Jimmy Carter and Monitor Breakfasts: A long, storied history
Former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, was a guest at The Monitor Breakfast nine times: first in 1971 as the new governor of Georgia; four more times before the 1976 election; once as president; and three times as a former president.
His most memorable appearance may have been the morning of Dec. 12, 1974, when he handed the assembled reporters a scoop: He was running for president. But his disclosure was so low-key that it generated little buzz. The Monitor’s story ran on Page 3.
Why We Wrote This
On nine different visits to our Breakfast table, over the course of many decades, the former president displayed his keen intellect and trademark decency. He also made news.
On June 24, 1976, before his nomination at the Democratic National Convention, Mr. Carter said at another breakfast that he would not bring up Watergate in the campaign, nor mention President Gerald Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon. (Later, however, Mr. Carter seemed to change his tune; the Nixon pardon is widely seen as a key factor in his defeat of Mr. Ford.)
At his final Monitor Breakfast, in 2005, Mr. Carter was critical of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and warned of what he called “a merger of the church and the state, of religion and politics.”
And he didn’t spare his own party, saying he believed Democratic leaders were “overemphasizing the abortion issue,” and lamenting an “aversion” among Democratic leaders to showing “compatibility with the deeply religious people of this country.”
Over the years, many an American president – and presidential wannabe – has graced the Monitor’s breakfast table, but almost none as frequently as Jimmy Carter.
Former President Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, appeared at our breakfast nine times: first as the newly inaugurated governor of Georgia, early in 1971; four more times before the 1976 election; once as president of the United States; and three times as a former president.
In hindsight, his most memorable appearance may have been the morning of Dec. 12, 1974, when he handed the assembled reporters a scoop: He was running for president. But his disclosure was so low key, Governor Carter so unassuming, that it generated little buzz. The Monitor’s story on that breakfast ran on Page 3.
Why We Wrote This
On nine different visits to our Breakfast table, over the course of many decades, the former president displayed his keen intellect and trademark decency. He also made news.
“We didn’t rush to the phones,” Godfrey “Budge” Sperling wrote in a 1997 column reminiscing about politicians suggesting or outright announcing their presidential campaigns at his famous newsmaker breakfasts. “A few of the reporters, in a post-breakfast conversation, said they thought Carter’s prospects were nil. One sage uttered this pronouncement: ‘Carter isn’t forceful enough to become president.’ Others agreed.”
That evening, Governor Carter made it official, announcing for the 1976 presidential race in a speech at the National Press Club. The rest is history.
By December of 1974, Mr. Carter was already well familiar to Mr. Sperling and by extension, readers of the Monitor. Mr. Sperling and his wife, Betty, had gotten to know Mr. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, at governors’ conferences.
That friendship continued into the Carter presidency, says former Monitor editor David Cook, who hosted Monitor Breakfasts from 2001 to 2018.
“Thus it was that the Sperlings had dinner with the President and First Lady in the White House Residence Quarters in July 1979,” Mr. Cook says in an email.
That kind of socializing between reporters and presidents is much less common these days. But back then, Mr. Sperling used his gregarious nature to great effect in securing breakfast guests. And he was bipartisan in his outreach. The Sperlings were also friendly with Mr. Carter’s predecessor, Republican President Gerald Ford, and his wife, Betty.
For the record, former President Ford appeared at Monitor Breakfasts 10 times: once during his presidency, five times before, and four times after.
Mr. Ford and Mr. Carter both found the Monitor Breakfast to be a good fit – an opportunity to interact with reporters respectfully, on the record, and discuss policy and politics over bacon and eggs. But even if, early on, the Georgia governor came across as lacking forcefulness to hard-bitten Washington reporters, his outsider status ended up appealing to voters weary from the Watergate scandal and its aftermath.
Mr. Carter’s intelligence and wide smile were also assets. In a 2002 column, Mr. Sperling reminisced about his first Carter breakfast.
“I must admit I liked Jimmy Carter from the moment I first met him – when he popped up as a guest at a Monitor breakfast back in 1971,” Mr. Sperling wrote. “Los Angeles Times newsman Jack Nelson had suggested that we invite this Georgia governor to meet with us. At that point I had heard little about Carter. ‘We should keep our eye on him,’ Mr. Nelson said, because someday Carter was going to run for president.”
Coverage of Mr. Carter’s many Monitor Breakfasts reveals a man ready to shake things up, in his own way. At the 1974 gathering, when he publicly revealed his presidential aspirations, he said he would ask for the power to use wage and price controls to address the struggling economy – “but I would use it circumspectly,” he added.
Mr. Carter, a devout Baptist, also promised to issue a code of ethics “that will guide my campaign and administration.” On energy, he said he’d ask Americans to reduce consumption.
On June 24, 1976, before his formal nomination at the Democratic National Convention in New York City, Mr. Carter sat down with 35 reporters at another Monitor Breakfast and addressed three main topics: whether he’d be willing to debate his general election opponent (probably); a sex scandal involving Democratic Rep. Wayne Hays of Ohio (Mr. Carter declined to disavow the congressman “at this time”); and his biggest challenge in defeating President Ford, if he won the GOP nomination (“the power of incumbency”).
At the time, it wasn’t clear if Mr. Ford would be able to fend off a spirited convention challenge from former California Gov. Ronald Reagan. Mr. Ford won the nomination, handing Mr. Carter his biggest campaign weapon: Mr. Ford’s pardon of President Richard Nixon.
But shockingly, at least by today’s standards, Mr. Carter said at his 1976 Monitor Breakfast that he would not bring up Watergate in the campaign, nor would he mention the Ford pardon of Mr. Nixon. Instead, Mr. Carter seemed to defend Mr. Ford, saying that the president had pardoned Mr. Nixon “because he thought it was the right thing to do.”
Just a month later, however, Mr. Carter seemed to change his tune. At a news conference in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, he expressed disagreement with the pardon, saying Mr. Ford should not have done that “until after a trial had been completed” into Mr. Nixon’s alleged crimes around the Watergate scandal. The Nixon pardon is widely seen as a key factor in Mr. Carter’s defeat of Mr. Ford in 1976.
In a 1989 column, Mr. Sperling cited Mr. Carter’s “decency” as another ingredient in his rise to the presidency.
“Remember how Carter, as a new president, strove to put an end to the ‘regal presidency’ – the kind of pomp that had grown to ridiculous proportions under Richard Nixon?” Mr. Sperling wrote.
“Carter wore a sweater at his early TV fire-side chats with the American people. He had walked hand-in-hand with Rosalynn back from the inaugural. Jimmy was always saying, through his actions: ‘Just because I’m president, I don’t think I’m any better than any other American.’
“This show of modesty played very well for a while with the public. Then – somehow – people tired of this.”
As with any presidency, Mr. Carter’s had its highs and lows. He helped broker Middle East peace with the Camp David Accords and established the departments of Energy and Education, but also faced economic woes, including long gas lines, and the Iran hostage crisis.
The Carter presidency ended after one term. But over time, he rehabilitated his image, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his advocacy of global human rights, and helping build houses for Habitat for Humanity well into his 90s.
In his first post-presidency Monitor Breakfast, in 1982, a “relaxed” Mr. Carter seemed to be enjoying life “free from the burden of the Oval Office,” as Mr. Sperling put it. He commented on the 1984 presidential race, arms control, and Middle East developments.
When asked if he might get back into politics, he said, “I have no thoughts on running again.” Afterward, Mr. Sperling notes, reporters commented that the reply left “ample room” for possibly seeking the presidency again. But unlike the most recent one-term president, Mr. Carter never went there.
At a Monitor Breakfast on April 2, 1985, Mr. Carter came to promote his latest book, “The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East.” He criticized President Reagan, saying his Mideast policies were headed down a “dead-end street,” in part because of a failure to get involved directly in the peace process.
Mr. Carter also admitted to mistakes in his own presidency, saying his White House “tried to do too much, too fast … particularly in foreign policy.” But he also pushed back on an episode in which he felt unfairly treated: press coverage of his so-called “malaise speech” in 1979, aimed at soothing a weary nation struggling with an energy crisis – and which famously did not include the word “malaise.” Mr. Carter called it “one of the best speeches I ever made.”
In his final Monitor Breakfast, hosted by Mr. Cook in 2005, Mr. Carter came to promote the 20th book of his post-presidency, called “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis.” He was harshly critical of the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq, saying: “The attitude of going to war against a relatively defenseless country in order to prevent violence in the world is a complete fallacy.”
At the same time, Mr. Carter also warned of what he called “a merger of the church and the state, of religion and politics.” And he didn’t spare his own party, saying he believed Democratic leaders were “overemphasizing the abortion issue,” and wrongly making it a “litmus test” that had hurt the party. More broadly, he lamented an “aversion” among Democratic leaders to showing “compatibility with the deeply religious people of this country.”
Some two decades later, President Joe Biden may be the most openly religious Democratic chief executive since Mr. Carter. But there can be little doubt that the religious polarization identified by the 39th president has grown even more acute.
Staff writer Harry Bruinius assisted with this report.
