
in that realm.

Never seen that side.
So it made me a little uneasy.

He, uh, put my mind at ease
by not talking down to me

and, uh, showing me that he had
a sincere appreciation

of, uh, the songs
I had written.

- ♪ Men have tried to stop me ♪

♪ shake me up in my mind ♪

♪ said prove to me
that he's lord ♪

♪ show me a sign ♪

♪ what kind of sign they need ♪

♪ when it all come
from within ♪

♪ when what's lost
has been found ♪

♪ what's to come
has already been ♪

♪ I just keep pressing on ♪

- ♪ on and on and on and on ♪

- He's a kindred spirit
to me of a rare kind.

The kind of man
you don't meet every day

and that you're lucky
to meet if you ever do.

- Bob Dylan has been, you know,
one of my best friends,

along with Willie Nelson
and others.

- Probably, he and Bob had
a lot of good ideas

to exchange because they come
from entirely different places.

- Right.

- Uh, but Jimmy and I, uh,

basically come
from the same spot.

[Upbeat music]

- We had been invited
to this party

that governor Carter
was throwing for Bob Dylan.

So we got there just as
the last guest was leaving.

- Bob Dylan and his band
had already gone home,

and I'm sure I had
taken...I had taken off my,

you know,
dress-up clothes, kind of.

- There's this guy
standing on the porch,

and he had on this old pair
of Levi's

with holes all in them.

No shirt,
no shoes,

and I thought,
"who's this bum hanging out

at the governor's mansion?"

Well that was him.
[Laughing]

There's a full bottle
of J&B scotch sitting there,

which we proceeded to drink
just about all of.

[Laughs]
And he says,

"you know, I'm gonna be
our next president."

- I went out on the porch
and had a drink with, uh...

With gregg,

but I don't remember
a bottle of scotch.

I do not...I only...I generally
limited myself

to the one drink of wine
or whiskey a day,

so that may be a little bit
of an exaggeration.

- He was cool,
he enjoyed our music,

he was real,
and he became a friend.

- ♪ I'm not gonna let them
catch me no ♪

♪ I'm not gonna let them catch
the midnight rider ♪

- The marquee at the civic
center tells the story:

Tomorrow evening at 5:30,

the Jimmy Carter
for president campaign

officially gets underway.

[Phone ringing]

- Jimmy Carter
campaign headquarters,

may I help you please?

- ♪ Oh yeah hold on ♪

♪ hold on I'm coming ♪

♪ hold on ♪

♪ oh I'm coming, oh ♪

- Phil walden,
the band's manager,

and the owner
of capricorn records,

announced that governor Carter
was going to come down

to what we used to call
the capricorn, um, picnic

and summer games.

- ♪ Something about you mama ♪

♪ sure give me the blues ♪

♪ it ain't your drop
stitch stockings ♪

♪ it ain't your blue
buckle shoes ♪

- So many interesting,
famous people came down

to that thing...Bill Graham,

you know,
in the music business,

Andy warhol came at one point,

and, lo and behold,

he gets
governor Carter to come.

- As one republican
to a democrat,

I will help you
as president, sir.

- Well that's a good deal,
and I thank you.

- Phil came to the band
and said,

"listen, Carter's gonna run.
Uh, he needs some money.

"He needs support.
Uh, would you guys be willing,

you know,
to do some benefits for him?"

- I think he's just a real fan
of the arts.

He came here one night
to a recording session.

So he befriended these...
These performers and, um...

And his interest was genuine,
and they could sense that.

- I think the vibe was, wow,
here's this wonderful man

who's been a great governor
for the state of Georgia,

a southerner,

and we had come
through the Nixon era,

and we saw
what happened with that.

Isn't it time for somebody, uh,
with great integrity

and dignity to take
this office?

Does he really have
a chance?

You know, honestly,
we probably thought,

"the odds are a little low,
but let's try.

You never know
until you try, right?"

- Governor Carter,
first of all,

thank you very much
for sparing the time

to speak with me today.

I know that you are
very interested in rock music.

- Yes, I am.

I'm not only interested in it

from what it signifies, uh,
in our society,

but also,
I enjoy it.

- Who do you most enjoy
listening to?

- I've really gotten
to know the ones

who record in Georgia better
on a personal basis:

The, uh, Marshall Tucker band
and Charlie Daniels

and, um...And,
uh Allman brothers.

I wanna introduce to you
my friends and your friends,

the ones that are gonna
help me get elected,

along with you,
the great Allman brothers!

[Cheers and applause]

- When we did
that first concert

for the president, uh,
in Providence, Rhode Island,

I don't think we gave
a lot of thought to the fact

that this was
a political fundraiser.

Hey, it was a gig.

You know, we got fans,
we're gonna play.

- ♪ My friends tell me ♪

♪ that I've been such
a fool yeah ♪

♪ but I had to stand by
and take it baby ♪

♪ all for loving you ♪

♪ I drown myself in sorrow ♪

♪ as I look at what
you've done ♪

♪ but nothing seems to change ♪

♪ the bad times have stayed
and I can't run ♪

♪ sometimes I feel ♪

♪ for sure ♪

♪ sometimes I feel
like I've been tied ♪

♪ ah oh ♪

♪ till I'm down there ♪

♪ oh I'm down ♪

♪ good lord
feel like I'm dying ♪

- Chip came to a concert

and, uh, he was saying,
you know,

"nobody knew us,

but, you know, y'all brought us
into the light."

- I was practically
a non-entity,

but everybody knew
the Allman brothers,

particularly the ones
that came to their concerts,

and...and when the Allman
brothers endorsed me,

all the young people
there said,

"well, if the Allman brothers
like Jimmy Carter,

we...we can vote for him."

- ♪ Oh sometimes I feel ♪

♪ like I said ♪

♪ oh sometimes I feel ♪

♪ I've been tied ♪

♪ oh ♪

♪ oh to the power of love ♪

♪ oh lord child ♪

- Anybody who would do
a concert for Jimmy Carter,

you know, we...We would welcome
with open arms,

and we had from Hank snow
to toots and the Maytals

to the allmans
to John Denver,

the whole gamut,
and we raised a lot of money.

So with the first concert
at the fox,

Marshall Tucker band,

then the allmans
in Providence,

and then, um, Charlie Daniels
at the fox,

it gave Carter a lot
of credibility

and a lot of money.

- Of course, at that time,
it was very new

that you could get
the matching funds...

Whatever money that could
be raised privately

could be matched
with the federal funds.

- We could get
that money converted.

Say the concert
was on Saturday,

then we could use it
to buy television ads

with it
in Pennsylvania the next week.

[Patriotic music]

♪ ♪

- I believe in human beings,
and equal opportunity,

and freedom,
and equality of opportunity,

and I'll fight for it.

- Vote for Jimmy Carter.
A leader, for a change.

[Applause]

[Funky music]

♪ ♪

- Can you ask your kin folks
and neighbors to vote for me?

Good deal.
Thank you.

- ♪ We the people
hey now ♪

♪ got to make
the world go round ♪

♪ got to make the world now ♪

- There was a...A plan
among my opponents.

They named it abc...
Anybody but Carter.

So they would send
their top person

into a state to oppose me,

and then all the other
candidates...There were about

ten of them...Would support
whoever came in against me.

- There was the establishment

Democratic party
in Washington,

and Jimmy, who was an outsider,
you know?

And more than just an outsider.
An outsider from the south.

- He was from Georgia,
for Christ sakes.

I mean, there was something
more...Start out there.

I mean, that...
And that time in the south,

coming out of the south
was...Was a death warrant

to try to run
for national office.

- We were coming out
of the Watergate era

and looking for...To be
a country of integrity again,

and certainly in
the black communities,

out of which I came,

he made an immediate
connection because of that.

- While Jerry brown took his
entourage to woo rural votes

in western Maryland,

Jimmy Carter concentrated

on collecting endorsements
from officials

and black leaders
in Baltimore.

- The main confrontation
I had with Jerry brown...

They brought him in
to run against me in Maryland,

because he was kind of looked
on as Mr. Moonbeam back then,

and he...And they figured

he'd get a lot of support
in that particular area.

- I think we're ready
for a new spirit in Washington,

and if Maryland sends
the right message

to the rest of the country,

that's exactly
what's going to happen.

Will you help?
Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you very much!
Now, let's listen to music.

It's just like
a fundraising dinner.

Some people, uh, go to eat
the chicken and the peas

and the mashed potatoes
and the gravy,

and other people
would rather listen

to the eagles and Chicago
and Linda ronstadt.

[Country music]

- I remember when Jerry brown
jumped into the race

and dragged Linda ronstadt
and the eagles along with him.

It was battle of the bands.

- There was no battle.

I think we had it
wrapped up then.

It was maybe too little
too late for brown,

but I don't remember
it having any effect.

It would make me mad, you know,
to see the eagles

were doing..."Damn,
how did we miss that?"

But that's all.

- I mean,
there was no real rivalry.

You know, we didn't want
to get into a fist fight

with the eagles or anything.

Uh, and I guess there was some
admiration for Jerry brown.

You know, he was a good guy,
but our guy was better.

- I liked him.

I loved ronstadt,
but I didn't buy into it.

I just didn't...

Honestly, I didn't think
he had the gravitas.

Bringing the eagles along
didn't help that.

[Laughs]

[Rock music]

- ♪ I've been put down ♪

♪ I've been pushed 'round ♪

♪ when will I be loved ♪

- When I went to Oregon,
I had a couple of events,

and very few people showed up,

and, um, Jimmy Buffett
had promised to help me

if I ever needed him,

so I called Jimmy Buffett

and asked him if he would come
to Oregon and perform,

which I knew would...
Would gather a big crowd.

[Cheers and applause]

- I picked up the campaign
in Portland, Oregon.

I remember the band was there,
and it was...

They didn't have a sound
system big enough for the band,

so a couple of us
got out acoustic guitars,

and we were pretty popular
up in Oregon

and Washington at that time,
and so we probably drew,

I don't know,
15,000 people out there.

Something like that,
but it was outside.

[Guitar strumming]

♪ ♪

- ♪ he went to Paris
looking for answers ♪

♪ to questions that
bothered him so ♪

- Jerry brown was ahead of me
before Jimmy Buffett came,

but with Jimmy Buffett's help,
I came out quite well.

[Cheers and applause]
- Thank you very much.

[Indistinct]

- Thank you.

[Indistinct]

Thank you.

[Cheers and applause]

The rock and roll aspect
of the campaign...First of all,

it was about raising money.

Second, it was about
trying to reach,

to me, a younger generation
with somebody

who was hip enough to get it.

[Folk music]

♪ ♪

[Cheers and applause]

- "Rolling stone" had really
first made its Mark

in national politics
in the '72 election,

when mcgovern
ran against Nixon.

Hunter Thompson, of course,

got the presidential election
as kind of a beat,

and in 1974, '75,

he was in Georgia
and heard Jimmy Carter speak

at something
called law day.

- Hunter Thompson was sitting
in the back of the audience,

because he had come
with Ted Kennedy,

and he was going outside,
putting wild Turkey whiskey

in his iced tea glass,

but he listened to my speech

and the speech made
a great impression on him.

- Well, I saw him push Teddy
Kennedy around down

in Athens and Atlanta.

I had never seen Kennedy
pushed around anywhere,

in any room,
and I was stunned.

I'd never seen a politician
do that before,

and he just pushed Teddy aside,
like "out of my way.

You know, I've got work to do.
Move aside."

And Kennedy was stunned.
I was stunned.

[Blues music]

♪ ♪

- Hunter Thompson spent
three nights with me

and rosalynn at our house,

and he became a very close
personal friend of mine.

I remember one time
during the campaign,

since we'd had
a previous relationship,

he thought he could
have first crack

at getting an interview
with me,

and Jody Powell,
my press secretary,

kept putting hunter off
and said,

"you have to get in line."

And so hunter Thompson
got drunk one night in a hotel

and he gathered up newspapers
and dumped some trash cans

in front of Jody Powell's door
and set it on fire.

[Laughs]

[Funky music]

- Jimmy Carter comes along,
hunter endorses him.

So naturally,
he had young people

start to gravitate to him,

and he's being supported
by some of the most famous

and important people
in the rock world,

namely the Allman brothers,

and they spoke in the words
and language

of the rock and roll era.

- One thing in Carter's
association with rock music,

that was the music of change,
and, you know...

And dissidents and hippies
and pot smokers.

There was a risk,
politically, to that,

and it didn't matter to him.

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

- Well it was, uh,
you know...These were times

when some of the guys were
experimenting pretty heavily

with various drugs,

and, uh, gregg had
a connection

to get pharmaceutical cocaine
from a pharmacist,

and there was a middleman,
and they were all caught,

and then they turned to gregg
and said,

"all right, we're going
to offer you immunity,

"which means
you have to testify.

"If you don't testify,

"you have to go sit in jail

until you're ready to testify."
And that was really tough.

You can imagine the position
gregg was in.

He didn't want to rat
on his friend.

You know, he had to testify,

uh, or otherwise he would have

just been sitting behind bars
for god knows how long.

- ♪ She don't lie,
she don't lie ♪

♪ she don't lie
cocaine ♪

The trial begins.
Gregg testifies.

Um, it's just
a tumultuous time,

and not only
the drug bust, okay?

At that point,
the allmans had been together

for quite some time.

It...i think there was
just a toll taken,

and it was time for a break.

- As an example of...Of how
compassionate Jimmy Carter was,

uh, while the rest
of the Allman brothers

turned on gregg
for his testimony in court,

uh, Jimmy never did.

I mean, he thought
this was the moment

to help somebody
when they're down.

- Well, can you imagine?

You know, he's running
for the office

of the presidency
of the United States.

He could have easily said,
"look, sorry, gregg.

"Sorry, capricorn.
Sorry, Allman brothers band.

"You know, this is too big
of a risk for me to take.

"I can't do it.

"I'm gonna...I'm gonna
go this way.

You know, love you guys,
but good-bye."

But he didn't do that.

He didn't turn his back
on any of us.

- I had some problems
with drugs when I was a kid.

My father helped me.

He made me his driver
in the campaign.

I don't think
he judges people.

I really don't believe
that he...That he is a judge

of what you do personally,
and that he cares.

He wants you to be who you are
when you're with him.

Gregg was a good example
of that, I think.

♪ ♪

- I was pretty...Pretty radical
in my politics, you know.

It was just a sort
of rite of passage.

You start out
as a peacenik hippie

and you get more radical
and more radical

and more radical
and then finally

I find myself
in the black panther party.

By the time Jimmy Carter
ran for president,

just his campaign made us feel
like we now had a president

that started to see the world
the way we saw it.

- Now, I've always fit it
in somewhere,

a statement for this man,
whom I love and believe in.

[Cheers and applause]

So governor,
I'm with you all the way!

[Cheers and applause]

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

- ♪ yeah ♪

♪ hey ♪

♪ ♪

♪ hey when you wish upon
a star ♪

♪ ♪

♪ your dream will take you
very far yeah ♪

♪ ♪

- Our nation has seen a failure
of leadership.

We've been hurt
and we've been disillusioned.

We've seen a wall
go up that separates us

from our own government.

We've lost some precious things
that historically have bound

our people
and our government together.

It's now time for healing.
We want to have faith again.

We want to be proud again.
We just want the truth again.

It's time for the people
to run the government,

and not the other way around.

[Cheers and applause]

All:

We want Carter!

[Chanting continues]

- The next first lady

of the United States,
Mrs. Rosalynn Carter.

[Cheers and applause]

- Thank you very much.

I have campaigned
since April of last year,

all over the country.
We have learned the country.

The country has learned
about us.

The campaign has drawn
my family close together,

and I believe

that my family can draw
this country close together.

[Cheers and applause]

[Folk music]

- '76 was the first time
I could vote,

and I cast my vote proudly
for Jimmy Carter,

and my stepmother,
June Carter,

insisted that they
were cousins,

although I couldn't
quite connect the tree,

but I'm sure they were.
So, uh, we voted that day.

And they didn't call the
election early in the evening.

I went to bed
that night not knowing,

and I heard my dad,
around 5:00 in the morning,

whooping and yelling,
and June as well.

They were screaming,
"he won, he won, he won."

There was a lot of excitement.
[Laughing]

- I was in the sixth grade

and I remember
it was a big deal.

You know, I mean,
I...I had these dreams

as a kid of wanting to be
a recording artist,

you know,
so growing up in Georgia,

I was always looking to see
anybody in my state

that was successful.

So I was checking out,
you know, Otis Redding,

I was checking out
the Allman brothers,

who were making records
in Georgia.

So to have an actual
president of the United States

come from our state was,
I think,

for the whole state...This
is kind of the stamp

that says you can do anything.

- Oh, the pride was almost
unbearable to southerners

to have Jimmy Carter
from Georgia

elected president
of the United States.

You can't even fathom
how important that was

and how much pride was in that.

- Governor Carter,
are you prepared

to take
the constitutional oath?

- I am.

- Will you place your left hand
on the Bible

and raise your right hand
and repeat after me:

"I, Jimmy Carter,
do solemnly swear..."

- I, Jimmy Carter,
do solemnly swear...

- "That I will
faithfully execute..."

- That I will
faithfully execute...

- "The office of president
of the United States."

- The office of president
of the United States.

- "And will,
to the best of my ability..."

- And will, to the best
of my ability...

- "Preserve,
protect, and defend..."

- Preserve, protect,
and defend...

- "The constitution
of the United States..."

- The constitution
of the United States...

- "So help me god."

- So help me god.
- Congratulations.

[Cheers and applause]

[Patriotic music]

♪ ♪

Ladies and gentlemen,

the president
of the United States.

[Cheers and applause]

- For myself,
and for our nation,

I want to thank my predecessor

for all he has done
to heal our land.

[Cheers and applause]

- "I wanted to share
my father's world."

"This is a pain I mostly hide,

"but ties of blood
or seed endure,

"and even now

"I feel inside the hunger

"for his outstretched hand.

"A man's embrace
to take me in.

"The need
for just a word of praise.

"From those rare times
when we did cross the bridge

"between us,
the pure joy survives.

"I never put aside the past
resentments of the boy until,

"with my own sons,
I shared his final hours,

"and came to see
what he'd become,

"or always was:

The father who will never cease
to be alive in me."

[Cheers and applause]

- When we did
the inaugural concert,

the curtain opened.
There's John Wayne.

I...i still have,
what's it called...A cue card.

I...i had the cue card
signed by John Wayne,

and it says,
"hello, I'm John Wayne."

- Good evening.
My name is John Wayne.

I've come here tonight
to pay my respects

to our 39th president,
our new commander-in-chief,

and to wish you godspeed, sir,
in the uncharted waters ahead.

I am considered a member
of the opposition,

the loyal opposition...
Accent on the loyal.

I'd have it no other way.

[Applause]

- John Wayne was
a wonderful American.

We would disagree
on a lot of politics

but we probably would not
have gotten

the Panama canal treaties
passed

if it hadn't been
for John Wayne.

He was good friends
with the president of Panama,

and he talked to all
the Republicans.

Oh, he called every republican
senator several times,

trying to get them to vote
with us on those things.

So it was
a way...The commonality

of what you believed in
and getting it done

was something
that was happening back there.

- In conclusion,
may I add my voice

to the millions of others
around the world...

That wish you good well,
Mr. President.

We ask only one thing:

That you preserve
this one nation,

under god, with Liberty
and justice for all,

and we know that you will, sir.
Thank you.

- It was a really
pleasant night.

Everybody was, you know,
happy for him

and, uh, surprised
that John Wayne showed up.

It was an honor
to be asked to perform.

I'd like to dedicate this song
to Jimmy Carter

in the hopes that perhaps
a time of righteousness

and dignity may now be upon us.

[Guitar strumming]

♪ ♪

♪ many times I've
been mistaken ♪

♪ and many times confused ♪

♪ yes and I've often
felt forsaken ♪

♪ and certainly misused ♪

♪ ah but I'm all right
I'm all right ♪

♪ just weary to my bones ♪

♪ ♪

♪ still, you don't expect
to be bright and bon vivant ♪

♪ so far away from home ♪

♪ so far away
from home ♪

- Paul Simon
and aretha Franklin

were two
of my favorite performers,

and so when I got ready
for the inaugural performers

to be chosen,

uh, they were at the top
of my list.

- ♪ God bless ♪

♪ america ♪

♪ land that ♪

♪ I love ♪

♪ stand beside her ♪

♪ and guide her ♪

♪ through the night ♪

♪ from the light
from above ♪

♪ from the mountains ♪

♪ to the prairies ♪

♪ to the oceans ♪

♪ white with foam ♪

♪ god bless ♪

♪ america ♪

♪ my home ♪

♪ sweet ♪

♪ home ♪

♪ god bless ♪

♪ bless america ♪

♪ my home ♪

♪ sweet ♪

♪ home ♪

[Cheers and applause]

- I think we had eight

or ten places that
we had to go

on inaugural night
and rosalynn

and I went to every
one of them and danced.

Thank you very much
for helping me get here

and being the president of
the greatest country on earth.

Are you having a good time?
So are we.

- I can definitely feel
in my heart

that we helped him
become president.

You know, I mean a lot of other
people did too, you know,

but...but we had a hand in it.

- This is great.
- You're looking good.

- Gregg Allman was one
of the first persons

I invited to the white house
when I got to be president.

He came there with Cher
as a matter of fact.

- I had dinner with him
the first night

he had dinner
in the white house.

They were showing them where

to put the spoons
and the plates

and all this, you know.
They had the finger bowls.

- Being from plains,
we had never had finger bowls.

We showed up
at the white house,

and at lunch and dinner

they put a crystal bowl
with water in it

and a lemon geranium
leaf in it,

and what you're supposed
to do is use the leaf

to rub your fingers
and rinse in the finger bowl,

and then we often times
sat there with guests

who had never had
a finger bowl,

like gregg and Cher.

- And she picked up the glass
and started drinking it.

It had a little gardenia
floating in it and a lemon.

- And we all sat there talking,

and when they finished

all of us washed our hands
in the finger bowls

and then moved on
to the next course.

- ♪ I love to take
a photograph ♪

♪ so mama don't take my
kodachrome away ♪

- You know, the white house
was a great place to live,

and the music was fabulous.

- Various entertainers would
come to the white house,

and sometimes unannounced,

and the president's office

didn't know
what to do with them.

So many times
they would just call and say,

"Crosby, stills and Nash
are...Are at the front gate,

"and, uh, we don't have them
scheduled to see the president.

Can you take care of them?"

And my office was in the west
wing in the basement,

and they just sort
of hung out.

Everybody would come by
and meet them and...

And then finally took them in
to see the president.

- ♪ Will you come see me ♪

♪ Thursdays and Saturdays ♪

- This is the first-time young
people were kind of in charge.

This was really
groundbreaking,

when you'd come out
of the Nixon era, you know?

And so actually they liked
and listened to rock-and-roll,

and wasn't...We weren't
just window dressing,

and...and then when we went
to the white house,

we were welcomed in.

- It was kind of funny,

because I was on crutches
at the time.

I had just been to Jamaica,
I think it was,

and I got busted down there.

So one, I was so glad
to get out of jail

that I jumped off the porch
and sprung my ankle.

So when I went to...Then
the next day,

I had to go see the president
of the United States.

So it was really kind of funny,
and we laughed about it a lot.

- Yeah.

[Rock music]

- Oh!

♪ ♪

- President Carter has
an encyclopedic knowledge

of all music,
not just rock and roll.

You know, he has a deep
knowledge...Deep,

deep knowledge
of classical music,

but he also knows
a lot about blues

and a lot...An awful lot
about jazz.

- When I had this opportunity
to produce music

at the white house,

it was one of those moving
moments in...In my life in jazz.

- Many concerts were held
at the white house,

maybe more than
any other four years.

The jazz concert was the one
I remember the most.

It was just magical.

[Jazz music]

♪ ♪

- Blow!

♪ ♪

- I was deeply infatuated
with jazz musicians.

So it was a great honor
for me and a pleasure

to bring to the white house

these people that
in many cases

had not been
previously recognized

for their great contributions
to our society.

If there was
an indigenous art form,

one that was special

and peculiar
to the United States

and represents what
we are as a country,

I would say that it's jazz.

At first, this jazz form
was not well accepted

in respectable circles.

I think there was
an element of racism

perhaps at the beginning,

because most of the famous
early performers were black,

and particularly in the south,

to have black
and white musicians

playing together
was not a normal thing.

And I believe that this
particular form of music...

Of art...

Has done as much as anything
to break down those barriers

and to let us live
and work and play

and to make beautiful
music together.

[Applause]

- Boy oh boy, there was, um,
Cecil Taylor and chick corea.

I remember, um, Charlie mingus
was there in a wheelchair,

you know,
but everyone applauded him,

and it was wonderful
that he was there.

- The president walked over

to...to mingus
and just held his hand.

- I remember Charles mingus,
I just said something about,

"I have confidence in you
and I appreciate

"what you've done in our
country and for our people

and for me personally
with your own music."

- The president,
his...His highness...

[Laughter]

Has asked us to play a tune

that we played
at the white house

when we were here before.
- All right.

- We're gonna play this tune,

in which the name of it
is "salt peanuts."

[Cheers and applause]

Now, wait a minute,

but there are some
diplomatic strings attached,

[laughter]

To wit,

that the president himself,
his majesty...

- Right on!
[All laughing]

- Sing the lyrics
to "salt peanuts."

- All right,
all right!

- Dizzy Gillespie asked me
to come up and join him

in singing "salt peanuts,"
which is a very peculiar song,

and that was the only time
I think

when I was in the white house
that the New York times

congratulated me
on my rhythm.

Not on my tone,
but on my rhythm.

[Jazz music]

♪ Salt peanuts
salt peanuts ♪

♪ ♪

♪ salt peanuts
salt peanuts ♪

♪ ♪

♪ salt peanuts
salt peanuts ♪

♪ ♪

♪ salt peanuts
salt peanuts ♪

♪ ♪

♪ salt pea... ♪

[All laughing]

[Cheers and applause]

- Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait a minute, wait a minute.

I'm just want to...I just want
to ask one question:

Would you like to go
on the road with us?

[Laughter]

- I might have to
after tonight!

[Laughter]

- President Carter loved jazz.

He loved all kinds of music,
but he really did love jazz,

and I have always thought that
music was our best ambassador,

and especially jazz because it
is so identified with america

and being very special
to america,

and music is one of the,
I think, most vibrant,

obviously,
parts of soft power.

- Soft power is the use
of culture, uh, music.

Jimmy Carter was, I think,

the best ever
at his understanding of it,

mainly because he was a fan.

He used music in a way that
helped him in his politics.

He used music, uh, to entertain
members of congress a lot

at different events he did
on the white house lawn

that had never been done
quite that way.

- We would go out through
the crowd with index cards,

knowing to go see
this particular congressman,

'cause you can talk to him
for twenty or thirty minutes

and you couldn't get
in their office.

- I think one of the great
events I remember

was, um, president Carter
had a Nascar event

and, uh, had none other than
Willie Nelson come and sing.

Again, it was outside on

the south lawn
of the white house.

Had race cars come in

and had some of the,
you know,

big-time drivers
of that era there

and had members of congress,
who were just eating this up.

- ♪ Irene good night ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Irene good night ♪

♪ ♪

♪ good night Irene ♪

♪ good night
Irene ♪

♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪

♪ stop your rambling ♪

♪ and stop your gambling ♪

♪ stop staying out so late ♪

♪ late at night ♪

♪ ♪

♪ and go home to your wife ♪

♪ and your family ♪

♪ and stay by
the fireside bright ♪

♪ ♪

- My mother was in charge
of all the events

that happened
at the white house.

So when they wanted
to do a concert,

my mother would be the one
that would set it up

and say everything
that was going around it.

- I just want to say it's been
a wonderful evening for me,

and it could only
have been better

if Jimmy had been here
to hear you, Willie,

and your group.

- When Willie Nelson came

and performed
at the white house,

and president Carter
was at camp David

for 13 days with
begin and sadat,

but he was not there
for a good reason.

- I have to go back
to camp David.

I'm sorry,

but I want to leave you
with one thought.

You know how very important
the summit is

and how much is at stake
in these meetings.

I want to ask you tonight
to continue to pray for Jimmy,

for prime minister begin,
for president sadat.

Pray for them, pray for those
who are with them,

and that the summit
will be a success.

Good night.
I love every one of you.

[Cheers and applause]

[Western music]

- If you've ever read
the history of the talks

in camp David
between begin and, uh, sadat,

it's a riveting story
of how many times

each of the other sides
were willing to pull out,

and the fact that Carter
was there with his wife,

managing the whole thing,
going from side to side,

not just in policy things
but in personality things,

all things you really need
to do to reconcile people

who have hated each other
for their lifetimes.

[Guitar strumming]

- I had been hired, um,
very specifically to work

on foreign policy issues
for the Carter administration,

and I have to tell you

as somebody that
was sitting in Washington,

uh, while they all were
at camp David,

it was fairly nerve-wracking

because people kept saying,
"when are they coming down?

When are they coming down
from the mountain?"

And they were there
for a couple of weeks.

- He brings both
of these guys,

takes them up on the top
of that mountain,

camp David,
and kind of locks them up,

and back and forth and back
and forth and back and forth,

and it almost fell apart,

and then it starts looking
like it's gonna happen,

and as Carter realizes that,
uh, he's gonna get a deal,

he's gonna get, uh,
a camp David accords

between the biggest army
in the middle east, Egypt,

and the Israelis.

- President Carter really used
his knowledge of the subject

and his willingness to talk
to people in a very direct way

to get a result.
He was very good, I think,

about being able
to put himself

into other people's shoes,

to understand what
they needed.

- The odds of pulling off
this peace treaty between

sadat and menachem begin
was, you know, slight,

and...and a lot of, uh,

his international advisors
were saying, "don't do this,"

and Carter had this
moment in time

that he knew he had
a shot at it,

so he did.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the president
of the United States,

the president
of the arab republic of Egypt,

and the prime minister
of Israel.

[Applause]

- He put his life and soul
into that, you know?

And that...That's been
the most important

and only breakthrough really in
the dilemma of the middle east.

- We are privileged
to witness tonight

a significant achievement
in the cause of peace.

- President Carter
was interested in having

a moral foreign policy.

He thought that our dedication
to human rights,

america's value system,

was what he wanted
to represent,

and he did make, um,
the pursuit of human rights

all over the world
one of his basic tenets

about national security
policy...The best of america.

What are we about?

[Cheering]

[Rock music]

- Human rights.
The right to live like a human.

That's something that
president Jimmy Carter,

um, tried to make real, uh,
with his foreign policy,

and he had difficulty
implementing it

around the world,
but at least he was trying.

- He sent me to Africa
with a note

on a torn piece of paper:

"I want you to ask
African leaders

"what they expect
of this administration

and how we can help them."
That's revolutionary.

- With the coming
of the new year,

a new and controversial chapter

in america's relationship
with Asia.

Here in Washington
this morning,

the flag of
the people's republic of China

raised for the first time

at what's now
the Chinese embassy.

That ceremony one of several
marking the opening of formal

U.S. ties with Peking

and the end of formal
relations with Taiwan.

- In terms of opening
up to China.

President Carter
followed through

on what had been an opening
by a republican president,

and I find that
the bipartisanship of that

is something
that is worth noting,

given what some
of the atmosphere

has been on that recently.

- How are you?

- The, um,
Chinese ambassador came

and, like president Carter
would always do, he'd say,

"and if there's anything
I can do for you?

Is there anything you want?"

And the ambassador said, "yes.
I'd like to go to Nashville."

[Country music]

- The president asked me
to put that trip together,

and it was just
a magnificent weekend,

'cause Nashville rolled out
the red carpet,

at Jimmy Carter's request,
for this, you know,

first people's republic
of China ambassador.

Started with a luncheon
of every business leader

in the music business

coming to the
bmi conference room,

and that lunch ended
with Barbara mandrell,

as the doors opened,
standing there with her combo

singing "sleeping single
in a double bed,"

as the interpreter was telling
the ambassador

what she was singing,
he just died laughing.

And then the weekend ended
with Sunday morning brunch.

Minnie Pearl came.
June and Johnny cash came.

The terrific remembrance
I have of this

is Dixie rings the bell,

you know,
and says "breakfast is served."

This is Sunday morning;
This is Nashville, in 1979.

Somebody would've usually
said a blessing,

but we had our guest
from Beijing there,

and it was
a hesitant moment there,

and all of a sudden Johnny cash
and June Carter

started singing
"shall the circle be unbroken."

- ♪ Will the circle
be unbroken ♪

♪ by and by lord
by and by ♪

♪ there's a better
way of living ♪

♪ in the sky lord ♪

♪ in the ♪

♪ sky ♪

- And then it was great

because deng xiaoping
came to the United States,

and there was a lot
of celebrating, justly so.

It was one of the really
important national security,

um, agendas that,
uh, president Carter did.

- Country music has become
a national treasure

and indeed a worldwide
source of entertainment

and enjoyment
that transcends language

and transcends
national borders.

It's always good to see
something come out of the south

have an unexpected,
uh, achievement.

[Chuckles]

[Applause]

- Well, I think what
they underestimated

about president Carter
was what a dedicated,

patriotic, smart,
political person he was.

People did think that he
was just this peanut farmer

that had come up
from Georgia,

forgetting that
he had been a governor,

that also he had been...
Had military service,

um, and he was, uh,
somebody who loved history,

uh, and was somebody that

was so proud
to be an American.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
Loretta Lynn!

[Applause]

[Country music]

♪ ♪

- ♪ well I was born
a coal miner's daughter ♪

♪ in a cabin on a hill
in butcher holler ♪

♪ we were poor but
we had love ♪

♪ that's the one thing
that daddy made sure of ♪

♪ he shoveled coal to make
a poor man's dollar ♪

- I believe one of the reasons
that musicians, you know,

were drawn to president Carter
and vice versa,

he was a man of the earth.

For god's sake,
he was a peanut farmer.

He was raised
around that music.

That was part of that culture.

You know, Shakespeare said

"if music be
the language of love, play on."

My favorite is lord Fletcher
of saltoun.

He said, "were I able to make
the ballads of a nation,

I need not write its laws."

The songs of any given 10-
or 20-year period

will more accurately

and honestly reflect
what happened.

- ♪ Well a lot of things have
changed since way back then ♪

♪ ♪

♪ and it's so good
to be back home again ♪

♪ ♪

♪ not much left
but the floors ♪

♪ nothing lives here anymore ♪

♪ just the memories
of a coal miner's daughter ♪

♪ ♪

[Applause]

- Carter did a lot
of entertaining

with these musical friends
he had:

Loretta Lynn, right?

Uh, Conway twitty,
Tom t. Hall.

All the greats of that era

performed, uh, there
in the east room

of the white house
to honor Jimmy Carter.

[Jazz music]

♪ ♪

I was lucky enough
to go to the state dinner

for the shah
and shahbanu of Iran,

a pretty grand affair.

The entertainment that night
was none other than

Sarah Vaughan
and dizzy Gillespie.

- [Vocalizing]

♪ ♪

- President Carter had worked
so hard on relationships

with Iran, frankly,

and he was somebody
who analyzed for...

From my perspective...National
security policy very carefully.

But, uh, it was
a very complex period.

[Rock music]

- This was not the first time
the shah of Iran

has been forced
to flee his country,

but this time his absence
will certainly be much longer.

- The shah becomes very sick
with cancer.

Um, he's...

He's trying to get to, uh,
america to get treatment,

and there was a lot of pushback

from a lot of corners
of foreign policy

not to do that,
afraid of what it would uncork.

The thing that's part
of that history

that I think is not known

is kind of the republican
foreign policy

establishment kind of led
the charge on Carter

to let the shah in
to get his treatment.

- I would say very firmly
that under no circumstances

can the United States
give in to the blackmail

that seems to be practiced

by the demonstrators
in Iran and decline

to provide the medical service
to the shah of Iran,

who is very,
very ill with cancer.

- I kind of don't disagree
that that was probably

the humanitarian thing to do,
but it was part of the problem

that led to
the hostage situation.

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

- Muslim students occupying
the American embassy in Iran

for the second day now have
called for their government

to break all relations
with the United States.

The crowd burned
the American flag

and demanded that the
United States return the shah,

who is in a New York City
hospital, to Iran for trial.

The students took more
than 50 hostages

and said they would
not be released

until the shah is in Iran.

- ♪ One way or another ♪

♪ I'm gonna find ya ♪

♪ I'm gonna get you,
get you, get you, get you ♪

♪ one way or another ♪

♪ I'm gonna win ya ♪

♪ I'm gonna get you,
get you, get you, get you ♪

- Well, the Iranian hostage
crisis was a genuine disaster

in so many different ways,

because what happened was that
a number of our diplomats

in Iran
had been seized and held.

And it in so many ways
completely paralyzed

the Carter administration,

because we had to deal
with it day by day.

People thought,
"why is this happening?

We're the most powerful
country in the world

and we can't rescue
these hostages."

- My thoughts and my prayers
for our hostages in Iran

are as though they were
my own sons and daughters.

I was under
a great deal of strain.

A lot of people
were advising me to bomb Iran,

but I knew that
if I bombed Iran,

they would kill
the hostages first thing.

- He was dedicated to getting
those hostages home alive,

at almost any political cost.

Being president
is a pretty lonely job.

You're all by yourself.

Carter would retreat
to his study

and listen to Willie Nelson.
If I remember correctly,

at that time
it was a gospel music album.

He made his decisions
in the solitude of that room.

- I went into the room

where Harry Truman
used to have his office,

which was next door
to the bedroom.

I would play Willie Nelson
music primarily,

so I could think
about my problems

and say a few prayers.

- ♪ Amazing grace ♪

♪ how sweet the sound ♪

♪ that saved a wretch
like me ♪

♪ I once was lost ♪

♪ but now I'm found ♪

♪ I was blind ♪

♪ but now I see ♪

- If Iran has brought home
one thing to Americans,

it is that foreign affairs
cannot be separated

from our domestic
concerns...Concern

about the hostages,
about oil prices and supply.

What concerns people, voters,
also concerns politicians.

This is a presidential
election year,

and Iran has upset
the best laid plans

of most of the candidates.

- You know,
on a political point,

he could've gone in there
anytime and attacked in Tehran,

multiple lives lost
on both sides,

and he would've been a hero
to the American people,

but his only interest was
getting the American hostages

back alive to their families.

- I think a lot of other
politically strategic military

thinking would've done
something a bit bolder.

But the hostage thing I think
amplified a lot of the fears

that people had had about him.

[Gentle music]

- His error was that,
when you'd raise something

that this is gonna be good
for you politically,

he didn't wanna hear it.

He said, "what is
the right thing to do?"

- Go Jimmy!

- The 1980
re-election campaign

opened up in kind of
the north part of Alabama.

- We've got Charlie Daniels
here.

- Well, Charlie Daniels.
Look at Charlie.

I mean, he's pretty...A
pretty good republican,

but he was a great friend,

and he and Carter
got along well,

and he did a concert
with the president.

- When the president arrived,

the secret service
was all uptight,

because a whole delegation
of ku klux klan folks

had shown up to heckle, jeer,
and wave signs at him.

I'll never forget that.

[Upbeat fiddle music]

♪ ♪

♪ the devil went down
to Georgia ♪

♪ he was lookin'
for a soul to steal ♪

♪ he was in a bind
'cause he was way behind ♪

♪ and he was willin'
to make a deal ♪

♪ when he came across
this young man ♪

♪ sawin' on a fiddle
and playin' it hot ♪

♪ and the devil jumped up
on a hickory stump ♪

♪ and said, "boy,
let me tell you what" ♪

♪ I guess you didn't know it ♪

♪ but I'm a fiddle player too ♪

♪ and if you'd care
to take a dare ♪

♪ I'll make a bet with you ♪

♪ now you play
a pretty good fiddle, boy ♪

♪ but give the devil his due ♪

♪ I'll bet a fiddle of gold
against your soul ♪

♪ 'cause I think
I'm better than you ♪

- I say that these people
in white sheets

do not understand our region
and what it's been through.

They do not understand
what our country stands for.

They do not understand
that the south

and all of america
must move forward.

Our past is a rich source
of inspiration.

We've had lessons
that we learned

with a great deal of pain,

but the past
is not a place to live.

We must go forward
in the south, and we will.

- ♪ Fire on the mountain,
run boys, run ♪

♪ ♪

♪ the devil's in the house
of the rising sun ♪

♪ ♪

♪ chicken in a bread pan
pickin' out dough ♪

♪ ♪

♪ granny, does your dog bite?
No, child, no ♪

- The ku klux klan
was down on me, obviously,

and they wanted
to disrupt the rally,

and so I thought
the only way to do it

was to confront them directly.

- We kinda had to walk through
this gauntlet

of all these guys,
and you know,

Carter being Jimmy Carter
would stop and jeer back

at them every once in a while
about what cowards they were.

- This good man,

who wanted to try to reverse
the tide of history,

not only in the south
and in america

but within his own
party...The guys

with the white hoods

and the burning crosses
did not like that.

- There was a lot
of discontent.

There'd been outrageous
inflation in this country

through about three
presidents.

You had 18% interest,
you had 18% inflation,

and you had the price of gas
through the ceiling,

and you had long lines,
back in '79 and '80,

people running out of gas.

It made Carter
appear like he was weak.

- Are you and your family

more secure
after 4 years of Jimmy Carter?

All: No!

- And is america
still a country

that enjoys respect
throughout the world?

All: "No!"

- I think there was a sense
of spiritual depression,

where there was a sense
in which we were stuck.

Then the cultural
climate changed

because of all of
the various factors,

economic and geopolitical.

The global climate and
the national climate changed,

and I think that
tilted the election

as much as anything else.

- It was the one-year
anniversary

of the Iran hostage crisis,

and all the networks
had special programs,

and president Carter's numbers
just took a nosedive.

- Our election map tells the
story of the presidential race.

Carter won 52 electoral votes,
Reagan in a landslide, 486,

Anderson none.

- I wasn't surprised when
he lost to Reagan,

but I was deeply disappointed,
profoundly disappointed.

- I've always felt, all along,

that he got the shortest end
of the stick of any president

that I could think of
in modern history.

- We all felt so bad for him,

because we felt like
he had done so much.

- The irony of
the Carter presidency,

of course, is that many

of his accomplishments,
accomplishments

about which he is proud,
are in the hands of the man

who is going to be sworn
in next Tuesday, Ronald Reagan.

Such accomplishments
as an energy policy

or a separate
education department,

the deregulation of business
or the reorganization

of the government...All those

could be undone
by Ronald Reagan.

- I was one of the last people
in the white house

when the administration
changed.

And I had gone out
to Andrews air force base

with a lot of other people
to go

and say goodbye
to president Carter,

and it was at that moment

that the hostages were released
to President Reagan.

- There were tears in the eyes
of Mr. Carter's aides

when the presidential jet
went out of its way

to fly over the white house
one last time.

In plains, Mr. Carter made
his first public statement

since the freeing
of the hostages.

- Just a few moments ago,
on air force one,

before we landed
at Warner Robins,

I had received word
officially for the first time

that the aircraft carrying
the 52 American hostages

had cleared Iranian airspace,

on the first leg
of a journey home,

and that every one
of the 52 hostages was alive,

was well, and free.

- He was praising that day,
you know.

It was like,
that's what he wanted.

He didn't care about how
and when it happened.

He...that's just what
he wanted to see happen.

That's the day that I just
fell more in love with him,

because he is
the true definition

of "love one another."

- He resolved the crisis
in a peaceful way,

with humility.

It took a lot of courage
to do that.

- I tried,
when I was president,

to preserve the peace,
and I'm grateful now

that I went through four years
in the white house,

and we never dropped a bomb,
we never fired a missile,

we never shot a bullet
to kill another person.

And I would say
that my religious commitment

to the prince of peace
was an important part

of one of the basic principles
that I tried to pursue.

[Pensive music]

- I think he took that loss
with incredible grace

and dignity.

I'm sure he had to think a lot
about what he was going to do.

I think he probably entertained
the idea of coming to Atlanta

and living

and maybe working
out of Atlanta,

but he made the decision...He
and rosalynn...To

go back to plains, Georgia,

and I thought
that was very cool.

Go back to the small town.
Be who you are.

- It worked out well.
You know,

we ended up coming home
and starting the Carter center

and starting off
our new lives,

so you know, we missed
the white house, sure,

but...and what we might be able
to accomplish there...But

it didn't slow down, you know,
dad's desire to help people.

- We heard president Carter
speak and he talked about

when he and rosalynn
left the white house

and he said, "we realized
that we had a lot of life left

"and we had to sit
and figure out

what we wanted to do
with our lives."

And I think that there
has not been a president,

with no disrespect to anyone
who's come before or after...

- Amen.
- Who has done more

since they left office

than even they did
when they were in office.

And I think it's a testament
to them as a couple,

just the humanitarians
that they have been to us

as a nation and to our world.

[Banjo music]

- The Carter center is a joint
between my parents,

and we only do projects
that nobody else is doing.

So we'll take the lead
on Guinea worm

and some of these things
that are not household names

and are not diseases that are
here in the United States

but certainly are worldwide.

- I associate president Carter
with the all

but eradication of Guinea worm
and, you know,

he used to carry a jar
of Guinea worm around with him

and frighten people
into action.

- If the worm comes out
of a joint,

say, in your knee, it swells up
and destroys the tissue.

So the aftermath
is very similar to polio.

It completely debilitates
that knee,

and sometimes the knee...The leg
is crippled

for the rest of one's life.

- When we were fighting
hiv/aids,

and I'd have
the antiretroviral drugs

and say, "look, if you just had
three of these, you stay alive.

Three of these a day,"

and I'd show people
what they looked like.

Eventually became one,
but it was three.

I got that from Jimmy.

- As far as the Carter center
is concerned,

I would like to see
Guinea worm

completely eradicated
before I die.

I'd like for the last Guinea
worm to die before I do.

[Laughter]

- President Carter
and the Carter center,

I know...And I know this
from travels in Africa

and around the world...
They're trusted.

And the truth is,
they have the level of trust

that you don't often see
around the world

from an institution
that's embedded in america.

- This morning,
former president Jimmy Carter

won the nobel peace prize.
Mr. Carter was honored

for what the nobel committee
called,

"his decades
of untiring effort

to find peaceful solutions
to international conflicts."

[Gentle guitar music]

- ♪ Georgia ♪

♪ Georgia ♪

♪ the whole day through ♪

♪ just an old sweet song ♪

♪ keeps Georgia on my mind ♪

- Well, when I went to Europe
to be there

when Jimmy Carter received
the nobel peace prize,

it was one of the greatest
moments of my life,

because I knew it was one of
the greatest moments in his,

and he definitely
deserved that prize.

♪ In peaceful dreams I see ♪

♪ the road leads back to you ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Georgia, Georgia ♪

♪ no peace I find ♪

♪ ♪

♪ and just an old sweet song ♪

♪ keeps Georgia on my mind ♪

- I'm very humbled,
as well as proud,

because I recognize

how many people have shared
with me the commitments

and how much work they have
done without recognition,

and my hope is that this award

will be adequately appreciated
by all of them,

who I feel are
a part of my own family.

And I'm especially
grateful to...

To rosalynn...

Who has been a partner
in everything I've ever done.

[Upbeat music]

- She's been a good,
calming influence on dad,

and she has changed his mind,
politically,

on some big issues
that I really appreciated,

like the death penalty,
for instance.

My mother was always
been against it.

Dad always had a few
exceptions

that he would accept,

and my mother for years

would not accept
a single exception that he did,

and now dad's against
the death penalty.

So she has changed him
over the years.

- What I've learned from her
is probably the greatest gift

in a marriage is to take
the supporting role.

It takes a lot more strength.
It takes a lot more Patience.

And then,
that's why I guess always

when the light shines on her,
she just blows you away.

- Rosa and I have been
involved

in habitat for humanity
for 40 years,

and 35 years in a row

we have devoted a full week
to building houses.

One year, we'd go overseas,
and the next year,

we'd build somewhere
in the United States.

And I would say the best
habitat volunteers

we have ever had with us

have been garth Brooks
and Trisha Yearwood.

They went with us
twice to Haiti

after the earthquake
devastated that country.

- You know, they say

everything comes
from the top down.

Well, the top at habitat
are the Carters.

The guy is 40 years
older than me

and he runs circles around me.

- People all over the world
are basically the same.

They want to have a good life;

they want to have
basic human rights.

And human rights
is not just freedom of speech

or freedom of religion,

but it's the right to have a
decent home and place to live.

- When I look and see
the homeowners

and then I see
all the wonderful volunteers

who are just working
to do something good

for somebody who needs help,
so I thank you.

- When the build is done,
okay,

when everybody can't walk
one more second further,

this is when the Carters
start.

They'll go around,
house-to-house,

they'll take pictures
with a group,

because what he tells you
when you first get there...

"If we're taking a picture,

"it's going to put
three of us out of work:

You, me, and whoever's
taking then picture."

Right?
So we don't take pictures.

We'll all take pictures
at the end.

That shows you how quick
he's ready to get to work.

It's not a competition.

This is his words:
"It's not a competition,

as long as our house
gets done first."

That's...that's how he does it.

[Cheers and applause]

- "Itinerant songsters
visit our village."

When some poets came to plains
one night, two with guitars,

their poems taught us
how to look

and maybe laugh at what we
were and felt and thought.

After that, I rushed to write
in fumbling lines

why we should care about
a distant starving child.

I found my words
would seldom flow,

and then I turned to closer,
simpler themes:

A pony, mama as a nurse,
the sight of geese,

the song of whales,
a pasture gate,

a racist curse,
a possum hunt,

a battle prayer.
I learned from poetry

that art is best derived
from artless things,

that mysteries might
be explored and understood

from that which Springs most
freely from mind and heart.

As a teenager I began to hear
a lot about this poetic figure

who was running for president
of the United States.

He quoted Bob Dylan,
who was at that time my actual

president of the United States,
my United States.

He campaigned
with the Allman brothers.

You got the feeling if his hair
was just a little longer

he'd be in the Allman brothers.

But this was the first world
leader I ever heard

who knew the words
to all the songs

that were
my generation's telegraph.

[Upbeat music]

♪ ♪

♪ oh, yeah ♪

♪ ♪

♪ oh, yeah ♪

♪ ♪

♪ one man comes
in the name of love ♪

♪ one man come and go ♪

♪ one man come he to justify ♪

♪ one man to overthrow ♪

♪ in the name of love ♪

♪ what more
in the name of love? ♪

♪ In the name of love ♪

♪ what more
in the name of love? ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ ♪

♪ oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ oh, oh, oh, oh,
in the name ♪

- Bono is a rock star,
nile's a rock star,

but president Carter was a rock
star to everyone that night.

- I have no way
of knowing this,

but I bet you,

after the history books
have been written,

people are going to see him in
a very, very different light.

- Often people say,
"don't meet your idols,

because they're never gonna
live up to what you expect."

That was not the case
for president Carter.

[Mellow guitar music]

♪ ♪

- We have any visitors here?

[Laughter]
Okay.

And where are you from?
I wanna start here,

on the front,
and where are you from?

- Maryland.
- Maryland.

- California.
- California.

- South Dakota.
- South Dakota.

- California.
- California, oh, same.

- Texas.
- Texas.

- North Carolina.
- North Carolina.

- Washington, D.C.
- Washington, D.C.

I used to live
in some of these places.

[Laughter]

- Oh, it's impossible
to define Jimmy.

I think of him
as a simple kind of man,

like
in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

"He takes his time,
doesn't live too fast.

"Troubles come,
but they will pass.

"Find a woman and find love.

And don't forget
there's always someone above."

There's many sides to him.

He's a nuclear engineer,
woodworking carpenter.

He's also a poet.
He's a dirt farmer.

If you told me
he was a race car driver,

I wouldn't even be surprised.

- It's up to every one of us
to make a basic decision:

"This is the kind of person
that I want to be."

♪ ♪

- ♪ oh, don't you worry ♪

♪ you'll find yourself ♪

- Exactly. Perfect.

- ♪ Follow your heart
and nothing else ♪

- I mean, I've watched him
over the years

and I've watched him
do what I think

was the right thing to do,
time after time after time.

With all the odds against him,

he still did
what he thought was right.

That's not a bad pattern
for all of us to follow.

- ♪ And be a simple ♪

♪ kind of man ♪

♪ oh, won't you do this
for me, son ♪

♪ if you can ♪

- His love for music makes
all kind of sense to me,

because music
is the voice of the heart.

Music is the voice of the soul.

When you talk
about heart and soul,

I think he's the president,
in my mind, of my living time,

that I can think of,
that brought it to the office.

- I think music
is the best proof

that people have
one thing in common,

no matter where they live,

no matter
what language they speak.

In the future,

I think we'll recognize that
some of our religious beliefs,

belief in the truth,
belief in helping others,

and our faith in democracy
and freedom,

those are the kind of things
that are similar to music

that we can share

and that eventually
will bring us together,

even after a divisive era

of our constantly
changing history.

- ♪ Be a simple ♪

♪ be a simple man ♪

- Governor, to what extent
do you feel you will succeed,

and I mean by that,
will you be satisfied

if you just get through it
or do you

really think that you have
a chance for greatness?

- Well, I hope I have a chance
to exemplify accurately

what the American people are
and what they would like to be.

If I can stay close
to the people of this country

and not disappoint them,

I think I have a chance
to be a great president.

- ♪ Ow! ♪

♪ We the people ♪

♪ remember y'all ♪

♪ got to make the world
go 'round ♪

♪ got to make the world now ♪

♪ we the people ♪

♪ got to make the world
go 'round ♪

♪ got to make the world now ♪

- ♪ Earnin' the knack ♪

♪ vast regret ♪

♪ everybody sweatin' ♪

♪ what you give
is what you get ♪

- ♪ hot pants in style,
don't let our world go wild ♪

♪ mama's youngest child
is learning fast ♪

♪ we the people,
remember y'all ♪

♪ got to make the world
go 'round ♪

♪ got to make the world now ♪

[Upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

[Cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

I believe the future's gonna be
very bright for all of us.

You're partners of mine.

Together, I'm sure
we'll reach for greatness,

and we'll never disappoint
the people

who put that trust in us.

Thank you. Have a good time.

We'll be seeing you tomorrow,
a lot of you.

Goodnight, everybody.

[Cheers and applause]