metv on c-span3. coming up america tv, former president jimmy carter and vice president walter mondale had attribute to his legacy. cursor -- the carter administration.

they also talk about human rights. humphrey school of public affairs at the university of posted this event recorded in washington, d.c., this past tuesday evening. it is about 40 minutes. vp. mondale: i am humbled tonight by president carter's presents with us despite his health challenges. i was honored to be his vice president and to be with him at the center of most of his central decisions. we succeeded together where many other presidential and vice presidential teens have been shattered. what held us together is a deep shared common bond, committed to truth and decency. i never doubted his commitment to those values and i don't doubt it today.

we also succeeded because we always lived up to his promise to welcome me into the center of his presence. to protect the dignity of my presence. he always, always kept that promise. we succeeded for many of the reasons we will discuss tonight. i'm here with you tonight to celebrate the life of this remarkable american. i love the guy -- let's give him a big hand. [applause]

>> one of the things that so impressed me has been the personal relationship that has developed and grown over the years between the two of you. mr. vice president, i know you went to atlanta and you had dinner with president carter. is anything about that dinner you want to share? vp. mondale: quite a bit, yeah. i called him and watched your remarkable news conference, which was one of the class acts i have ever seen. i said, i can't help you on the health side but what i come down and we will spend an evening sharing stories about the good old days. and you said, that is it? we had a wonderful evening and we had a chance to read tell some old stories and to remind ourselves of what wonderful years they were. host: is there anything about that you would like to correct the record? [laughter] pres. carter: if we had recorded that evening, it would be more entertaining than this tonight. [laughter] host: all right. pres. carter: we talked a lot about john and so forth. i would say that the mondale family and the carter family are about as close as any families can be. that has been the case since we first got acquainted. we met for the first time when they came to stay with me. we had about 600 people in town. we got along well. if anybody can get along that well with peanut farmers -- [laughter]

host: very good, thank you. president carter, you have many significant legacies from your time in the white house. we are going to get into more than this evening. one of the most important is what the two of you did together to shape this obscure, neglected office. it has been a remarkable thing to see and we are happy that vice president biden is here today. [applause] he spoke eloquently this morning about obama's shaping of the office. i can't imagine -- let me ask you this. had you thought about the vice presidency beforehand? what was it that you wanted?

pres. carter: all the way through my political career, my favorite president was harry truman. i was in the navy when harry truman eventually ordained the end of racial discrimination. i was really shocked to learn later that truman was never informed about the atomic bomb. when i first began to explore the possibility of presidency before i knew i was going to win, i found out that until then, the vice president had never been briefed by defense on how to manage the atomic weapon in case of a nuclear war with the soviet union. i began to realize that for all practical purposes, the vice president was still part of the legislative branch of government. his main duty was to preside over the senate in case of a tie. i thought the vice president ought to be in the executive branch of government. when we had a long talk, he had some ideas he wanted to explore about how the vice president could become an integral part of the administration.

it was suggested, what are you go talk to vice president humphrey and vice president rockefeller and get some ideas about what could be done to bring the vice president closer to the president. that was how the whole idea began. vp. mondale: you pointed him to are two vice presidents that had unhappy experiences. that was telling.

he gave it a lot of thought. mr. vice president, you said that what president carter gave you was the most generous gift of any president in american history. vp. mondale: the thing that worried me the most was that i was going to lose what i knew to be an independent position in the senate. i would go down that same road where they slowly have their dignity taken from them. and they are not really involved in a meaningful role in government and it is kind of pathetic what they went through -- i did not want to do that.

i was not going to do it. when president carter and i talked, we went over that quite a bit. i became convinced -- it was his idea as much as anybody's. i was convinced that he was quite aware of this possibility. he wanted to bring his vice president into the center of his administration, and then we worked out some of these principles like, i did not want to be doing other things. i wanted to be a general adviser to the president. i wanted to be able to bring to him good news and bad news without going through censors. i needed to have the information that allowed me to be a source of support. i wanted to be a troubleshooter as well, and i wanted to take on chores around the country and around the world.

i think we agreed, when we had that talk, we agreed. i was convinced that he meant it. after four years, i am persuaded that it worked. [laughter] pres. carter: as a georgia peanut farmer, i needed a lot of help. [laughter] i thought that he would be the best one to give me the help i needed. i had never served in washington. that was the main thing. we began to explore every possibility of moving the vice president close to the president. he had never been in the white house before. i spent one week and with humphrey, because i found out just before he died and while he had cancer, that he had never

been permitted to go to camp david. i invited him to go and i had a speech to make on the west coast. i came back and picked him up and we spent a weekend at camp david, just me and him and his medical doctors. he unburdened to me that weekend, things that i'm sure he had never said publicly. that was, the deprivation he experienced as vice president, and the exclusion from any role of authoritative nature. he was deprived of taking news reporters overseas with him. he had to get all the press releases overseas approved by the president before it could be issued. he was never involved in any serious discussions that lyndon johnson had with foreign leaders. he was restricted severely on his ability to go into the congress to start a conversation. it was very embarrassing to him as a human being. i decided then that i had done

the right thing because both of those things were changed with fritz. [applause] host: hubert humphrey was a mentor to many of us from minnesota. and to you. he suffered in the vice presidency. even though he didn't, he urged you to be open. vp. mondale: i went to see

hubert and i said, i think i have the possibility of joining with mr. carter and running for vice president. in light of the experience you had in this office and the painful humiliation of it all, what do you recommend? he said, i recommend you take it. it is wonderful, you will learn more than any other way, you will have more influence one day then you will have all year in the senate. he said, i hope you will consider doing it. i must say, i was never sure whether he wanted me to be vice president or he wanted me to be a senior senator. [laughter] host: well, he gave you the right advice.

what did this mean to you to have the office in the west wing? no previous vice president had been there. vp. mondale: i think that was your idea. it meant everything because if you are over in the eob, they used to say it was like being in baltimore. [laughter] host: some of us spent a lot of time in baltimore. vp. mondale: it was good for you. [laughter] vp. mondale: i said, nothing [indiscernible] i was maybe five seconds from your office. all of the key presidential

aides were right there, we would bump into each other and talk all the time. at the very center of the white house is that very small west wing. if he were there, i think you are a part of a serious effort. if you are outside, i don't know. it was a big advantage. i think it helped me serve you. host: the other thing that you did besides the west wing idea, you told your staff and your cabinet, i want you to respond to requests from the vice president as if it came from me. and you said, because he knew the experiences of the other vice presidents. that was the right thing to do. that message came through. thank you for that. pres. carter: that was important because in the past, the chief of staff saw the vice president as a challenge to their authority. i knew that could happen with my staff. everybody that worked in the

white house should look upon me, but along with mondale. they knew that. they knew that you were the chief of staff for mondale, and i wanted you to feel that you worked for me and not just him.

host: and i did, and you made sure of that. [laughter] pres. carter: when jodie got an order or suggestion, they knew it was the same as coming from me. i don't know that we had any other unpleasant disagreements. host: it made a huge difference. vp. mondale: humphrey -- pres. carter: humphrey had been forbidden to talking to congress about executive affairs. i changed that, as well. i never had a meeting with any foreign leader from which mondale was excluded. i never had a meeting with a member of congress from which he was excluded.

one of the things that i was concerned about with the disharmony that existed. now among the members of the national security staff -- because the vice president got an office in the secretary of state and defense, sometimes the has of intelligence agencies, we met every friday morning to discuss every possible issue that i come up. -- that might come up. we would meet wednesday morning with the secretary of defense in the secretary of state to make sure they were doing what we had decided and mondale was always an integral part of that meeting. as far as i know, he was like another president. that is what i wanted. host: he thought that -- pres. carter: i know he did. [laughter] pres. carter: there was one thing that he did that exceeded his authority. [laughter] pres. carter: whenever there was a chance for me to go to norway -- [laughter] pres. carter: -- i was always excluded from consideration. in the first thing i knew, fritz would say, i have just returned from norway and i say, i was just planning on going myself.

he would give me a thorough report on what was going on. host: he will be pleased to know that the foreign minister of norway is here this evening and they can arrange the trip. [laughter] [applause] host: can you please stand? there we are. [applause] pres. carter: if you ask anybody from those nations back in the 1970's, they don't know that i was president. [laughter] host: this is a tough evening. pres. carter: he can do that -- vp. mondale: he can do that to you. host: we are going to shift gears. in the introduction to your marvelous new book, and let me just give that a plug, you should all read "a full life." you quote in the introduction mondale's summary of your years in office, " we obeyed the law and we kept the peace." you added, and we promoted human rights. thank you very much.

[applause] we all remember how you embraced human rights so firmly and consistently. we became known in parts of the world in ways that we had not before because of it, and that is still true. what was the motivation that made you make human rights such a priority. if you would, what do you see is

the largest human rights issue in the world today? pres. carter: when i was a child, i grew up in a community where my family was the only white family, so i grew up in a group of about 215 african-americans. my whole life was shaped by african-american culture. as i got older, i realized that there was a great deal of

discrimination. they could not vote or serve on a jury. that is the origin of it. my mother pay no attention to that segregation. i have always been a champion of human rights. when i got to be president, i put it as one of my goals as president. i saw soon that is resonated in russia with the jewish russians that wanted to come out and also just, and latin america, when i

became president, almost every country in south america was a military dictatorship. the institution of the human rights policy there, the condemnation of oppression, made it possible for every country in south america to become a democracy, and they did it. [applause] the practical results very much

pleased me while i was president although it was still looked upon by some as a weakness. to answer your question, i think the worst nation worldwide human rights oppression is against women and girls, there is no doubt about that. [applause] including our own country. we have more slavery than ever existed in the 18th and 19th century in the world. atlanta happens to be the number one trading post in america for slavery. we have 200 people every month sold into slavery in atlanta and the reason for this is, the busiest airport on earth, and a lot of the passengers who come in on delta, girls with brown

and black skin. the new york times in a very long article which said that a black or brown skinned girl in atlanta could be brought i a brothel for $1000. -- bought by a brothel for $1000. a lot of the girl slid the sexual slavery -- this insane thing happens now with oppression -- sexual abuse of

girls and also in our military. last year, 15,000 cases of sexual abuse took place in the military. very seldom is a person prosecuted or punished for rape in a military or university system. we have a long way to go. [applause] host: vice president mondale, you were a partner in this effort to promote human rights. meeting with the south african leadership on apartheid, trying to save the vietnamese boat people who were dying at sea. do you want to talk about any of those? vp. mondale: these were all issues that you were directly involved in. i would pick up various of them.

particularly the ones requiring travel organization, trying to add my help to that. the boat people, a horrible scandal. in southeastern asia, we thought we had clear evidence that the government of the south vietnamese was pushing citizens of chinese extraction out to sea, sometimes charging them for the honor of being kicked out. they would often get into boats that were unseaworthy. thousands lost their lives at sea. the u.n. was saying this was just poverty. we decided we needed to make an issue out of this.

the navy did not want to pick up -- we talked about that. the navy was hanging back again as it always does. [laughter] but so, the navy agreed to pick up people, saved a lot of lives. we set up a conference in geneva on the boat people and we were able to get a strong resolution there and we set up an international system -- we took most of them but some 20 or 30 nations also participated in a meaningful way and i think the whole world felt better about it and i think the united states looked at a good at that time. i would like to see us get involved now a little more fully. [applause]

pres. carter: after the vietnam war, the refugees from vietnam and cambodia were being persecuted and even assassinated if they were found to be loyal to us. we began to receive the enemies people after they were screened. as a lesson for europe, we were taking around 12,000 a month. they made wonderful citizens for the united states. [applause] host: president carter, one of the most difficult and frustrating experiences in your tenure, was when the iranians seized hostages in tehran. even though they were not released until you left office, the release was the work of your administration. now with president obama, securing an agreement with iran, how do you view that nuclear agreement in terms of what it means for peace in the middle east and what it might mean for the future of iran? pres. carter: what many people do not realize was when the shaw was thrown, immediately, we established relationships with the revolutionary government. that was the government to whom -- the hostages were taken. i believe then and now that we

should deal with the country with whom we disagree to not just build a barrier to exacerbate the situation. i have been long awaiting the time when the united states would have talks with iran. i think what john kerry did -- i discussed it with him this afternoon -- what president obama did was the right thing and i hope and pray that the agreement we have worked out with iran will prevail and that they will on or their commitments. i think it is a wonderful thing and i hope the country will get behind it. [applause] host: do you want to add anything to that? vp. mondale: i agree. it looks to me like the president is gaining a majority support in the united states. the momentum is flowing to him because he is providing excellent leadership. [applause] host: mr. president, you were known to a lot of us for taking on a lot of tough issues. no tough issue was safe that came near your desk. your achievements have not always been fully recognized adjusted to look back, you brought peace to the middle east. you put the country on the path toward energy independence. [applause] you brought inflation under control, and it has remained under control for 30 years. you appointed paul volker -- i remember that very well. then came panama, which was one of the toughest issues any president -- five of your predecessors had failed to solve that problem with the panama canal. you took it on and by all accounts, the canal today is a huge success. in terms of security, economically, every possible way. do you have any reflections on that? pres. carter: it was the most difficult issue i faced in my life, more difficult than the elected president. it was the most courageous decision made by a u.s. congress in history. there were 20 senators who voted for the canal treaties in 1978 who are up for reelection that

year. only seven came back. the attention was almost as great in 1980. i think this has been one of the best examples on the sincerity and the competence of the united states and supporting human rights of a tangible nature that i can remember, because to give away the canal was a crime against the united states it. in my opinion, it was the right thing to do. reagan almost overthrew gerald ford as a republican nominee in 1976 and allow the issue was reagan's combination of a move toward the panama canal treaties. i had bipartisan support and the boards that dealt with it, undecided senators, finally got enough to get things past. it was good.

i think this has been one of the best examples on the sincerity and the competence of the united states and supporting human rights of a tangible nature that i can remember, because to give away the canal was a crime against the united states it. in my opinion, it was the right thing to do. reagan almost overthrew gerald ford as a republican nominee in 1976 and allow the issue was reagan's combination of a move toward the panama canal treaties. i had bipartisan support and the boards that dealt with it, undecided senators, finally got enough to get things past. it was good. it was still considered to be an unpopular deal in the year 2000. when it was time for us to turn over the canal to the panamanians, the president decided not to go down there and the vice president did not go down there and the secretary of state decided not to go down there. they asked me to go down there. [laughter]

host: sounds like a job for a vice president. pres. carter: and then, a little bit later when he decided to expand the canal, there was a ceremony down there and once again, the incoming vice president asked me to go to represent the united states, so i have been honored twice since i left the white house. host: congratulations. vp. mondale: i told a story earlier today about how we were trying to get all of those senators who had campaigned against the treaty. a senator who ran against it on the grounds that it is ours, we stole it fair and square, and so on -- he told me, maybe i can support the treaty but he said the president doesn't have good advice and maybe if he would take my advice, i can vote for it. so iran for the phone and called you and we got him on the phone

right away and we went over the information and he said, yes, i think i can vote. shouldn't we meet biweekly or something? and you say, let's not do that, it will probably need to be more often. [laughter] host: you spent a lot of time up there working on the ratification. vp. mondale: it was. many of the senators who would lose the next election, i remember rob mcintire said, i will vote for this, this is right, but he said, don't expect me back. i heard several others that told me that. it was not popular. it was a strange issue for me. usually, it is a senator wanted

to do something that is safe and not right. [laughter] vp. mondale: in this case, they knew to vote against it was wrong and so even though -- they voted right. it was an exciting time to be up there.

host: president carter, you, rosalynn, and your team have done an extraordinary job for 35 years -- exactly. [applause] host: you said the gold standard for former presidents, no question. i would be grateful and i know the audience would if they could hear you talk a little bit about the kinds of issues, what your hopes and aspirations are, what is the carter center all about? pres. carter: three things. what is peace, another is democracy and freedom, the third is the alleviation of suffering. the carter center meets with leaders around the world with whom the united states will not relate. kind of outcast people. in nepal, where the maoists were condemned ahead of time as terrorists. and north korea, i have been there several times to work at deals with the government.

we met with thought i and hamas. quite often, the outcast in international consideration, you might be a pariah, but the pariah is the one often causing an unnecessary war who is causing a problem with human rights so we go right to them and try to change policy. i never go into a troubled area without getting ahead of time permission from the white house, sometimes reluctantly. i always get permission, i always make a report to the white house. anyway, that is one thing. the second thing is, monitoring elections. we find out much right to negotiate peace, we often say, when we have an honest election? and i'm sure the people of your

country will choose the right person to be a leader. both antagonists know that they are going to be the leader. politics is delusion. [laughter] pres. carter: we just finished our 100th troubled election in guyana. about two thirds of our total budget each year is devoted to what the world health organization calls neglected tropical diseases. we will treat this year about 71 million people, so they will not go blind or die from disease, that is no longer known in the developed world. health care is our primary way to spend money. one example of that is guinea worm. we started with 20 countries that had guinea worm, and 26,300 villages. at this moment, we have 15 cases in the world. [applause] pres. carter: we go into a country and work side-by-side with the people in those villages and it gives us an insight into political affairs

in a country and that is what we share with our leaders in washington. host: it is extraordinary work. one of the things in addition that i admire is that you plant ahead. you have endowed the work of the center, your grandson is the chairman. he is going to be the chairman. you are planning for this work to the lawn. pres. carter: we have a legal partnership with emory university. they have one half of the board members. we have organizations around the world, we have about 30 leaders in latin america who has been a president or prime minister may

work in partnership with us. we have a record of holding elections and we have an adequate endowment to tide us over when we are not there to raise money. host: you and i were chatting earlier before we started and you are going to hold the annual meeting of the carter center in annapolis next year. you said, i could invite everybody here to attend, right? we were going to have some questions that we don't have any microphones, so. just a little issue there. i think what we should probably do is to wrap this up. mr. president, i would like to ask you -- invite you to say any final words about the vice president or that anything you would like. pres. carter: what we did together was historic. \together was historic. it changed the basic structure of the executive branch of government. to bring the vice president in as a full party with the president. the reason it was successful was

that every expectation i had for that party ship was never betrayed by mondale. he was a perfect partner and i don't think we ever had a serious argument during the four years which was better than [indiscernible] [applause] host: mr. vice president, you get the last word. vp. mondale: we are just so thrilled to have the president with us. the accomplishments of the carter administration, carter mondale administration, really are an inspiration, we are thrilled that you are here, and i am glad to be a part of it. we love you. pres. carter: thank you. [applause] [cheering]

>> i do want to thank all of you for your friendship and support and for planning this wonderful evening for me. i should remember it always. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern

on c-span's original series, "first ladies" examining the public and private lives of first ladies and influence on the presidency from martha washington to michelle obama tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. >> join american history tv saturday november 7. a national world war ii museum in portland's. we will explore the summary and experience, the road to berlin, and the african-american story. world war ii, 70 years later. live from the national world war at 11:00 beginning a.m. eastern here in american history tv on c-span3.