The Character of President Carter

In the sixth of ten lectures examining the character and leadership of presidents of the past 50 years, Mr. Hertzberg, who wrote speeches for President Carter, discussed the life and presidency of Jimmy Carter. He focused on how Mr. Carter’s apparent failure to solve any large crisis, such as the Iranian hostage situation and his lack of firm ideology hurt his public image. He also talked about his successful post-presidential career but emphasized that his presidency should be judged on its own merits. He repeated many times that Jimmy Carter was, relatively speaking, a saint in the political arena because of his commitment to human rights as a fundamental basis for foreign policy. After his prepared remarks, Mr. Hertzberg took questions from the audience. The event took place at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Austin, Texas. close