Great modern american historians. One of the things that makes him great, he really mines the resources of president ial libraries. He has come here to the carter library, gone through and found very interesting documents other people had not seen before. Hes done that at other president ial libraries. Combined with that, he has also mined the resources of archives on various evangelical organizations that have become involved in politics. In addition to that, on top of his Research Skills he is an excellent writer. I had the privilege of reading many of his books including the one thats just come out. I can tell you as much as i have followed the subjects and done my own research, there were many points i came across new information, i said, wow, that really explains whats going on. If you want to understand the difference in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s. In case you have forgotten, there were very significant differences and you wanted to know about the transition to a time jimmy carter was president to a time Ronald Reagan was president , if you want to understand the role of billy graham in american politics or the role of Jerry Falwell in american politics, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it. As i say, i read it personally and found it very fascinating. I think all of you will, too. Before you rush out to buy the book you have the privilege of hearing comments from the author himself. I give you randy ballmer. [ applause ] thank you, jay, for that very kind introduction. Its wonderful to be back here. I did a lot of archival work at the Carter Center. The last time i was here the museum was being refurbished. I spent more than three hours this afternoon going through the exhibit and the guards had to chase me away at 4 45. I was utterly engrossed by it, a remarkable experience. I probably learned a few things i didnt know before going through that museum. I want to talk a little bit about carter tonight obviously. I want to tell you first of all my interest in it. I went to a Small College in illinois, not wheaton college. I wasnt good enough to get into wheaton college. I went to Trinity College in deerfield, illinois in the 1970s. It was during my time as a College Graduate jimmy carter burst out onto the National Scene. I group as an evangelical and attending an evangelical college. What was remarkable to me he talked unabarbedly about being a born again christian. It is a term we used to describe ourselves but we were cowering and ashamed of it. Jimmy carter didnt. He came on the National Scene and saying, yes, im a born again christian. It was for me and others, a wakeup call. A man running for president and taken seriously running for president able to talk about his faith in very unabarbed unapologetic terms. I began taking notice of that. I followed his career over the years and resolved at some point i wanted to write a book about jimmy carter. I have to say i have been brewing with this idea probably two decades now. Over the last decade or so i was doing research and got around to writing this book when my schedule permitted me to do that. I want to say, i think authors are always making claims for themselves which is maybe not justified, but it is, i think, the first biography of jimmy carter to take his faith seriously as a way of understanding both himself, his conduct as president and beyond, also the very turbulent religious times in which he lived. Thats what i want to talk about today because thats the core of the book. I will do a few things in terms of background. Sure you know details already. Jimmy carter was born october 21st, 1944 in plains, georgia, the first president to be born in the hospital because his mother, Lillian Carter, was a nurse and he was the first president to be born in a hospital in history. He went to Plains High School and went to the u. S. Naval academy, which had been his dream ever since he was a boy to do that. He was commissioned into the navy and admitted to the Nuclear Submarine program. In 1953, his father, james earl carter, sr. Succumbed to his two pack a day habit and jimmy carter was granted leave to go back to plains. That was a revelatory moment. He saw what his fathers life meant to so many people in plains, things he did not know about earl carter, providing money to provide new clothes for his daughter to celebrate graduating high school, some things they couldnt do other times. Times he carried other peoples mortgages when they were too poor and too strapped to do so. The times he extended credit to various members of the family. Jimmy carter returned to his posting in schenectady, new york, to have has life like his father and do good things his father had done in the community. The one dissenter about the decision to leave the navy was roslyn carter, who was not amused by this development, apparently, as near as i can tell and probably people in the audience to confirm this or deny it, the car trip from schenectady, new york to play ins, georgia, was plains, georgia, was almost complete silent, two very strong people and apparently the word divorce cropped up more than once in that transition for them. Carter takes over the business, not successful in his first year, less than 200 profit for the carter business interests, but then he quickly begins to build this into a growing concern. He also begins to look more broadly at service to the community including service on the sumpter County School board. On his 38th birthday, october 1st, 1962, jimmy carter gets out of bed and puts on his sunday trousers rather than his work trousers and goes to americas to file for the Georgia State Senate Without consulting roslyn before doing so. When i asked mr. Carter about doing this a year ago in plains, he said, i still cant believe i did that because he wouldnt dream of making such a decision like that today without consulting his wife. Times were very different in 1962 than now in the 21st century. The election was contested because of widespread corruption in quitman county, i forget the numbers, there were like 420 ballots cast in the county and only 300 some registered voters. For some reason or not the voters in quipman county managed to vote in alphabetical order down to the last letters of their name, a remarkable day for georgia politics. Carter finds out about this. Hes morally outraged. If you read turning point, i have to say is my Favorite Book of his. Turning point bristles with moral outrage and righteous indignation because he had been robbed of his election and he mounts a campaign to win the seat he is granted in january of 1963. Carter then runs for governor in 1966. He runs as what qualifies in georgia at the time as a racial moderate and beaten by of all people, Lester Maddox. He was notorious in georgia for his segregationist ways, on the day after Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, lester greeted three africanamericans at the parking lot of his restaurant with an axe handle threatening to drive them away or driving them away from eating in his restaurant because he did not want a desegregated restaurant. Lester maddox uses this to catapult himself to the governorship. Jimmy carter is disconsulate, he lost 22 pounds in the campaign. He lost a lot of money. The family put a lot of money into that campaign. He returns to plains really not sure what he will do. There are family accounts that have him Walking Around fields around plains, just not knowing how to proceed. Very often with tears in his eyes. The following year he has this famous encounter with his sister, ruth carter, a pentecostalist, and gives his life to jesus which seems to be transformative. He speaks of that not as the born again experience in 1935 at the Plains Baptist Church but renewal, rejuvenation of his faith. On the heels of that, jimmy carter goes on two mission trips, one to lock haven, pennsylvania with other baptist laymen knocking on doors to tell people about jesus, and again in springfield, massachusetts, in november of that year, with a cuban american pastor by the name of eloy cruz from brooklyn or bronx, steve, help me out here. I believe its brooklyn. This was again a very formative moment for jimmy carter. The end of their week together, carter asks reverend cruz how it is he is such a strong christian and strong believer and how hes so effective dealing with other people. Eloy cruz tells carter the secret to a life of faith or being a good christian is two things, to love god and love the person in front of you at any given time. He repeats this, carter does, many times, over the course of his life, being a formative moment for him. He never loses sight of the Georgia Statehouse. In 1970 he launches yet another campaign, this time successful to be governor of georgia. This is not a pretty campaign. Not much is said about this by mr. Carter and others. Jimmy carter does court the segregationist vote in this campaign. The final days of the campaign, he endorses Lester Maddox, who is running for lieutenantgovernor. At that time, governors of georgia could not succeed themselves and carter endorses Lester Maddox and seeks and wins some of the segregationist endorsements in georgia. Hes uneasy about that even at the time, good reason for that. He tells Vernon Jordan head of the Negro College fund you wont like my campaign but like the evidence. It is conclusive there is some evidence after that campaign, carter apologizes to his opponent, former governor carl sanders for carters conduct during that campaign. It was not exactly a sterling moment in the life of jimmy carter. I think he realizes that and regrets it. He takes office as governor of georgia on january 12th, 1971 and famously says, the time for Racial Discrimination is over. This is in part what elevates him in a national profile. The new york city picked up on that and above the fold there is an article about jimmy carter and his inauguration of georgia and what he said to the people of georgia and within a couple weeks Time Magazine puts him on the scorch as a new south post racial governor and mentioned that article where dale bumpers of arkansas and rub ruben askew of florida but carter was the one on Time Magazine. Carter almost immediately begins to think of running for president after being governor of georgia for who knows, a few days, before he begins to looking for larger horizons. About the time or within day or two of George Mcgoverns cataclysmic loss to Richard Nixon in 1962, carter sits down with Hamilton Jordan and other advisors and begins to plot out his rise to the presidency four years later. At the end of 1973, beginning of 1974, two remarkable events took place within six months of each other. Here, the narrative is going to verge a little bit more towards religion and faith. Over thanksgiving weekend in 1973, in chicago, illinois, at the wabash ymca in the southside of chicago, 55 evangelicals meet at the ymca and hammer out a document called the chicago declaration of evangelical social concern. This is a remarkable document. I think in many ways. The strain of evangelicalism that is offered in this document. Available on the web. You can look at it for yourself. It is part of what i call progressive evangelicalism, which takes its mandate, i believe, from the new testament, jesus talks about the followers to care for the least of these and turn the other cheek. Also historically the evangelicals in the 19th century and early 20th century very much concerned about those on the margins of society. In the antebellum period in particular coming out of an event of historians called the second awakening in the 19th century, there was an evangelical reform impulse that did reshape American Society over the course of the 19th century. Charles granderson finney would be one of the most important People Associated with this movement. This movement sought to Reform Society according to the norms of godliness. They were very much involved in abolitionism to eradicate the scourge of slavery. They were also involved in such issues as prison reform, the idea of a penitentiary came into vogue, a criminal could become penitent and we hope constructively rejoin society in a much more salutary way. The issue of equal rights for women, including Voting Rights in the 19th century was a radical idea. Evangelicals were very much involved in formation of common schools, Public Education today, as a way for those on the bottom rungs of society to aspire to a better life and try to afire to move into the middle class. Other campaigns society with this movement is the campaign against dueling, inaugurated by a presbyterian minister in connecticut, because he thought dueling was barbaric. There were peace crusades in the early part of 19th century and campaign of gun control. Imagine that. In the early part of the 19th century. All of these were motivated and animated by evangelicals trying to make the world a better place. What i find unites all these impulses were on the margins of society, those jesus called the least of these. This is a tradition within american evangelicalism most people dont know about very much. In the 19th century it was a robust tradition and did serve to rehabilitate and reform American Society in remarkable ways particularly in the antebellum period and 20th century with people like Williams Jennings bryant, who made three times failed for president and organized issues of this sort in the early part of the 20th century. These people gathering in chicago in november of 1973 actually are trying to rehabilitate this tradition of progressive evangelicalism which had kind of fallen away for historical reasons id be happy to get into later but dont want to spend dealing with that right now. This document contains statements about militarism, about the yawning gap between rich and poor in American Society. The scandal people went to bad hungry anywhere in the world. Equal rights for women, which again in the early 1970s was something of a radical idea, at least among many religious folks. Also the lingering scourge of racism. They sought to address these sorts of things. Thats one event that took place in november, 1973. Less than six months later, in athens, georgia, i dont know if im pointing in the right direction, somewhere around here. Thank you. Athens, georgia there was an event at the university of Georgia Law School called law day. Law day is a rather venerable tradition at the university of Georgia Law School. The law school invites dignitaries Like Supreme Court justices and attorneys general and senators and various venble people to address them at law day. The keynote speaker for that event was the senator from massachusetts, edward m. Kennedy. The undercard speaker at that event was the governor of georgia, jimmy carter. In the morning, kennedy gives his keynote address, had to do with the impeachment proceedings unfolding at that time against Richard Nixon. Carter then addresses the luncheon gathering. Carter begins by saying there were two very important formative influences on his life in terms of thinkers and theologians. One was neber, he quotes often throughout his life as governor of georgia. He said the sad thing of politics was establish justice in a sinful world and carter quotes that passage very often. He said the second formative influence was the great known theologian, bob dillon, whose song in particular, aint going to work on maggies farm no more according to carter was a revelational song about farmers. He goes on to talk about politics and lobbyists in washington, the deck was stacked against ordinary folks. These people, corporations in particular had money to hire lobbyists very often themselves were appointed to regulatory agencies regulating their own businesses and corporations, and how that was fundamentally unfair. He talked about georgias prison population he had taken a real interest in, when he was governor of georgia and said overwhelmingly the prison population of georgia consisted of those poor and could not afford adequate representation. And those more affluent could buy their way out of the justice still. He wound up by sounding some of the populist themes he was already beginning to rehearse for his potential president ial run in 1976. In the course of his remarks, he noticed a journalist in the audience slipping out. He figured that this journalist, hunter s. Thompson, from Rolling Stone magazine, was simply going out to the parking lot to refresh whatever adult beverage he was consuming that day. But turns out hunter was going to his car to get his tape recorder because he wanted to record something extraordinary, a politician who later dared to tell the truth. He later called it a bastard of a speech the best he ever heard from a politician willing to take on powerful interests and willing to speak the truth. Within that six month period you have a remarkable jux position, ideology between the college of social concern and a lot of themes college sounded at his law day 1974. The month before and steve keeps correcting me on this, i want to get it right, the month before, the Gallup Organization conducted a poll of interests of candidates on the part of the American People. Among the 32 names they listed, jimmy carters name was not among them. Thats how dark a horse he was when he announced for his candidacy for president in 1974. Went to iowa and the small towns in New Hampshire and is able to make name for himself. First in the iowa precinct caucuses tend of january 1976 and then in New Hampshire where you really become becomes part of the National Conversation. And i this i that in many ways one of the signal achievements for carters campaign for president in 1976 was the fact that on march 9th, 1976, he beat George Wallace in the florida primary. Thereby effectively ending George Wallaces ten year, at least, run for the presidency. There thereby vanquishing the race. It goes on to the Democratic National convention where he wins the nomination on the first ballot. And then into the general election. Hes flying high until he decides to give an interview to Playboy Magazine which appears on september 20th. Just a few weeks before the election but this is the famous interview where he said he acknowledged he lusted after women other than his own wife. A statement that foreiv foreevangelicafor evangelicals would be remarkable. Carter began to sink in the polls. He lost 15 points in Approval Rating or in favorability rating after the playboy interview. Does he squeak to election over gerald ford and begins his presidency. Im happy to talk about the presidency itself. Im conscious of time here. Im not going to talk so much about his specific endeavors or accomplishments as president. I focus again on the religious situation. It is the paradox behind the live of jimmy carter. That is why is it that evangelical voters who had supported him in great numbers in 1976 turned so dramatically against him four years later in 1980 . I think this is a fascinating story and a story i try to tell in the book. It its a story that is often misunderstood and, frankly, just wrong. The standard narrative is that by the late 1970s, evangelicals were exercised over the roe v. Wade ruling of 1973 that legalized abortion. Jerry falwell and others stoked this story very often. They refer to themselves as the new abolitionists. And the opposition of antibebe evangelicals. But there is quite a bit of fiction. Abortion for evangelicals simply was not an issue. They considered it a catholic issue for most of the 1970s. Let me provide bate a bit of eve for this. I wont give all of it. In 1969, christianity today magazine, the flagship magazine of evangelicalism convened a conference to talk about abortion as a moral issue. They issued a statement saying we cant agree that abortion is a moral issue. But were inclined to allow abortion under certain circumstances. 1971, the Southern Baptist convention which as im sure many of you know is hardly liberalism, passed a resolution at the meeting in st. Louis, missouri, calling for the legalization of abortion. Resolution they reaffirmed in 1974, a year after the roe ruling and again in the 1976. When the roe v. Wade decision was handed down, several prominent evangelical leaders including w. A. Criswell from dallas, texas, expressed satisfaction with the roe v. Wade ruling as marking an appropriate distinction between personal morality and Public Policy. My point in this is to say abortion is not the issue. Organized preachers and others into the religious right. Well, what was it . The quick story, and im going to try to be brief about this, although id be happy to go into details more later. The quick story is that evangelical preachers in particular organized not to oppose abortion but to defend racial segregation. The issue was, of course, the deep issue is the brown v. Board of education ruling but the foreground issue is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which in title six forbade Racial Discrimination or segregation. By 1970, the irs was trying to enforce the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And issued a ruling, an opinion that said any organization that engages in racial segregation or Racial Discrimination is not by definition a charitable organization. Therefore, it has no claims on tax exempt status. Now, again, id be happy to go into details of the case. It came out of holmes county, mississippi. The issue is segregation academies that grew up, especially in the south, but not entirely the south, after the brown v. Board of education ruling of 1954. And as the Internal Revenue service was trying to enforce this ruling which, by the way, was ratified by the district court, district of colombia on june 30th, 1971 in a case called green v. Connolly, in the course of enforcing that provisions the provisions of that ruling, the irs targeted a fundamentalist school in greenville, south carolina, called bob jones university. Called bob jones university. Which until. 19r 1971 d1971 did nob africanamericafricanamerican stwhur stwhutstwhunp up unmarriunmarried africanameri tr the student body. In othein other words, tr the student body. In othein other words still ken to theip to their still re racial policies. Thr that is what got got the attention of people like bobby falwell. Its easier to open a massage parlor than a christian school. Jerry falwell, of course, had his own academy in lynchburg, virginia. This is what gets these other preachers motivated. The architect of the religious right has corroborated this and hes done ive had personal conversations with him and hes utterly emphatic about this point. He said i was trying to get these people, meaning evangelicals involved in politics ever since the Goldwater Campaign of 1964 and i couldnt get them interested. I tried everything i could think of. School prayer issue, pornography, opposition to the equal rights amendment, abortion. Not got their attention until the school issue surfaced and thats what finally galvanized them into a political movement. Theres a second part of the story for the rise of the religious right. The bob jones case and similar cases is what got the attention of evangelical leaders like fall we will a fallwell and others. He needed to get grassroots evangelicals behind this new movement which we know as the religious right. And what happens is that in 1978, in the elections, there is the answer finally comes to him. In the elections of 1978, particularly in minnesota and in iowa, something remarkable happens. In minnesota, there are three statewide seats up for office. Two in the senate, one of them is for the unexpired term of hubert humphrey. And the governorship are all up for grabs in 1978. In iowa, dick clark, not the musician, but dick clark was the incumbent democratic senator. And down in iowa, going into the election, no poll showed clark behind im sorry. No poll showed clark ahead by fewer than 10 going into the final days of that senate election. What happens in both iowa and minnesota is that prolifers, roman catholics, picketed im sorry, leafletted Church Parking lots on the sunday before the election. In iowa, dick clark loses reelection to roger jepson, a prolife republican. And in minnesota, prolife republicans capture all three of those elections. The governorship and both senate seats. All of them on a prolife campaign. When i was doing research at the university of wyoming in laramie which for some reason is where pauls papers are and correspondents, the correspondents fairly crackles with excitement when the results of the 1978 bielection comes in. He knows he has his issue that is going to galvanize this new movement of the religious right. And, in fact, he uses that to full advantage in the 1980 election which, of course, goes against jimmy carter and evangelical, right . Who is running for reelection against Ronald Reagan whose evangelical credentials are lets say more tenuous than jimmy carters were. Reagan, you know, for whatever his qualities, was an episodic chur churchgoer. But by 1980, he had come around to prolife position and that was good enough for paul and fa falwell and other leaders of the right. Carters fate is also compromised by all people, billie graham. I tread carefully here. I know a lot of people, as do i, have a lot of respect for billy graham. But billy graham throughout the 1980 president ial Campaign Gives assurance to carter himself or to carters aides of his support and then days later or earlier, hes making phone calls to people like paul laxault, reagans Campaign Chair offering to do whatever he could to elect Ronald Reagan rather than jimmy carter in 1980. All of this is in the book. I just give you a little summary. Carter, is of course, defeated. And then he goes back to plains where he begins to construct his post presidency. Ill try to wrap this up quickly so i can take some questions. And were standing here in one glorious manifestation of his post president ial years. I think the most important comment about jimmy carter particularly in his post presidency came from james lane yishgs t y. He said about jimmy carter, the only person in history for whom the presidency was a stepping stone. And i think it really does capture what jimmy carter has done. Parentally carter apparently carter is not fond of that quote. I call redeemer for a number of reasons. I think in many ways jimmy carter redeemed the nation after the sins of watergate. I try to impress this on students and they dont grasp p h how low we were as nation in terms of our confidence in ourselves. Richard nixon lied to us about everything and im exaggerating a little bit, of course. But jimmy carter comes along and says, listen, i will never knowingly lie to the American People again. I try to impress on students these days, what a radical idea that was in the mid 1970s that a president wouldnt lie to us. We werent used to this sort of thing. The fact that he was a Southern Baptist sunday schoolteacher burnished his credentials and his probity. Jimmy carter has many faults. The book does not gloss over the faults. I think i try to treat them fairly and even handedly. But no one, i think, has seriously questioned his integrity and his moral core. I think that is one of the great things about jimmy carter. Im going to close by reading a couple of short passages from the epilogue which was my visit to plains a year ago, june 2nd, actually. I wanted to go to plains to hear mr. Carter do his sunday School Lesson and also had an interview with him and so forth. So im going to read just a couple quick passages from that. Sunday morning in plains. Southwest georgia is baptist country. The back roads heading south out of columbus are bracketed by red soil, scruffy pines and clappered buildings sporting names like marion Baptist Church, zion hill Baptist Church, piney grove and greater good hope Baptist Church. Love jesus no matter what. One roadside sign reads and another, only jesus saves. Another sign says, take jesus for your savior. And the preston dBaptist Church has the Ten Commandments on a fence. Just before crossing from webster into center county, georgia, signs on georgia highway 27. 2 archery, the boy hood home of jimmy carter. The road eases into plains where it becomes church street. The Business District not much more than a block long lies just beyond the Railroad Track across from the seaboard Coast Railroad line depots that served adds Campaign Headquarters for carters run for the presidency in 1976 and now as a museum commemorating that campaign. Plains, georgia, is no longer the hub of excitement that it was in the summer of 1976 when legions of journalists and thousands of tourists descended to learn more about the democratic nominee for president. Then Lillian Carter held court at the train station and billy carter threw back a few beers and entertained visitors by saying i have a mother that joined the peace corps and went to india, i have a sister that races motorcycles and a holy roller preacher, i have a president that says he wants to be president of the United States. Then pausing for dramatic effect. Im the only sane one in the family. I talk about going to church with jimmy carter, sunday school class and then his church. And then meeting with him after church and he takes me to the president ial house, to his house because he wants to give me a book which he got from rowhis wifes night sthand because he couldnt find a new copy of the book. Looking at her to see what her reaction would be. And then he goes on to another event. As the caravan rumbled past the security gates towards carters next appointment, i headed out of town on a highway 61 also known as old plains highway by way of archery. Which parallels the seaboard coastline Railroad Tracks that young jimmy carter walked as a boy in order to sell boiled peanuts in town for pocket money. All of carters life, occurred to me, was characterized by striving. His ambition to rise above his circumstances as a country boy, as a navy mid shshipman, presid and beyond as respected world leader and humanitarian. In the course of his sunday School Lesson, carter referred to Martin Luthers notion of the priesthood of believers. That each of us is responsible to directly to god and that the priestly cast or the arrogation of minute steeral authority impeded that relationship. Carter failed to note luthers other central criticism of medieval catholicism, works righteousness. The popular understanding that individuals could earn salvation by he didnt of good works. Protestants are equally susceptible. Seeking to prove by their good works that they are among the elect. As i pass the hard scrable farm, it is difficult to escape the impression that carter was still driven, almost obsessed by a kind of works righteousness. Carter always believed in the value of work. On the farm, hard work would sustain the family and bring profitability. At school, diligent study would lead to better opportunities. In the navy, hard work might win praise or even a promotion. On the campaign trail, working harder than your opponent, an hour earlier every morning or shaking more hands would lead to victory. Once in office, long hours, the resolve to read every piece of legislation and attention to negotiation was ensure success and reelection. Carters term in the white house disrupted that calculus. He faced intractable odds as president. The nations chronic energy dependence, soaring Interest Rate and Islamic Revolution in iran. Political opposition from within his own party that simply would not yield to hard work or longer hours. Carters shattering electoral loss in 1980 represents not only the end of his political career but also repute yags of the notion that if he just work harder and longer, his efforts would be rewarded. How could the electorate not recognize that he was doing everything humanly possible, working as hard as he could to solve these problems . After absorbing his defeat and returning to plains, carter reaffirmed his commitment to works righteousness as a way to redeem his loss. The Carter Center would be an activist institution, not a celebratory one. Habitat for humanity was nothing if not an activist organization. This former president would not retire quietly into private life. There was work to be done. Irrad indicating disease, monitoring election, building houses, reprimanding dictators and politicians, teaching sunday school, heading off military confrontations and ending hunger, making peace. If carter could work hard enough, if in religious terms he could accumulate enough merit, he might be able to tilt the balance of history in his favor. To a remarkable degree, jimmy carters commitment to the ethic of works righteousness met with success. Partisans continued to criticize and even to ridicule his presidency. Historians now regard it more favorably although with Something Else than unvarnished he earned praise and even grudging admiration. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 provided perhaps the ultimate validation of carters works righteousness. At what point, however zsh, doe earn a reprieve . What can he relax and settle into a hard won retirement . Certainly not on a sunday in plains. Even after teaching sunday school, attending church, posing with tourists, fielding questions from biographer, and massaging habitat for humanity donors as i was going down highway 61 toward archery, carter was speeding off to the next event on a crowded schedule. The former president pushing 90 years old was still a restless man, consumed by a frenetic ben environment lance. Striving continues. Those who subscribe to the ethic of works righteousness can never be certain they have accumulated enough merit. Jimmy carter doesnt lack so much for passion as he does for respite. The whose improbable election in 1976 redeemed the nation from the sins of watergate has finally earned his own redemption. Jimmy carter himself, however, may be the last to know. Thank you. Well take a few minutes of questions. If you have i aquestion, just wait for the microphone to come and you dont need to grab the microphone. Lets take about ten minutes or so of questions. Questions . Good morning. I want to talk about the current use of he vevangelical. It was to differentiate between the fundamentalists and the cultural differences. And now in the newspapers that dont know anything about rel l religion anyway, again, they go back to the fundmentalists. A fund mentalist is a evangelical that is mad about something. It suggests a not so much in theology as temperment. He always wanted to identify himself as a fundamentalist rather than he van gellic aevan. The tea party stuff that you hear these days in that sort of rhetoric. He thought evangelicals were too willing to compromise and he wanted to maintain a kind of hard edge. So youre right. The terms are somewhat interchangeable. It is more a matter of disposition and kind of militancy on the part of mufund mentalists. A lot of people do conflate the two. There is not a lot of theological distinction between the two. I was wondering if you could tell us your opinion on the kind of juxtaposition of antiabortion, expansion of alcohol and guns in georgia this last legislative session. Im sure there are many more People Better qualified to comment on that than i. What are you suggesting here . That there is some sort of linking of just seems like, you know, over here is antiabortion and then, you know, alcohol and guns are on this side. It seems like its, you know, the opposite type things. I see. In terms of libertarian sentiments . Yes. That is fascinating to me. I dont want to be partisan here. It does strike me on the face of it as curious that very people, at least the very people who talk about Less Government and less interference in private lives are willing to work for laws that would be the more intrusive. Its a great paradox. Nobody ever explained to me exactly how that works. But arguably there is the paradox on the other side of the spectrum as well. That is people who at least repeatedly are wornt erent fair of more regulation on abortion and dont want to have any regulation at all. I think there is a great deal of contradiction there. But i think it underscores that for evangelicals, abortion is not i think the 1970s proved this. Its no the necessarily a logical issue for them. And they had to be alerted to it. And there are other things that happen in 1970s that account for that film series that features a man by the name of Francis Schaeffer and c. Everett coop, of course, becomes reagans surgeon general. That really does kind of educate evangelicals about the abortion issue and how this is part of a pattern of moral decay in American Society. But as i said, throughout the 70s, until 1979, its not an evangelical issue. Please. Im curious on the last print of president carter openness about speaking about his faith and being very comfortable, another side of the president , bill clinton spoke about his faith freely and comfortably. Our current president and there was an article in the New York Times about a month ago that he kind of showcases he feels uncomfortable speaking about faith, the conversation of faith in america. He doesnt go to service publicly. He doesnt reference the literature or bible verses comfortably. Do you think thats a legacy that carter was able to open and sustained or that door has kind of closed . What a wonderful question. Actually, i address this issue, and im not trying to push another book, but i address this in god and the white house. What i argued there is John Kennedys address to the Houston Ministerial Association down at the rice hotel really did establish this idea in american politics, president ial politics that, faith is separate. What he did in that speech was tell voters effectively to bracket out his faith when they went to the polls. And i argue that what i call the kennedy paradigm really did persist in american politics up until 1976 with jimmy carter. And ill test you on this. How many people here could tell me what Lyndon Johnsons religious affiliation was . I have a ringer here. Yes. Most people say baptist. Disciples of christ. The point is most people dont know that. Because simply wasnt part of the conversation. In a back handed way, i think nixon reintroduces it. When 1976 Campaign Rolls around, we americans want to have some sort of sense of a candidates moral compass. We lived through the debacle of the nixon presidency. And that question has persisted. It is dying away now. I think the farther we get from nixon, the less salient that particular question is in president ial politics. But one of the problems with that question is that we dont know how to ask the question. We want to know, is our are the candidates we vote for for president are they morally reliable . That is, do they have a moral compass . The problem is we dont know how to as the question. The only way to as the question is to say are you religious . Thats not a good question. The flawed assumption behind that question is that someone who is not a validly or, you know, affiliated religious or affiliated with any particular religious group is not a moral person. That is simply false. We know thats false. Its a bad question. And i think that were get ago way from that question the farther we are from nixon. Carters campaign represented, i think, an utter reversal of the kennedy paradigm of voter indifference to a candidates faith. And the fact that he spoke about it so openly and so freely was certainly a big part of his appeal. Please. Id loved your closing sentence in the book. Its seen as maybe he will be the last one to know. Im sure you gave him a copy of this book. What did he think . Was what w what was his feedback . Ill have to ask steve. I just sent it to him last week. The book is out less than a week. I just sent it to him. Interesting to know what he thinks. I am dying to know. So hes not the last one to know. Yeah. And i want to be clear. In saying that, you know, the carter is kind of animated by or obsess bid works righteousness. I dont think thats a bad thing. Hes done wonderful things. And the world is a better place because of his activism. I dont i dont question that for a moment. But, you know, he does seem to be driven even steve is nodding. Even approaching 90 years old, he seems to have no indication of letting up. What do you make of president carters continuing to go from the former denomination. I think of the most recent book as one example. Hes not been the advocate for choice, you know, whatever his thoughts may be. Thats not what we know him for. Why is that divorce still . Carters relationship is to say the least vexed. I describe it as a dysfunctional marriage with frequent separations and then occasional attempts at reconciliation and its just not good. Where it began to go south was in 1979 when you had the conservative take over the Southern Baptist convention down in new orleans. And ive asked carter about this. And he saw that as his real wakeup call that he was in trouble with evangelicals. One of the Southern Baptist leaders comes to visit him in the white house shortly later, bailey smith does, and at the end of the conversation, his conversation with the president , he says Something Like president carter, a lot of us are praying that you will abandon your faith of your religion of secular humanism. And carter records in the diary in the living quarters that night and said what is secular humanism . Its a fraught relationship. I dont think they will ever, ever reconcile. And the issue he said this many times. The central issue for him is the role of women. One of the new things the Baptist Convention did in 1979 was seek to and the ordination of women and mr. Carter doesnt go along with that. I applaud him for it. Can you explain the feelings he had at the time his own church split over integration . That was maybe steve can help me with the year. That was long before he went on to the National Scene. But there was a vote, a time when a lot of Civil Rights Activists were doing something called church visitations. Africanamericans would show up at white churches on sunday morning and seek to be seated and, of course, if they were turned away that, was major source of embarrassment. The Church Deacons decided at Plains Baptist Church to bar africanamericans from the door and was only the Carter Family and one other person in the congregation who voted effectively to integrate Plains Baptist Church. Carter kept his peace about that. He cast the lot for the Baptist Church in part because of the racial inclusiveness. As a priest who is also in academia and spent several years researching jimmy carter, youre in a unique position to talk intelligently about the state of religion in america and where its going. I didnt want to let you get out of here without doing that in some form or fashion. To help you out a little bit because i know thats too brad a question, most recently the example of one example of religion in public life is the Supreme Courts recent ruling that said that a town in greece, new york, can now start their Public Meetings with prayers. And one of the legal rationals on there was they basically said, its nott unconstitutiona because the prayers are so ceremonial that they dont mean anything anymore. So the Supreme Court is basically ruled that prayer doesnt mean anything. And people who arent raised in religious households or any background, i mean thats what they know from watching the news, prayer is meaningless and so ordered. So where is religion in this country going . What should we do about that . Im not going to do the larger question. It would take another lecture. The issue on the prayer, you couldnt be more right about that. And what i keep saying about the issue of separation of church and state, first of all, its a baptist issue. All right . There are two fundamental pardon the pun characteristics of baptists. One is adult baptist, the other is liberty of conscience and the separation of church and state. It goes all the way back to Roger Williams. And what people miss about this and youre right on it to. Its very perceptive question. What people miss about this is that Roger Williams talked about separating the garden of the church from the wilderness of the world by means of a wall of separation. Thats where the metaphor comes from. And jefferson picks it up in 1802 but it comes from Roger Williams. Now lets deconstruct that statement for a moment. The puritans of which Roger Williams was one, were not members of the sierra club. When though talked about wilderness, wilderness is a place of desolation, danger, this is where evil lurked. So when Roger Williams talks about protecting the garden of the church from the wilderness of the world, what he is saying in effect is lets protect the integ ri integrity of the faith by not confusing it with the politics of the state. That is the genius of the formulation in my judgement. Let me give you an example of how this plays out. A lot of you remember next door in alabama judge roy moore with roys rock right . The monument with the Ten Commandments. I was an Expert Witness in that case. I was, you know, i was one of the few baptists around, frankly, even though im not a baptist. Because Roger Williams is absolutely right. When do you that sort of thing, you fetishize the faith. You trivialize the faith. Just fast forward in that case. When the judge ruled in i forget his name at the moment ill get it later. I forgot right now. Properly. It was unconstitutional because it violated the establishment clause of the first amendment. And the workers were preparing to remove the monument. One of the protesters screamed, get your hands off my god. Now unless i missed my guess, one of the commandmentes says sbhg a grave image. That is Roger Williams point. When you do that sort of thing, when you have a prayer that is, as the Supreme Court itself acknowledges, meaningless, you trippali trivialize the faith. Thats the danger. Im not worried that the constitutional system is going to start crumbling because some city council, you know, in idaho or upstate new york opens with a prayer. Im not worried about that at all. I worry about the integrity of the faith. And thats what i think Roger Williams is talking about. And thats its real danger in the decision like the greece decision that just came down. Great question. This has been a fascinating look at jimmy carter. You want to get a copy of redeemer. He will be signing copies in the lobby. Lets thank him one more time. [ plaus ] [ applause ] and if youll join us in the lobby, thank you all very much. Thank you, tony. Every saturday night, American History tv takes you to College Classrooms around the country for lectures in history. Why do you know who lizzy borden is and raise your land if you ever heard of the gene harris murder trial before this class . The deepest cause where we find the true meaning of the revolution was in the transformation that took place in the minds of the American People. So were going to talk about both of these sides of the story here, right . The tools, the techniques of slave owner power. Well also talk about the tools and techniques of power that were practitionced by enslaved people. Watch professor lead students on tom ikz from tpics from the revolution to september 11th. Every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv and lectures in history is available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Cspans 2019 book, the president s, noted historians rank americas best and worst chief executives. Provides insights into the lives of 44 american president s through conversations with noted president ial historians. Tonight on American History tv beginning at 8 00 eastern, Richard Norton smith, Douglas Brinkly and ed medford, contribut contributors to the book talks about the book at a forum recorded last spring. The book is now available in paper back and ebook. Watch American History tv now and over the weekend on cspan3. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court, and Public Policy events. From the president ial primaries through the impeachment process and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of spans Public Affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app. And be part of the National Conversation through cspans daily washington journal program. Or through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Up next on the civil war, ray andrew red talks about the president ial election of 1864. He outlines the republican and democratic platforms, the different candidates and logistics of getting soldiers to vote. This 50minute talk held in 2018 was part of a symposium hosted by the emerging civil war blog. Good afternoon, it is my honor to introduce our next guest. He is from Waynesburg University and a masters degree in American History from indiana university
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.