Latest / Ridiculous History / Post-Presidential Careers, Part One: Happy Birthday, Jimmy!

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Post-Presidential Careers, Part One: Happy Birthday, Jimmy! · Ridiculous History

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  Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: for tuning in. Let's hear it for the man, the myth,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the legend, not yet US president, but hope springs eternal.
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  Speaker 1: It's mister Max Williams.
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  Speaker 2: Let's call him a presidential hopeful, Max Williams.
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  Speaker 3: Elect of our Hearts. You're Noel Brown.
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  Speaker 2: I am President. Max has a nice ring to it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie it does.
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  Speaker 4: We've ever had a Max president in our history.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, we've had one from Michigan, where I was born,
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  Speaker 5: and we've had one from Georgia who we will be
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  Speaker 5: talking about today.
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  Speaker 3: That's true, and that's no Old Brown. Again. I am
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  Speaker 3: Ben Bullen.
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  Speaker 1: Uh. We talk a lot about presidents, not just on
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  Speaker 1: this show, but when we hang out together. Because again
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  Speaker 1: I gotta stop saying this. We are fun at parties.
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  Speaker 1: We make our own party, we make our own kind
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  Speaker 1: of music. You know, we are sing our own special songs.
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  Speaker 5: Ben, you say that, but at parties like it's a
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  Speaker 5: Ronnie joke and my friend group like me dropping these
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  Speaker 5: random history facts like I dropped a fact recently about
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  Speaker 5: how there's no hurricanes because of the little ice age
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  Speaker 5: sense which cause Nassau to be a real thing in
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  Speaker 5: the pirates and stuff. Yeah, and my friends make fun
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  Speaker 5: of me, But then when we're at parties, people are
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  Speaker 5: always like, hey, hey, tell me a word fact like
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  Speaker 5: stuff like that.
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  Speaker 4: So I think we are fun at parties.
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  Speaker 3: You guys agree, it's a party trick.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we have the we have the distinction that not
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  Speaker 1: everybody has of being sponges for history and being sponges
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  Speaker 1: for trivia. Funny story, Nola is quite good at trivia
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  Speaker 1: and I am quite bad at trivia because my interest,
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  Speaker 1: I would argue, are a little bit esoteric.
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  Speaker 2: Well I mean esoteric, schmeesoteric. One person's esoteric is another
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  Speaker 2: person's wheelhouse.
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  Speaker 3: There we go.
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  Speaker 1: And if we were not in podcasting, you can be
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  Speaker 1: sure ridiculous historians that we would want to be some
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  Speaker 1: of us would want to be president of the United
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  Speaker 1: States of America. It's a tough job. As far like
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  Speaker 1: as of recording today, only forty five people human individuals
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  Speaker 1: have had this job in one way or another, And
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  Speaker 1: for a lot of historians this is considered the crowning
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  Speaker 1: achievement of their lives. Now we always like to point out,
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  Speaker 1: of course, that presidents do other things. I think we
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  Speaker 1: all of us are continually astounded that Abe Lincoln is
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  Speaker 1: somehow not recognized as a pioneering amateur wrestler.
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  Speaker 3: And no you you bring it up off and for
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  Speaker 3: good reason. The guy had a reach on him. He
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  Speaker 3: had the reach.
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  Speaker 2: He also had a really strong bite. He had that
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  Speaker 2: he knew how to fight thirty he did, he did,
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  Speaker 2: and he jumped out of windows like Salvador Dali.
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  Speaker 1: But without hyperbole, Noel, I would argue that we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about it in the past on different shows. I would
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  Speaker 1: argue that wanting to be president often should disqualify you
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  Speaker 1: from running for president. Every victory you have as a
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  Speaker 1: president is a pyrrhic victory. It's such a this for you, Max,
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  Speaker 1: it's such a kobiashi maru of a job like you.
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  Speaker 1: You kind of can't win when you're president.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, the game is rigged. And you're right.
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  Speaker 2: It does seem that in general, folks who seek that
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  Speaker 2: kind of power, you know, with every fiber of their being,
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  Speaker 2: are often not necessarily worthy of it, at least in
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  Speaker 2: the benevolent sense, right, Like people are out to kind
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  Speaker 2: of enrich themselves and their cronies, or they just got
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  Speaker 2: a taste for that sweet, sweet power. There's obviously some
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  Speaker 2: some exceptions to this case, and I think we're going
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  Speaker 2: to talk about some exceptions to this case because oftentimes
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  Speaker 2: the exceptions to this case aren't the best of presidents,
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  Speaker 2: but they are the best of people.
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  Speaker 3: Ooh beautiful, I like that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we we also know that it is a so
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  Speaker 1: it's a very demanding job. You can never one hundred
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  Speaker 1: percent win because some demographic of the population of the
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  Speaker 1: United States will hate you.
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  Speaker 2: It's like podcasting, basically, I don't know, it's basically the
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  Speaker 2: same as podcasting. I stand by that you said no hyperbole,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm going to drop a little hyperbole.
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  Speaker 3: I thank you very but.
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  Speaker 5: Uh, I mean, look, presidency is tough because at most
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  Speaker 5: fifty two percent of the country's going to like you
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  Speaker 5: at the election, and then once they're in the office,
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  Speaker 5: like twenty to forty to sixty to eighty percent of
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  Speaker 5: those people who like you are now going to hate you,
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  Speaker 5: and all the people who hate you before and now hate.
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  Speaker 2: You still well, and it's also it's so bizarre and
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  Speaker 2: galling to see presidents constantly be either rewarded or maligned
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  Speaker 2: for something somebody else did entirely. You know, people are
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  Speaker 2: always stepping in dealing with what came before them and
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  Speaker 2: whether that was a good thing or a bad thing,
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  Speaker 2: either taking credit for it or getting dunked on.
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  Speaker 1: For it exactly. And we can also say, unfortunately for
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  Speaker 1: the currently forty five individuals throughout US history, mostly white men, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: who have so far, who have served as as US president,
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  Speaker 1: we know it has a deleterious effect on their health studies.
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  Speaker 3: Before and after picks are real.
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  Speaker 1: Humdinger, Oh, I found a cool ques from a former
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  Speaker 1: president Barack Obama served two terms back in the day.
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  Speaker 3: And Rock Hussein Obam, Oh, my god, you sound like
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  Speaker 3: my uncle.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and so he uh he said, uh yeah, uh.
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  Speaker 1: He reacted in an interview where someone said, hey, does
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  Speaker 1: the does being potus president of the United States? Does
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  Speaker 1: it accelerate your aging? Does it endanger your health? And
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  Speaker 1: he said, look, I don't dye my hair, and a
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  Speaker 1: lot of world leaders do. I won't say who, but
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  Speaker 1: their barbers know and their hair.
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  Speaker 3: Oh it's funny. What a nice dig man, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And here's the thing too, It's like Barack Obama is
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  Speaker 2: often credited as being like such a kind of liberal
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  Speaker 2: bastion of a president or whatever. But that guy did
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  Speaker 2: some gnarly stuff too, but kind of gets a pass
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  Speaker 2: because he makes fire playlists. So here we are not
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  Speaker 2: here to litigate necessarily politics. That is not the nature
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  Speaker 2: of this show, because it is a sticky wicket, and
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  Speaker 2: we've certainly in this our divisive times. This is a
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  Speaker 2: refuge for people that maybe want to escape from that
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  Speaker 2: kind of divisive talk. So we could do an episode
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  Speaker 2: about the history of politics without having to come down
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  Speaker 2: on one side or the other be jerks about anyone's
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  Speaker 2: particular politics.
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  Speaker 3: So perfect anti trigger warning, I guess that's what this is.
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  Speaker 3: Safe space. Somebody almost to say trigger warning anymore.
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  Speaker 2: You're supposed to say like activation, you're activated instead of triggerious.
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  Speaker 1: Apparently because of the oh gosh, the connotation.
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  Speaker 2: I do think it has to do with perhaps the
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  Speaker 2: connotation of firearms. I think, well, which would make sense
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  Speaker 2: that I'm okay with, But I do sometimes struggle with
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  Speaker 2: political correctness.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's talk all the disclaimer, not ideology. These
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  Speaker 1: are very interesting people. We're not going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: all forty five. But a while back, the three of
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  Speaker 1: us had a conversation off air because we are actually
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  Speaker 1: friends and do hang out sometimes so use out of
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  Speaker 1: work and we we said, uh, we said, oh, man,
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  Speaker 1: I think it may have started with our buddy George W.
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  Speaker 1: Bush and his painting career. But we we had this
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  Speaker 1: idea about what happens to us presidents if they're not assassinated,
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  Speaker 1: if they survived the health risk, what do they do
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  Speaker 1: after they leave office? And thank goodness, our pal Max
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  Speaker 1: Williams is our research associate for this probably two part episode.
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  Speaker 1: And Max found something that really stuck out to us
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  Speaker 1: from reader's digest, which was about John Quincy Adams. Noel,
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  Speaker 1: could you do the honors on this one?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely? John Quincy Adams once said, there's nothing more about
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  Speaker 2: I don't know how John Quincy Adams spoke.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just going to do it, man, do it like
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  Speaker 3: there is vaguely British.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, early translant, do it in your.
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  Speaker 3: Own as nothing more but thatic and live than a farmer.
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  Speaker 2: Presidents trans Atlantic love it, Okay, John, And that's me,
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  Speaker 2: John Quincy Adams.
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  Speaker 3: This is how I talk.
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  Speaker 1: That's that's good. That's the key to an impression. Always
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  Speaker 1: say your name so people know I should have I
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  Speaker 1: should have said, uh uh oh, well, we're not going
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  Speaker 1: back to the Obama now, but we'll get to it
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  Speaker 1: at the end of part two.
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  Speaker 3: But the future.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, John Quincy Adams Uh sounds a little depressed there,
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  Speaker 1: and he's not being depressed out of clear blue sky
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  Speaker 1: or whole cloth. Uh. You can look at former potuses
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  Speaker 1: like John Tyler.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: He is president after William Henry Harrison makes a bad
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  Speaker 1: weather decision.
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  Speaker 3: Uh, and is that affair with all times?
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  Speaker 4: All times?
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  Speaker 5: Through our research in the Comsless Curse episode, I found
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  Speaker 5: that that was just a thing he did, was go
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  Speaker 5: walk around in the rain.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it rains, he takes he takes rain walks. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I would argue that old j q A is a
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  Speaker 2: sentiment I think is a little harsh. I like, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's a little harsh.
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  Speaker 4: Guys.
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  Speaker 2: I think we're going to talk about some presidents today
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  Speaker 2: in this our two part episode on post presidential life
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  Speaker 2: who went on to do some great things and may
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  Speaker 2: well have cemented their legacy with the work they did.
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  Speaker 3: After being president.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, right, yes, And our buddy Adams was kind of
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  Speaker 1: a poudy boy. Our buddy Harrison is a little bit emo. Clearly,
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  Speaker 1: if you listen to the discography of the amazing band Garbage,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: most of it is based on the career of William
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  Speaker 1: Henry Harris's little known actual facts. Yes, yeah, just like
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  Speaker 1: the vice presidential debate, no one fact check us.
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  Speaker 3: I was told they would be checking, right, what a
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  Speaker 3: thing is I.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry, we said we're gonna get political, but I think
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  Speaker 2: we could all come.
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  Speaker 3: Down on that side.
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  Speaker 2: It gets objectively comical, as it was my understanding that
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  Speaker 2: I could openly lie.
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  Speaker 3: In this uh in these proceedings.
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  Speaker 1: Also, don't say you're at t Anaman Square if you're not.
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  Speaker 5: But also, you know, fact checking often doesn't use alternate facts.
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  Speaker 3: Ah, yes, yes, right.
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  Speaker 1: Shout out to our buddy Josh aka Samuel Clemens aka
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Mark Twain aka Josh Josh uh So, after leaving the
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  Speaker 1: White House, our buddy John T. Big Tie goes back
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  Speaker 1: to Virginia. He's still super duper racist even for the time,
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  Speaker 1: So he has a bunch of children, he joins the
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  Speaker 1: secessionist movement of the time, and then he dies. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: John Tyler, enough time has passed. If you're listening, sir,
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  Speaker 1: you were not the best of the bunch.
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  Speaker 3: Sorry, he's probably already he's probably already there. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, gosh, we promised no politics in here. He are,
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  Speaker 2: But come on, these are all pretty objective, actively easy
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  Speaker 2: to agree on, and we can get that slavery was bad,
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  Speaker 2: I hope.
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  Speaker 1: So gosh, yeah, I hope that's not a hot take
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, as we're recording us.
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  Speaker 3: A divisive times that nothing would surprise me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we do have to say our first president that
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  Speaker 1: we really want to examine here is a guy that
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  Speaker 1: we wish very much a happy New Year. Birthdays are
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  Speaker 1: the only real new year, so regardless of your ideology,
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  Speaker 1: obviously we're biased because we're Georgia boys. Let's give a
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  Speaker 1: shout out to James Earl Carter Junior, who just as
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  Speaker 1: a oh gosh, just two days ago turned one hundred
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: years old. He is in hospice currently. We referenced him
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  Speaker 1: in a previous episode with one of our favorite statements
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  Speaker 1: or observations about the guy, Jimmy Carter, only president from Georgia,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, might not have been the best president
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  Speaker 1: in American history, but he's often said to be the
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  Speaker 1: best person to be president.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I may have been heavy handedly alluding to him in
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  Speaker 2: the opening quite a bit, because boy did he go
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  Speaker 2: on to do some really cool stuff, but also, boy
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  Speaker 2: was he not a particularly effective president. Born in October first,
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  Speaker 2: nineteen twenty four and Plains Georgia. I don't even know
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  Speaker 2: where Plains Georgia is. Gues It is down south, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: down south. It's the south of the South.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's a small town. It's a small town.
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  Speaker 2: He was, of course a peanut farma and talk of
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  Speaker 2: politics and devotion to the Baptist Church were a big
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  Speaker 2: part of his upbringing. Again, one could argue that he
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  Speaker 2: came by his political aspirations more honestly than some. He
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  Speaker 2: graduated nineteen forty six from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland,
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  Speaker 2: pretty prestigious institution.
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  Speaker 3: For that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: He married Rosalind Smith, henceforth as Rosalind Carter, who is
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  Speaker 2: also beloved in her own right, probably worthy of an
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  Speaker 2: episode unto herself. And Carter will go on to serve
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  Speaker 2: seven years in the Navy before again entering the world
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  Speaker 2: of politics.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and let's go to our friends at Britannica to
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  Speaker 1: learn more about this political career. So our buddy Jimmy
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  Speaker 1: starts starts off in politics, working at the Board of Education.
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  Speaker 1: People love his vibe. He's just so wholesome and genuine.
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  Speaker 3: Easy going. Yeah, he's not one of the bad.
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  Speaker 1: Peanut farmers, I guess. So this gets him elected to
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  Speaker 1: the State Senate of Georgia in nineteen sixty two, and
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  Speaker 1: then eight years later he becomes the governor of Georgia
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy. Not to call anybody out, but some
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  Speaker 1: of our fellow ridiculous historian may remember that election and
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  Speaker 1: he's governor. He's governor for a little while. But this
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  Speaker 1: is really this happens all the time with governors if
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  Speaker 1: they're successful. He's really setting the stage to run for
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  Speaker 1: president in nineteen seventy six, and he doesn't. He's like
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  Speaker 1: kind of grassroots about it. If we're being honest, we
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  Speaker 1: are we try to be whenever possible.
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  Speaker 2: I do have a question for you, guys, because I
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  Speaker 2: don't know this man's history as well as maybe you
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  Speaker 2: or Max do, But was he kind of always on
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  Speaker 2: the right side of civil rights in his political career?
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  Speaker 2: It just seems like a divisive time where you know,
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  Speaker 2: a governor of Georgia in the seventies. Someone who was
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  Speaker 2: in politics in the sixties from the South may have
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  Speaker 2: still had some lingering remnants of the old ways.
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  Speaker 3: I would argue he was an actual Christian. That's the good.
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  Speaker 4: I can't say it was certain, but I'm pretty darn certain.
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  Speaker 5: And you know, this is post Lester Maddox, who was
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  Speaker 5: the what was that nineteen sixty four election which.
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  Speaker 4: Lester Maddox was an open like segregationist.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, there were tons of those around, is what I'm
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  Speaker 3: getting at. So I mean, he's certainly not known for that.
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  Speaker 2: But I also didn't listen to all his speeches, and
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  Speaker 2: I just wonder if there was ever any inkling that
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  Speaker 2: he maybe was on the fence or something.
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  Speaker 3: But it seems like he was a human rights advocate
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  Speaker 3: for the start.
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  Speaker 1: Jimmy was a guy who, like again, the reason I
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  Speaker 1: and not to pick on people for religion at all,
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  Speaker 1: but the reason that he I say that he was
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  Speaker 1: an actual Christian is because he did not attempt to
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  Speaker 1: use his religious ideology or warp it in a way
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  Speaker 1: that helped do evil things like when when he was reading,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Bibles, he was taking that stuff to heart
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  Speaker 1: and he thought he did think all people are equal,
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  Speaker 1: and if he ever stepped out a line, I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: Rosalin would have smacked the crap out of him.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, she kept him honest, for sure. They had a
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  Speaker 2: very seemingly very loving and honest relationship with one another.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he had a great He had a for
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the campaign wonks here. He had a phenomenal campaign structure
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  Speaker 1: and strategy. And this is why, this is why we
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: see a quite rare and extraordinary political rise. Set what
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  Speaker 1: Board of Education to Senate in nineteen sixty two, governor
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six years later, you're running for president.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't happen for every US governor. And because of
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  Speaker 1: this grassroots stuff, he becomes a viable, or not yet viable,
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  Speaker 1: an interesting candidate. We could argue one of the reasons
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  Speaker 1: he does assume office is because old Nixon messes up.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. There was a scandal, you know, at the
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  Speaker 3: Watergate hotel.
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  Speaker 2: He was in fact a crook as it turned down,
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  Speaker 2: and I believe his history would remember him.
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  Speaker 5: And who just jump in here real quick, because I
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  Speaker 5: actually have an article pulled up. It is Jimmy Carter's
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  Speaker 5: pivotal role in George's black civil rights struggle written by
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: Chauncey Alcorn for Capital Bing News Atlanta, quoting just delivered
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  Speaker 5: right here. Carter, after his second election to state governor,
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  Speaker 5: said the lines the time for racial discrimination is over.
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  Speaker 5: No poor, rural week or black person should ever have
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  Speaker 5: to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the
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  Speaker 5: opportunity of an education, a.
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  Speaker 4: Job, or simple service.
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  Speaker 5: That was from nineteen seventy, after he won second one,
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  Speaker 5: but even beforehand. The article goes on to say, during
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  Speaker 5: his time as a state senator from nineteen sixty three
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  Speaker 5: to nineteen sixty seven, Carter worked to repeal laws that
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  Speaker 5: made it harder for black people to vote. His pro
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  Speaker 5: integration positions likely led him losing his first bid for
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  Speaker 5: governor of Georgia in nineteen sixty six.
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  Speaker 2: Hey here here, you love to hear it. Glad that
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: we could have that confirmed for this again.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah again.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: People who actually practice the religious ideologies that they sort
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  Speaker 1: of signal preach.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right there, we go practice what you preach.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: This dude does this, And I think it's amazing when
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: you start at the Board of Education, right, you see
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the foundational structure that's a habitat for humanity shout out
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: so here's the deal. This guy, because of Watergate, this
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: guy who would have been kind of an also candidate,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: becomes now viable, now incredibly attractive to voters who are
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: increasingly cynical of the Beltway horse trading and the old corrupt,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: nepotistic style of American politics. And he is campaigning on
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: something that a lot of presidential candidates love to campaign on,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: common sense, the common sense outsider.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: You know, it's just me, you know what I mean.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I just like to put my genes on and I
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: talk to farm you know, I do nuclear I like.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: To have my servants put my genes on one leg
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: at a time.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: And he is not. He is not one of those patricians.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: So the issue is that he's also an unfailingly honest guy.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: So he's not blowing smoke when he says he's an outsider.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: And when he enters, when he achieves the presidency, when
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he enters the White House, there is a system, and
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: that system, it turns out, is kind of against him.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Like keep in mind, people like Strom Thermond are still alive,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and they're super doubling down on all of their beat
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: me here Max, on all of their evil.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Ship That's right, I mean, this was kind of the
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know, not not to say that there hasn't
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: always been some adversity between branches of government, but it
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: does feel like at this point Congress, in the post Watergate,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: you know, environment was a little more willing to challenge
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: the executive branch. So speaking of inheriting messes, Carter was
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: kind of neutered from the start in terms of his
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: ability to kind of get things done.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's a big you could argue that is
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a feature or a bug or a flaw in the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: design of American government, which is that the president has
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of power in foreign relations, but in terms
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: of the domestic life for people in the United States,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Congress can hamstring a lot of ideas that people have
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: voted for in a presidential election.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: That's why it's almost more important to have consensus between
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: those branches of government than it is to vote in
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: your favorite guy for president.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And it stinks, you know, because, as you pointed out,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: in most people in this country who are voting a
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: lot of caveats there, they are only voting every four
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: years for the US presidential election.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: And they're voting big show.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're voting on the big show. They're voting on
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: often vaguely outlined ideas. And then if you're not voting
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: in the midterms, if you're not voting for congressional representatives,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: those great ideas, those ambitious concepts, can often not reach
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to reality. So by nineteen seventy eight, our boy Jimmy,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: his popularity has dissipated. People loved him as a viable,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: wholesome alternative candidate, but because he and Congress just could
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: not come to a same vibe on things, he was
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: seen as legislatively impotent.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Well and speaking of yeah, neuterd right, I think that's accurate,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: ben No, speaking of you know, inheriting other people's messes.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: It's also interesting to me how so many factors of
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: American life are just life in general in the world,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: are at the whims of factors that are outside of
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: the control of any human being, and yet there's this
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: expectation that a president is meant to steer the course
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: of these events single handedly in some cases, and it's
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: just it's a fool's errand most of the time it's
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: it's very, very, very difficult to affect that level of
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: change as a single person. And of course, with skyrocketing inflation,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: a hostage crisis in Iran, the October Surprise, the October Surprise,
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: and we're still waiting for ours to drop. But you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: general dislike and distrust of Democrats, Conservatism running wild and
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: becoming a kind of new, particularly vehement and toxic flavor
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: of conservatism. It really hamstrung Carter in a way that
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: was not fair and not his fault, but there it was.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: And of course he lost the nineteen eighty election to
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: the actor Ronald Reagan.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, Ronald Reagan from earlier films. Let's unpack some of this. Yeah, yeah,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: let's unpack some of the stuff you're alluding to there,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: nol So, I love the point about I love I
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: love the point about one person. Right, It's very easy
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to play Monday quarterback for the president of the United States.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: It's easy, with the benefit of retrospect, to look back
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: and say this is what you should have done right.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: And when we talk about inflation, what we need to
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: remember is that inflation often is a reactive process with
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: multiple stakeholders who have conflicting goals. And you could argue,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and I'm not supporting dictators here, but you could argue
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: it is very difficult for someone with a four year
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: time window to make decisions or make policies that come
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: to fruition within show. So such such a short span
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: of time, so often you're local president inherits neighborhood president
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: right inherits economic policies from the previous not just administration singular,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: but from the previous administrations. And now this is a
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: very tempting, you know, this is like a ring of
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: power at mortor do you throw it or do you
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: keep it kind of thing, because as much as I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: personally love the guy Franklin Delano Roosevelt came very close
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: to becoming a dictator, which is anti American, and he's
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: he is the reason that we have term limits.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: One hundred per cents.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: So given all of these factors, many of which were
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: beyond Carter's control, and again we're not here being apologists
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: for any particular politician, these are just facts.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, it is.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Very unfair to saddle a single individual with like the
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: course of civilization everyone.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: It's yeah, it is. And that's exactly what we alluded
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: to at the top of the show.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: And as we're as we're moving through this, one of
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the last points that's very important to make here in
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Carr political career is like you were talking about,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: conservatism in this case may not be the same kind
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: of conservatism people are familiar with in the mid two thousands,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: because a lot of it is oriented toward the idea
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: of America first isolationism.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Like why am I a voter in Saint Louis?
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: You know, why am I saddled with this responsibility for
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the Middle East?
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: I've never been there?
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: That is a huge part of the conservative push against
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Carter's administration, attempting to bring peace to the world.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't you say there's a little bit of that going
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: around right now or these days in the current form
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: of conservatism. I mean, there does appear to be a
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: form of this kind of isolationism, at least where things
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: like immigration are concerned and the idea of other countries
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: paying their fair share and all of that stuff.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, shout out to the Darien gap. Yeah it's a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: light spoiler.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's comings, But no, I think that's right.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: It does feel like we're starting to see conservatism sort
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: of come back around to this type of thinking.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Right, So, yeah, the idea of the American experiment has
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: always been a brainstorm, right, who's got the best elevator pitch?
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Who can who can deliver?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: At this time, I got to stop because I almost
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: went into my al Pacino Devil's Advocate. But uh, like you,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: like you said, this is our series on presidents who
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: did stuff after being president. Right now, we've been talking
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: about Carter's uh presidency, which was very Kobeashi Maru.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: So Noel, you said. He loses the.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Election to a guy named Ronald Reagan, a real up
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and coming actor. I haven't seen his recent films now,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: well there was, remember that he was in them.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: I believe Dennis Quaid plays him in a recent biopic
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: that's supposed to be super good. But at this point
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: in his life, he's in his mid to late fifties,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: pretty young, pretty young to do some more stuff because
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: his presidency, it turned out, would be just one act
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: of his story. And shortly after leaving the White House,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: the Carter's established the famous Carter Presidential Center here in
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Atlanta for you know, humanitarian efforts, all kinds of different
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: projects here and abroad. Carter also became a diplomat, very
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: well regarded esteemed diplomat helped to settle conflicts in places
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: like Nicaragua, Panama, Ethiopia, Haiti, and North Korea. And he
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: was able to kind of carry on those aspirations for
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: international peace, but in a way that he, with his
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: personal wealth and influence, could actually make an impact on
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: outside of the rig game that is the presidency and
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: or the US government. Habitat Humanity you may have heard of.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: He became heavily involved in that organization building houses for
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: people less fortunate, and of course, you know, being Jimmy
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: Carter and being a bit of a polymath overachiever, but
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: in like the best possible way.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: He also becomes a prolific writer, with over thirty books
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: to his name, and I actually I think he actually
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: wrote the majority of those, which is exceptional in the
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: world of politics. Just being honest, there.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of times I'll put a name on
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: the book, but there would be a ghost writers of plenty.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: They are not writing their own.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Bars right right exactly, And thank you for saying that.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: But also, you know, a guy gets lauded and applauded
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the world around. He gets a Nobel Peace Prize in
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: two thousand and two, I don't.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: I don't just give those out Willy Nelly. The Peace
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: Prize controversial man, oh really because of the dynamite. Because
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Alfred Nobel, Yeah, we know the piece.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Actually, the Peace Prize would be a great or Nobel
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: in general would be a great episode.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Fun fact.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Our pal former President Carter did all of these things
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: while also regularly teaching Sunday school over at the Baptist
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Church in Plains, Georgia.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: Old hometown hero, practicing what he preached.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Carter is a huge list of accolades from his presidency
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: and life outside of the presidency are so incredibly robust
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: that Britannica has sort of an interactive experience, the Jimmy
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Carter Experience online for exploring his many many achievements which
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: are just too numerous to list here on one podcast.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: He also has one of the best animated cameos ever,
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: with his bulletproof limo being exposed as an not being
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: able to withstand the nail gun in King of the Hill,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: which I have been watching rewatching lately, and BOYD does
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: that show hold up. It is the cozy, delightful, good natured,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: wholesome cartoon. I think it's better than a lot of
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: you know, live action shows. It's got heart, and you
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: know who the heart of the show is, as young
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Bobby Hill who confuses Jimmy Carter for Jesus Christ.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Understandable, you know it happens. Max's laugh from there as well.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: I remember I remember one time having to drop a
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: love mic in Jimmy Carter.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was very nice.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Guy.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: I was terrified.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: This was at the Carter Center, which is still here
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: in the US or in Atlanta specifically and does a
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: lot of election monitoring. Nicest guy.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Secret tip by the way, if you were ever in
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta metro area and you want a fun, kind
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: of free, cool afternoon date, they have a Koi pond
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: and a little garden out back of the Carter Center.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: And if you're as much of a Larry David cheapskate
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: as me, you don't have to pay to go there.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: You could walk through and they'll let you in and
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: it's perfect for picnic. It's got one of the best
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: views of the Atlanta skyline.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: It's over there kind of behind Ponts right or near
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: in that sort of wooded area right.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: There, this right by Free and Parkway, Freedom Parkway exactly, yes,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: of course, and that is now I sound like it's funny.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: Guys. A little while back, I was over at a
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: grocery store buying juice, and I heard this guy who
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: was ranting about New Deal legislation in a grocery store.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Amazing dude. He's eighty nine years old right now and
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: navy veteran. And we were talking about Roosevelt.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: This guy.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: You know, if you do the math real quick, he
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: was ten years old when Roosevelt passed away and he
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: is still alive. History is so much closer than it
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: looks in the rear view mirror. And I know we've
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: we've gone long on this, but I think, Noel, it's
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: appropriate for us to spend this time on Carter. Maybe
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: maybe part two is our buddies atoms and of course
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the legendary taf T.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it makes sense.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Ben, We obviously are a bit of Carter stands, you know,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: him being from our hometown and you know, having done
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: such amazing humanitarian work. And it's not it's a political
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: to give the guy props for those things that he accomplished,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: you know, later in his life.
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: I think he's a shining example.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: Also, he did just turn one hundred. You pointed out
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: off Mike in our text said that he's not looking
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: super great. He you know, one hundreds a pretty serious milestone.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: I don't imagine we're going to have old JC around
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: for too much longer. So we wanted to lead with
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: this one and felt like he deserved basically his own episode. Yes, yeah,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: And as we're recording this, it is October third. This
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: is going to be publishing on October eighth, and we
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: hope that former President Jimmy Carter is around to hear it.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: His main thing now is that he wants to stick
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: around to vote, to vote in the next election, in
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: the next POTUS election. So we got your back, Jimmy,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: big fans here in Georgia, and we are going to
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: call this part one of presidents who did a lot
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: after being president.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: We jumped around in time.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: But join us Thursday when we are diving into some
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: even more fascinating careers. And yes, spoiler, we're going to
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: get to some art criticism of the noted painter George W.
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: Bush in the meantime.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Huge thanks to super producer Max Williams for assembling this
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: research dossier. Alex Williams, who composed this banging Bob that
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: you're hearing.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: In your ear holes right now.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Big big thanks to our pal Gabeluesier, Big big things
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: to Eve's Jeff Coke, Christopher hasiotis here in spirit, doctor Z,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Jeff b Andrea. Oh some folks you haven't met yet.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: And you know what, these kind of episodes always remind
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: me of, folks, Our buddy A j. Bahamas Jacobs.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Long may he rain in the Bahamas as a benevolent dictator.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Do you think we'll ever end up doing something like
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: post podcasting careers for people?
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, god, I hope not. You know, we'll get
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: to podcast until the day we dive in.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: What would what would Jonathan Strickland aka the Quiztor be doing?
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: Super Villain?
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: Supervillain or musical theater? Here you go, Yeah, maybe when
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: they're not mutually exclusive. See you next time, folks.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.