James March-April 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 11
The real undoing of the Carter
presidency was the Iranian hostage
crisis. It was a traumatic time for
Americans, but it is rarely explained in
a fair context.
For many years, under many prior
administrations, the United States had
relied on a strong relationship with the
Shah of Iran. After he was deposed
and forced to flee his nation, he sought
cancer treatment in the United States.
Carter, loyal to a longtime ally, allowed
the Shah to enter the country and seek
medical assistance at Cornell Medical
Center. This fueled a rumor in Iran of a
U.S. plan to assist the Shah in retaking
the country. While evidence is clear
that there was no plot, the reaction to
the Shah’s treatment in the U.S. led to
the seizure by revolutionary Muslim
students of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran along with some 60 hostages.
In media reports Carter was
portrayed as inept in dealing with the
situation. But he worked tirelessly to
free the hostages, even allowing his
Chief of Staff Ham Jordan to take on
highly dangerous international trips to
attempt their freedom. A daring military rescue mission failed due to mechanical failure and the hostages were
released, just as Ronald Reagan was
taking the oath of office to become the
nation’s new president.
Carter, it should be noted, had
a very special “presence” when in a
room. He was quietly charismatic. If
irritated, he could have a steely and
very intimidating look. But in general,
he could shock those meeting him by
abandoning that quiet charisma with a
far more outgoing and warmer demeanor. After all, he was a politician,
in the best sense of the word.
So yes, this former Republican
Georgia House of Representatives
member turned Sean Hannity and
Laura Ingraham prognosticator on Fox
News believes that it is Jimmy Carter’s
actual presidency that gets short shrift
from historians and the media.
For Georgia, Carter’s legacy was essential to the explosive growth of both
Metro Atlanta and the entire state.
Consider this. No Jimmy Carter
presidency, then potentially no Ambassador and former Mayor Andrew
Young to help lead Atlanta, along with
Billy Payne, in gaining the 1996 Olympics. The list could go on and on.
He also got a kick out of a poll I
did years ago showing his grandson
Jason doing well in a gubernatorial
race. He told David Letterman on his
show something like “And that’s from
Newt Gingrich’s pollster.” I laughed
because I never polled for Newt but
knew that Carter knew of my years of
friendship and working with Gingrich.
It just showed what a small world
Georgia politics can be.
Georgia has much more to be
proud of than just the work of Carter’s
post presidency and The Carter Center. Whether Republican or Democrat,
don’t ever hesitate to let people know
there was a President Jimmy Carter.
And you can share some of the facts I
have in this column. You can even say
you got them from Newt’s pollster!
M A RC H //A PRIL 2025
11
