and i have a good family. i've had a wonderful career. i'm grateful for it. the i've had blessings. they've been quite voluminous and quite extensive and quite consistent. so i'm at peace. i don't have any unfulfilled ambitions that are burning in me. >> would you like another crack at it? >> no, i wouldn't. no thanks. but i enjoyed being president. there was a great experience for me, and i am very satisfied ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ tonight we mourn the passing of the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter. carter died earlier this afternoon in his hometown of plains, georgia, at the age of 100, the first former president to live a full century. carter had been receiving hospice care since february 2023 in plains, where he had lived with his wife of 77 years, rosalynn carter, until her death last year. president biden spoke to the nation moments ago about the loss of president carter. >> millions of people all around the world, all over the world, feel they lost a friend as well, even though they had never met him. that's because jimmy carter lived a life measured not by words but by his deeds.

just look at his life, his life's work. he worked to eradicate disease not only at home but around the world. he forged peace, advanced civil rights, human rights, promoted free and fair elections around the world. he built housing and homeless for the homeless with his own hands. >> since the announcement of jimmy carter's death late this afternoon, reaction has been pouring in from former presidents and lawmakers alike. vice president harris' statement read in part, jimmy carter's life is a testament to the power of service. as a lieutenant in the united states navy, the 76 governor of georgia, and the 39th president of the united states. he reminded our nation and the world that there is strength in decency and compassion. president-elect donald trump read quote, the challenges jimmy faced as president at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to

improve the lives of all americans. former president obama's statement read in part, jimmy carter promised voters that he would always tell the truth, and he did, advocating for the public good, consequences be damned. speaker emerita nancy pelosi also weighed in, posting a lengthy statement on x that read in part, today our nation and our world has lost a leader who embodied dignity and decency, grace and goodness. after leaving the white house in 1981, carter dedicated his life to brokering international peace. he was recognized around the world for his tireless work promoting peaceful resolutions to conflict and advancing democracy and human rights and social justice, primarily through the carter center, which he and the former first lady established in 1982. my colleague, jose diaz-balart has more on the life and legacy of former president jimmy carter.

>> my name is jimmy carter, and i'm running for president. >> jimmy carter's election in 1976 confounded the conventional political wisdom. until that year's iowa caucuses, in which he trounced his better-known rivals, carter was virtually unknown outside of his native georgia. he attended the u.s. naval academy, served as a navy lieutenant, then came home to run the family peanut farm. he met rose lynn smith, the woman who would become his wife and closest adviser. carter serving two terms in the georgia state senate. and in 1970, he was elected governor. in his inaugural address, he made it clear there was a new breeze blowing through the south. >> the time for racial discrimination is over. >> would our first challenger

sign in, please? >> but outside georgia, carter remained largely unknown, even stumping the panelist during an appearance on "what's my line" back in 1973. just a year later, he announced he was running for president. his political outsider and born again christian was a welcomed change for a public disallusioned with its leaders in the wake of watergate and other scandal. in the general election, carter narrowly defeated president gerald ford, becoming the first president from the deep south in almost a century. >> i, jimmy, carter do, solemnly swear -- >> jimmy carter walked the entire way from the capitol to the white house during the inauguration. austerity was in the air. >> there's no way that i or anyone else in the government can solve our energy problems if you are not willing to help. >> once in the white house, however, carter's lack of experience in washington politics became a severe handicap. the independent minded congress failed to approve some of his

most important legislative initiatives. for many, he dealt with matters of foreign policy much more skillfully than he did domestic. he was firm in his commitment to human rights. >> no member of the united nations can claim the mistreatment of its citizens is solely its own business. >> when the soviet union sent troops into afghanistan in 1979, carter responded with punitive measures against the soviets, including a trade embargo. but one of his actions seemed to anger americans as much as it did the russians. >> i have given notice that the united states will not attend the moscow olympics. >> the major achievement of the carter presidency was the signing of the camp david accords in september of 1978. carter brought the israeli prime minister and egyptian president together for 11 days. the camp david accord served as the basis for a treaty signed

six months later in washington. jimmy carter faced his toughest test of all when americans were taken hostage in iran in november of 1979. this time, neither his resolve, nor the pow r of the american government, was effective enough in gaining freedom for these hostages. carter's boldest effort met with tragedy in the iranian desert. >> late yesterday, i canceled a carefully planned operation, which was underway in iran, for a later withdrawal of american hostages. >> by making the release of the hostages the overriding goal of his final year, carter jeopardized his prospects for re-election. things were hardly better at home, as the economy continued to deteriorate. >> the erosion of our competence in the future -- >> carter's popularity plummeted. he blamed the country's problems on a crisis of confidence. his weakness brought a challenge from senator ted kennedy for the democratic nomination in 1980. carter survived the battle, but

he went into the fall campaign greatly weakened. >> i'll bring new hope to america. >> his opponent, ronald reagan, campaigned tirelessly to restore america to its former position of greatness. jimmy carter lost in a landslide. in 1982, he established the carter center, committed to advancing human rights and promoting democracy around the world. he built houses for the poor and worked for peace in haiti and north korea and bosnia. >> the bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. >> and in 2002, at age 78, carter became only the third u.s. president to be awarded the el peace prize n. august of 2015, carter announced a troubling health diagnosis. liver surgery, where they removed 1/10 of his liver revealed melanoma that had spread to his brain. but then a little less than four

months later, carter revealed at sunday school, he was cancer free, that his brain scans didn't show any signs or spots. >> they were responding to the treatment, and when i went this week, they didn't find any cancer at all. so, i have good news. >> over the years, despite various health challenges as he aged, jimmy carter continued to build houses, to play a role in national politics, and to celebrate new milestones. in 2021, jimmy and rose lynne marked their 75th wedding anniversary. their love story continued until her death two years later, marking the longest presidential marriage in history. in 2024, carter himself became the longest living american president, celebrating his 100th birthday. his tireless dedication to humanity and global efforts to preserve freedom all led to a new kind of modern axiom. jimmy carter, they say, was one

of the best ex-presidents america ever had. jose diaz-balart. >> joining us now, nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli, live from the carter center in atlanta, georgia, is nbc news priya. i'm going to start with you, mike. in his speech tonight, president biden said that america and the world lost a remarkable leader. listen. >> jimmy was a humanity. jill and i lost a dear friend. i've been hanging out with jimmy carter for over 50 years it dawned on me. and we had countless conversations over those years. i will always be proud to say that -- he used to kid me about it -- that i was the first to endorse him in 1976. >> mike, i think we just got the

answer o the question i was going to ask you. why did president biden feel it was important to talk to the nation tonight about late president carter? >> well, jonathan, you know, at the top of the show, you read all those statements from members of the president club, president obama, president trump, president george w. bush also paying tribute to president carter tonight, saying he helped dignify the oval office. well, i think every member of that club has either prior to their becoming president or during their presidency developed a relationship with the other members of the club. what's so unique about this relationship between president biden and president carter was just the length and breadth of that relationship. you'll remember president biden was first elected to the u.s. senate in 1972. that was the same year president nixon was re-elected. ultimately the watergate scandal was what helped create the conditions that allowed a political outsider, somebody running as a fresh face, someone

on the virtues of honesty and decency, jimmy carter, to be successful in 1976. it was then senator joe biden, then in his early 30s, who was the first person outside of the state of georgia to endorse governor carter at the time. that's -- as you saw and heard from the president tonight, there was as much of his remarks that was unscripted, off the cuff, and really from the heart, as there was that was in the prepared remarks for him. he even took some questions about his memories. and he said one of his fondest memories was of governor carter asking him to help him in his campaign in 1976. there are moments, and it's really, i think, poignant, jonathan, that president biden will have that role as the head of state here, leading and presiding over a state funeral for president carter and delivering, we expect, a eulogy for president carter in the closing weeks of his own term in office. these are both men who are members of the presidents club, and the one term club.

they had so many challenges they faced, and biden, who has delivered many eulogies over the years, i think will give a particularly poignant one in this case that speaks to the depth and breadth of that relationship, john. >> nbc news white house correspondent, mike memoli coming to us live, traveling with president biden. now let's go to priya veeder in atlanta. priya, what are the reactions you are seeing and hearing at the carter center in these initial moments after president carter's passing? >> yeah, jonathan. in addition to all of the presidents that mike was just speaking about, here in georgia we're seeing so many regular georgians come out to pay their respects to former president carter, leaving candles, flowers, and even a chalkboard outside of the carter center here with a sign saying, we love you, president carter. so, this is -- president carter is very beloved in the state of

georgia. as jose mentioned in his report earlier in the hour, you know, he was relatively unknown outside of the state of georgia before he went to the white house. he came from the small town of plains, which has a population of about 500 people, just three hours away from atlanta. and i think a lot of the things that he mentioned throughout his report, his humility, the fact that he was down to earth. and he really, sort of, embodied that american dream. he was the son of a peanut farmer and a nurse. and throughout his life, although he launched his career into public service from here in georgia, he always returned back here. whether that was after his time in the navy or after he came back from the white house to start the carter center back in 1982, where he did decades of humanitarian work around the globe, monitoring elections, trying to eradicate disease, mediating conflicts. and that's really what a lot of his legacy is known for. i did get an opportunity tonight to speak with some folks from

the carter center who were working out the lo gistics of hs funeral services right now. they did tell me eventually his body will be moved to atlanta. there will be memorials in atlanta and in washington, d.c. and eventually his body will be taken to washington, d.c., which is where we can expect the state funeral services to be held in the national cathedral. but ultimately, jonathan, he will be buried in plains, georgia, alongside his wife, who was buried there just last year. >> thank you very much, coming to us live outside the carter center in atlanta, georgia. joining me now, ambassador max -- former u.s. senator and former u.s. ambassador to china. ambassador, thank you very much for being here. please share with us your recollections of president carter. >> i can't remember anyone, president or not president, who

was as decent and so virtuous and so dedicated to service and service to mankind as jimmy carter. that's consummate jimmy carter. when he was in the white house, he was amazing. all the meetings i had with him and others, he did his level best. he was dealt, kind of, a bad hand, with iranian hostage crisis and with the energy crisis, with interest rates so high. of course as many have said, it's his post-presidency which really is most remarkable and which we remember him most about. i have a lot of memories about him. one of the most fond memories is when i was serving ambassador in china, he and rosalynn came over -- he came over every year to open up the u.s. commemoration with china. he and rosalynn were always holding hands.

it was always lovely to see that love affair. it epitomized jimmy carter, his decency and his dedication to service. >> his dedication to service is what i especially want to talk to you about. as much as people talk about his role stateside, as president, it's his post-presidency and what he did on the international stage long after he was out of the white house that really burnished his name and reputation. talk about his role on the international stage and why it was important that he was the one out there monitoring elections, out there trying to broker peace all over the world if he could? >> well, two reasons. one, he was quite religious, southern baptist, born again christian. it was his faith, his calling. and it was a faith, calling, for all mankind, not just americans, but people all around the world. and of course many people, many countries, suffered from diseases even much more than the

united states. that's the main reason. second, there's no one else to do it. other presidents basically, while they're president, did a great job. but when they left, they left. but not jimmy carter. he wanted to keep serving people. that was his calling. whether it's as an emissary for president trump or whether an emissary for other presidents or the disease work overseas, that's what he wanted to do. he wanted to help people. that was his calling. >> ambassador, i spoke to presidential historian john beachum, and something he said to me that jumped out at me, and i would love to get your reaction to it. he said, in the passing of jimmy carter, that, quote, it's a reminder that we are at the end of something, that president carter represents not just a different time but also a different way of being of a former president. i would love your thoughts on that. what do you make of that? >> well, i think there's

something to that. the world's changed so much since he was president. social media, internet, dramatically undermines all institutions, and frankly i think it undermines virtue, undermines decency. i think it would be difficult for jimmy carter to be president today. he was elected because of watergate. people wanted a refreshing new face, and he's also religious, and he's very decent, and people saw that. so, it would be very difficult for him, i think, to serve as president today. other presidents, in their post-presidency, have done very well. there's the obamas foundation, the clinton foundation, et cetera. jimmy carter was just a different person, and it's going to be very difficult to find somebody like jimmy carter, has dedicated as he, as decent as he, as hardworking as he, and he's going to do the best to help people. >> ambassador, thank you very much for being here this

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decency, decency, decency. everybody deserves a shot, everybody. >> that was president biden discussing jimmy carter's legacy. the u.s. presidency is a very exclusive club, and former president carter's living peers have now all reacted to his passing. 43rd president george w. bush said, james earl carter jr. was a man of deeply held convictions. he was loyal to his family, his community, and his country. president carter dignified the office. 42nd president, bill clinton, said, hillary and i mourn the passing of jimmy carter and give thanks for his long, good life. guided by his faith, president

carter lived to serve others until the very end. joining me now is former alabama senator doug jones. senator jones thank you very much for being here. you know, in the obituary run in "the washington post," it pointed out that president carter was the first president from the deep south since 1837. talk about the importance of that on his politics, especially since he was a southern democrat who grew up in the jim crow south. >> yeah, you know, i think it was important, jonathan, not just for the south but for the entire country. when jimmy carter was elected, we were ten years out from the passage of the civil rights act, the voting rights act. the country was still coming to grips with all of that. it was still a work in progress, as it is today, as a matter of fact. so, i think when you had a southerner who grew up in the deep south, that grew up as a -- but came of age and became a new south governor, one who talked

about civil rights in his inaugural address as governor of georgia, who followed, like, lester maddux and folks. it sent a powerful, powerful message throughout the south, across america. it empowered leaders in the south to stand up and do the right thing that they had resisted for so many years. it was -- it was really an important time, i think, for the country and an important time for the south. >> mm-hmm. you know, as you know, president carter was a man of deep faith. how integral was his faith to both how he governed and why he served? >> yeah. you know, it's funny looking back now. people were aghast that jimmy carter actually campaigned on his faith. before jimmy carter, faith was just not something that you really talked about that much in politics. we had, you know, anti-catholic movements. we had all sorts of things, but

jimmy carter wore his faith outwardly and talked about it. and that became an important part not only of his administration but his legacy to come because it indicated that he was a man of service, that this was not about him. this was about others. and he was true to that belief. and that was so important for so many people to be able to see that and have him demonstrate it. and he took a lot of hits for it early on when he came out, especially being a man of faith and doing a "playboy" interview. it was really interesting to watch him do that, involved, and for the country to follow. >> you know, he spent more time out of the white house than he did in the white house. and yet in his post-presidency, you could argue he did even more important things outside of the presidency than when he was in it, just between building houses

with habitat for humanity to running around the world, monitoring elections, and getting involved in diplomacy. i just wonder, senator jones, if you think president carter, jimmy carter, is the one who, sort of, provided the, sort of, modern template for a post-presidency? >> oh, i don't think there's any question about that, jonathan. no, there's absolutely no question about that. jimmy carter served four years. i don't want to minimize the things he did as president because i think he did some really great things on a global scale. i think he did great things for the environment, for human rights, for civil rights, for voting rights, which was especially important from somebody coming from the right. but, remember, he had four years as president. he had over 40 as an ex-president. it was just remarkable the work that he's been -- has been able to do and consistently do over the years until he really just got too feeble in his age to be able to do any more, to lift that hammer. he was doing things past his

90th birthday. and i do think it set the tempo. you are seeing every president that follows has talked about service. bill clinton, who you read the statement from, just recently has a new book out about post-public life and the service. so, yes, jimmy carter set the stage and set the mold that is going to be hard to break. and i'd like to say, too, i -- you know, our leaders of today, and for the young people and future leaders should take a lesson from him. we need more leaders like jimmy carter out there right now, who believe in service and believe in america. >> former alabama senator doug jones. thank you very much for being here. we'll have more coverage of president jimmy carter's life and legacy after this. farxiga has been trusted again and again, and again. ♪far-xi-ga♪ ♪far-xi-ga♪

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tributes are pouring in from leaders around the world, marking the passing of former-president jimmy carter. french president emmanuel macron said, throughout his life, jimmy carter has been a steadfast advocate for the rights of the most vulnerable and has tirelessly fought for peace. france sends its heart felt thoughts to his family and the american people. canadian prime minister justin trudeau said, jimmy carter's legacy is one of compassion, kindness, empathy, and hard work. he served others both at home and around the world his entire life. and he loved doing it. trudeau went on to call carter a life long humanitarian. brazilian president lula de silva called carter a defender of democracy and peace and highlighted his commitment to human rights. -- free political prisoners in the 1970s. now let's go to new york,

where my colleague, richard lui, is standing by with a special guest. >> jonathan, good evening to you. as you know, the former president in his 50 years after leaving the white house, poured all his energy into the hub of the carter center. and joining us right now is paige alexander, the ceo of the carter center. paige, thank you for joining us, and condolences to the entire team at the carter center. i know that this is a difficult time, as you look forward for the coming weeks. for my interviews with the former president, there's one thing he might say about our coverage today. stop talking about me, talk about the causes and the projects that me and rosalynn have focused on for decades. how has he prepared the carter center to do that? >> you know, thank you, richard, you're right. the vision he and rosalynn set forth and the work they pioneered will continue at the carter center. this was where they spent 40 years of retirement in terms of

trying to continue to do the same work they were doing in conflict resolution and human rights and rule of law and eradicating and eliminating diseases that they started at the white house. and they just knew they had more to do, and president carter was determined to live his life to the fullest. and we all think he certainly did. >> difficult conversations i know you had with him as well as your team and what you consider a family there at the carter center. what did he tell you you should do after he is gone, the middle east, of course, one of the topics? >> you know, there are leaders who are brave and decent and have courage, and we will all miss what he brought to the world stage. and if you just think about the 13 days that he showed what an intensive engagement and a true demonstration of courage in the face of domestic opposition and geopolitical countercurrents can accomplish, i think that is the legacy that he left us. he always said to me, be bold.

don't do what others are doing. and find the space where you'll make a real difference because that's what he did, and that's what the carter center will continue to do. >> tell us about the conversations the two of you had when he said, paige, join the team. >> well, it was -- we'd had lunched on it in plains, sitting at their kitchen table. he quizzed me on the world. he said, how much time have you spent in the west bank? and he talked about that. he asked me about siberia. he wanted to know every place and my sense of it because, as he said, if you're taking over as ceo, i need to know what's going to happen when. and he named almost every world event that has happened in the last five years, whether it was sudan, mali, israel and palestine. he, sort of, laid those down as markers and wanted to know what

my opinion was and where i would take the center. so, i think after that lunch, i know i felt really good about taking on his legacy and continuing to do what the two of them did together. and i think that's what all the experts at the carter center do, regular basis. they say, what would jimmy do, is, sort of, a common refrain. >> paige, how's the family doing? i was speaking with chip carter earlier in the year after rosalynn carter passed, as you know. and that happened more than a year ago. he was the primary caregiver for the former president. he would make that drive down from atlanta down to plains every single week to see the former president. how's the family doing? >> you know, chip and becky were amazing, as were amy and jack and jeff. they really -- they were by their side up until the very end. and i think jason carter, who's the oldest grandson and is chair of the board of the carter

center, all of this is something that president carter wanted his family to be involved in. he wanted there to be a sense of everyone understanding the work that he did and how important it was to both he and rosalynn carter. and family has been wonderful about carrying that on. and we look forward to the plans, as they get put together. this has been a long-time coming in many ways, but it's still very difficult. and the family is all together down in plains now. >> well from all of us at msnbc, a big hug to you over at the carter center, as well as the entire family, and what you are doing. paige alexander, ceo, thank you for your time on this very mow men us evening. and jonathan, back to you. >> richard, thank you. we'll be back with more reaction to the death of president jimmy carter, next. to the death of pr carter, next

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♪♪ jimmy carter was elected the 39th president of the united states in the shadow of the watergate crisis and the resignation of president richard nixon, both of which impacted -- both of which impacted considerably president jimmy carter. joining us now, jill winebank, cohost of the " #sisters in law"

podcast. what was the impact of watergate in nixon's presidency on carter? >> i think on carter's presidency, it is, in part, of course, the reason that he was elected. and he was the complete antidote. he was the completely incorruptible, decent human being. he dropped all the pomp and circumstance that nixon had put into place when he was president. he was just an average guy, who cared about public service, about helping other people, a passion that continued long after he left the presidency, with him building homes with habitat for humanity, with his work at the carter center for peace, for democracy, for free and fair elections. these were the things that really mattered to him. and the country has now lost a very prominent role model for

decency at the very time when we need it the most. >> you know, jill, you just -- you just called the former president just an average guy when he was elected. but i wonder, did he view his job as the 39th president as one of bringing about stability and optimism to the country after it had gone through so much during the watergate crisis that led to the resignation of richard nixon? >> i think he definitely did. and he worked hard to make that a reality. he also worked hard for things like women. i was the first woman general counsel of the army, but i was surrounded by a lot of women in prominent positions in the cabinet and in government at the top level. he supported women in the military. he supported women in combat. he allowed the opening of many military occupational specialty

positions to women that had previously been closed. he helped to eliminate the woman's army corp. which may sound the opposite of what i'm saying, but it isn't, because by integrating women into the regular army, jobs were open to them that previously only belonged to members of the regular army who were, of course, at the time men. so, he was very supportive of that. his wife was very supportive of the equal rights amendment. these were things that mattered to them. when i say he was an ordinary guy, of course he wasn't. he was extraordinary in what he was able to accomplish, the camp david accords, the panama canal treaty that gave naval ships priority for passage in case of need. that is something that, as a naval officer, he knew what was important. so, he really used every bit of his background to accomplish

much as president. but he had a son who lived in evanston, my hometown. and when he hosted a wedding reception, it was at a local pizza joint. that's the kind of person that jimmy carter was. it didn't require that he go to a fancy black tie party. a pizza place was what he was comfortable with. >> jill, we only have about 90 seconds left. but i want to come back to a word you used in your first answer, and that was "decency." real quickly, talk about why that trait of jimmy carter is something we need to hang on to as we go into 2025. >> you know, it personifies who he is. i'm wearing a pin that has a few words on it that i think captures him. but i think the carter center has announced that in lieu of flower, people should do an act of public service. and that's the decent person that he was. he couldn't have been more

caring about other people and the climate and diplomacy. he really was an outstanding human being who will be greatly missed. and we need decency now more than ever, as we face the next inauguration. >> another word i would add to president carter, visionary, in a lot of ways. jill wine-banks, thank you very much for being here this evening. more of our coverage of the life and legacy of president jimmy carter, next. next farxiga has been trusted again and again, and again. ♪far-xi-ga♪ ♪far-xi-ga♪ ask your doctor about farxiga.

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i will always cherish seeing jimmy and rosalynn carter together. theirs is a love affair of the ages. i'll miss them both dearly. i do take solace in their kids were saying that they're united once again and they'll remain forever in our hearts. >> that was president biden

tonight remembering the former president and first lady. other tributes have been coming in all evening. and in new york city, workers lit up the iconic empire state building in red, white, and blue in honor of america's 39th president. joining me now is david roth. he is a columnist for "the daily beast" and author of "american resistance." david, thank you very much for being here. how would you sum up jimmy carter's legacy? >> well, i think he had several legacies. he had the legacy of being a naval veteran and a man who is a hero in that capacity. he had the legacy of being an effective governor and a good president of the united states that now decades later we realize the importance of his accomplishments, as you and jill just went over. and of course he had the legacy of being what many people consider to be the gravest ex-president of all time.

he won the nobel prize for the work of the carter center. but he also remained an active participant in our political life, offering views that sometimes were unpopular but later turned out to be true and were always grounded in principle. >> what lessons can we learn from his presidency and life? >> well, i think there are a lot of lessons we need to learn right now. jimmy carter was, in many respects, the anti-trump. jimmy carter was a real public servant. trump never did any public service before taking office. jimmy carter was a man who was genuine in his faith and acted based on principles and values. that certainly isn't the legacy of former and soon-to-be president trump. he tried to lift up everybody. he sought not to favor the few and the rich. and he dedicated every moment of

his life when he was not in the presidency, not to self-enrichment, not selling watches certainly or signature versions of the bible, but to actually doing the work, being a sunday schoolteacher. and he reminds us, as we're about to enter the period we're entering right now, that character, ultimately, is the most important quality we seek in our presidents and in our leaders. >> i'm glad you said that, character, because i want to ask you about the word "decency." decency is a word that has come up a lot tonight. is that what has fueled the tremendous following now late-president carter has enjoyed -- had enjoyed during his post-presidency. >> i think in some respects decency almost undersells it. we often say decency to

distinguish people from the indecent people around us. jimmy carter was genuinely a good man who genuinely did good works in public. and i think we need to appreciate that. he sought to help elevate us with his work. and that's -- that's more than just decency, and it's something for which we should be very grateful. and it's something we should definitely not just write off to the past. >> in the less than a minute that we have left, there are -- do any of the living former presidents live up to the post-presidency level that jimmy carter has left? >> no. you know, they're good people. they've tried to do good things. certainly bill clinton, the clinton foundation, george w. bush has tried to make some contributions. you know, barack obama has done

a lot of active work. but nobody had the courage that jimmy carter had. you know, jimmy carter was the first person to say what's going on in israel is apartheid. and he was beaten up for that. and whether you agree with it or not, it took enormous courage to do that or to go to north korea and to try to address those issues or to reach out to people who were suffering from disease. >> and with that, we will leave it there. david roth, thank you very much for being here this evening. and that does it for me. up next, chris matthews continues our coverage with a special program, "jimmy carter: life of service." i'm jonathan kay part, thank you for watching. you for watching

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my name is jimmy carter, and i'm running for president. >> a sunday schoolteacher from the deep south with a beaming smile and a humble manner. >> i don't pretend to be better than anyone else. >> running for office after a period of historic upheaval and growing distrust in the american presidency. he would be the antidote, offering a basic answer. >> while i'm president, i will never tell a lie. >> i promised to tell the truth, people believed me, and i think they were ready for something different. >> so help me god. >> this marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our

government, and a new spirit within us all. >> in the end by a national trauma. >> let's talk about the difficult part of your presidency. >> i was to blame for it. >> carter's service to the country and the world continued during a four-decade second act. >> he's done more in his post-presidency than any president has ever done. >> as a peacemaker, fighter of diseases, and global statesman. >> we should be a nation of human rights and a nation of generosity. >> jimmy carter becomes the closest that we've seen to a renaissance man of any president since thomas jefferson. >> your life seems at peace. have you found peace? >> i have, yes. i have a deep religious faith, and i have a good family. i've had a wonderful career. i'm grateful for it. i've had his blessings. >> it's an incredible american story.

♪♪ good evening. unemployment in the united states is now at its highest point in 34 years. >> now, with mounting inflation and a new and deeper recession, the job drain is growing even worse. >> we want jobs. we want jobs. >> it's pretty bad right now. >> the gas lines were longer than ever. this bun was more than two miles long. >> the decline run rampant. street crime is rising. >> every year has set a new high for murder in america. >> you regularly had bombs going off in american cities. >> picking through the wreckage of new york's laguardia airport, and the authorities have no clue who blew up a good part of it. >> boston had one of its worst days since court ordered bussing.

>> the guardsmen opened fire on the students. >> the final evacuation of americans from saigon has been completed. >> lyndon johnson lied to us about vietnam. richard nixon lied to us about pretty much everything. >> i'm not a crook. >> the country tonight is in the midst of what may be the most serious constitutional crisis in its history. >> i shall resign the presidency, effective at noon tomorrow. vice president carter will be sworn in as president at that hour. >> this was america in the early 1970s. and into this mayhem stepped an unlikely figure, jimmy carter, the sunday schoolteacher from a small town in georgia, making a brazen play to the country's highest office. >> i'm running for president. i need y'all's help, okay? >> what is it that made you do this thing? because nobody was asking you to do it. >> that's true. you're right when you say nobody asked me to do it. i just thought it was the best way for me to be myself and to

do the best i could with the life that i had. >> i'd known president carter for decades, worked for him as a speech writer. but when i sat down with him in 2017, i was still trying to fully get my head around the man. >> good to have you back in place. >> i haven't been here in a while. >> i know. >> carter's bond to his hometown and to his faith would play a key role in his unlikely assent to the white house. it was the touch stone for his identity. as the ultimate outsider and a national reprieve in a turbulent time. >> in 1976, american voters were looking for some candidate who had a moral compass, and jimmy carter stood out in the crowd. >> he had an iconic american back story, born on a farm. >> we didn't have any electricity in our house. we didn't have running water in the house. we had a battery radio we listened to. so, i was not familiar with the outside world. >> really? >> no, i used to listen to glen

miller every night when my folks let me stay up 8:00. the alarm clock went off, i'd listen to glen miller, then go to bed. >> his father was a strict task master, his mother, a free spirit. a hardworking kid, carter excelled at school. at age 18, he left plains to attend the u.s. naval academy, the first in his family to go to college. he married his hometown sweetheart rosalynn smith. they moved around the country with his navy deployments and raised three sons, then later, a daughter. always looking to improve himself, he became a nuclear engineer and excelled in his career. rosalynn was thrilled with their lives, but her husband, feeling the pull of his hometown, decided to take over the family peanut farm. >> how did rosalynn like that decision, the decision to give up the sure shot at a pretty good life. >> that's one of the most serious arguments rosa and i

ever had in our lives. so, we drove over-700 miles from schenectady, new york, to plains. she never spoke to me on the way. she would tell one of our sons, jack, tell your father i need to stop at the restaurant and so forth. it took her at least a year after we got home before she finally got reconciled with living there. >> for the carters, who had lived in places like new york and hawaii, it would be a rough adjustment coming back to the deep south and to jim crow. back from the military, a changed man, carter could no longer accept the old practices of his hometown and for a while paid the price. >> we had boycotts organized against our business. so, we lost a lot of business. and i thought for a while i would just go back and get a good job in nuclear submarine building program. but he never decided to do it because georgia changed.

>> carter grew his peanut farm into a million dollar business. carter's hands were in the soil, but his head held loftier goals. he entered local and then state politics. and in 1971, he became governor of georgia. >> the time for racial discrimination is over. >> his first words put him on the cover of "time" magazine and onto the national political map. once in office, he quickly pushed for change, with engineer-like efficiency. he streamlined the government by eliminating hundreds of state agencies. it wasn't long before carter had his eye on a bigger prize. >> everybody said i didn't have a chance. but i was going to run for president if i only got my vote and rosa's vote. i would not have backed down. don (♪♪)

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>> i, jimmy carter, do solemnly swear -- >> jimmy carter's inauguration as governor of georgia put him on the radar of all the democrats hoping to run for president in 1972. many of them made their way to atlanta, seeking his endorsement. >> i was a key player in southern politics, i guess, among all the governors. so, they were glad to stay with me, and i would talk to them until sometimes 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and got to know them all. and i decided -- >> see, that's the smile that i know. you basically were, like, a spider. you brought them in to see them to see if you could beat them. >> well, event clully, i decided that. i met most of them -- >> had a few drinks and say, maybe i could beat this guy. >> yeah, i did. musky would drink the strangest drink. he drank milk and scotch. >> oh, my god. >> so, we had a good time. >> and after each one, did you get a sense, this guy sees himself as president. >> yeah. >> and i can do it.

>> yes. >> preserve and protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> the democrats lost to nixon in 1972, but carter began plotting his own presidential run for 1976. behind that signature smile lay a cunning strategist. >> you did something remarkable. you wrote a letter to everyone who lost a democratic primary in 1974, and you said, i know that you lost, but you ran a really good campaign -- it was a form letter. i would like to keep you active in democratic politics. the reason i know about this is i got one of those letters because i ran in a democratic primary -- >> you have a good memory, unfortunately. >> nobody else is writing me a letter. i lost. >> so, he invited the men and women who just had their hearts broken to join his long shot campaign for president. carter was everything a successful national politician was not, a southerner, openly religious -- >> all i do is go around with a

prayer and read a bible verse. >> -- and little-known outside georgia. >> it's been a long time. >> but carter embraced those shortcomings and turned them to his advantage. he appeared on "what's my line." sure, celebrities had no idea who he was, but his face would be televised nationally. >> i can rule out that you are a government official of any kind, can't i? >> no. >> oh. >> his campaign commercials had fun with the fact that americans were just hearing of him. >> jimmy who? >> jimmy carter. >> jimmy who? >> i don't know who he is. >> jimmy carter is a basketball player, isn't he? >> jimmy carter's running for what? >> i told my bosses at nbc, i said, you really need to pay attention to this guy. i said, you're focused on his accent. but these people are serious. and they just dismissed it and said, oh, he's not from

washington. >> the party elite in washington, carter was essentially invisible, a nothing. >> did you know that attitude was in georgetown? >> i knew it and i didn't feel all that much at home with the so-called democratic party elite. >> but carter related to the american voter in a way all his more established opponents did not. they offered policy changes. he offered a more basic change. >> while i'm president, i'll never tell a lie. >> i promised to tell the truth. people believed me. and i think they were ready for something different. >> he fashions a campaign that is really a moral campaign in a time when the country is still recovering from the most immoral president in history. >> he fit neither the conventional republican nor the conventional democrat of that time. >> the navy officer on the nuclear sub with the technological and technocratic training, he would bring this to washington and just make

government work better. >> carter's outsider status would eventually come back to haunt him. in the 1976 campaign, that political innocence was his appeal. >> i told him to advertise, he wouldn't do it. >> the country got drawn to his colorful family. >> i never did spank him. >> how many glasses. >> especially his young daughter, amy, and his wife, rosalynn. >> people ask me every day, how can you stand for your husband to be in politics and everybody know everything you do. and i just tell them, we were born and raised and still live in plains georgia. it has a population of 683, and everybody has always known everything i did. >> i don't pretend to be better than anybody else. i've got a lot to learn. >> he is a very sincere person. >> i'm just like you all. >> he really loves people. he doesn't love big shots. he doesn't love phonies. >> jimmy carter from georgia. i hope to be your next president. >> our campaign was perfect for him. anybody who spends five minutes

with jimmy carter will vote for him. >> special interest votes, i owe nothing. for the people, i owe everything. >> through this grass roots approach and his use of a newly expanded primary system, carter would rewrite the rules of how to run for president. >> in the early 1970s, the party's changed the way they select presidential candidates. the democrats' presidential candidate in 1968, hubert humphrey, he didn't run in any primaries. he won none of them. yet the party bosses still controlled the nominating processes. >> good to see you. >> good to see you. >> you can see carter as being the first step on the way to what would lead us to the presidency of donald trump in 2016, making it possible for an outsider to really become president. >> carter entered every primary, traveling the country, shaking hundred of thousands of hands with no real big-name donors, once again found a way to turn a

handicap to his advantage. >> i didn't have any money to go to a hotel. so, every time we would go to a place like new york, we would find somebody who was supporting me let me sleep on their couch. it cemented very closely, people whose house i stayed, they were pretty much going to vote for me. >> by the time the election came around, they consider him a neighbor and a friend. >> i'm glad y'all remember. >> i went to iowa and followed him for a few days and watched him just make people melt. >> the first race was in iowa. carter led the pack. >> jimmy carter, clearly the winner, scored well. >> he took that momentum into new hampshire, pennsylvania, and then around the country to beat out the establishment candidates for the nomination. he picked walter mondale as his

running mate. >> i remember when we couldn't find a microphone. >> and in 1976. >> nbc news projects james earl carter of the state of georgia elected the next president of the united states. >> he would defeat incumbent gerald ford to become the 39th president. >> the first southerner is now back in from the deep south. is w back in from the deep south. igau keep living life, because there are places you'd like to be. (♪♪) serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and bacterial infection between the anus and genitals, both which may be fatal, severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, rash, swelling, trouble breathing or swallowing. tell your doctor about lightheadedness, weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness or swelling between the anus and genitals. ask your doctor about farxiga today.

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♪♪ ♪♪ on inauguration day, the temperature in washington dropped below freezing. but the thousands who crowded the streets that day didn't seem to care. >> that's a peanut, folks. >> it was a celebration of regular people, folks who worked hard, had been in the peanut brigade, folks whose houses he slept in, were the folks that came to washington. it was not a donor event. it was a democracy event. >> so help me god. >> this inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our government, and a new spirit among us all. >> he wanted very much to give the country a fresh start.

he wore a suit that he had bought off the wrack in plains, georgia, signifying that he was a simple man of virtue, who would lead the country through difficult times. >> carter's first gesture would seem unthinkable in today's polarized climate. >> for myself and for our nation, i want to thank my predecessor for all he has done. >> a lot of people were very impressed that the first thing he said when he got up on the stand to give the inaugural address, was to pay tribute to the guy you just beat. >> that's right. >> tell me about that. >> gerald ford and i had treated each other fairly. >> clean election? >> it was a clean election. we never said a negative word about each other. and i respected gerald ford very much. >> with the nation still on edge from two recent presidential assassination attempts, jimmy and rosalynn carter stunned the

crowd. >> he's out of the car. this is a change in the schedule. he's walking. there's never been a picture like that. >> certainly not since television began. >> it broke the ice. it showed that i trusted the american people and that i thought it was time for animosity, hatred, and -- in our country's politics to be over. >> his walk down pennsylvania avenue was his first step to what he saw as a very non-imperial presidency. >> the first thing i did when i got into office was to pardon the people. i just thought it was time to get that episode in america's history out of the way. >> it was a controversial move and just the first of many. soon he was charting a radical new course for american farm policy, making human rights the center piece of american doctrine. >> no member of the united nations can claim that mistreatment of its citizens is solely its own business. >> the idea of human rights and

democracy, of course, has always been at the center of the american ideal. but until jimmy carter, really no american president gave it the emphasis that he gave it. >> one of his first acts as president was to reach out directly to dissonants and civil rights activists in the soviet union. >> you really shook things up in russia. you sent the message to the russian people that you've got to be free, you have a right to be free, and it began this implosion over there that finally ended the soviet empire. >> i think it had a major impact on it. we contacted human rights activists, and i would write a letter to them and say, you know, stand for them, you've got a friend in washington, don't yield to pressures on human rights, i think it had an effect on what happened in the soviet union. >> in the midst of the cold war, it was a risky strategy, this holding france as well as foes

accountable for human rights. but carter would take an even bigger political gamble with his next mission. >> nobody ever asked me to try to bring peace between israel and egypt, it was an idea that i had because i taught sunday school and i taught half the time in the old testament and half the time in the new testament. when i became more aware of the differences, i decided i would take on the task of bringing peace between israel and egypt. >> carter invited two of the world's most bitter enemies to come to camp david for an unprecedented series of peace talks. >> and his adviser said, if it doesn't work -- and the odds are overwhelming that it won't work -- you're going to get blamed. why get your hands dirty doing that? >> the issues included the fate of the palestinians and the israeli settlements on the sinai peninsula and the west bank, areas israel had seized in the

1967 war. the meetings were held in exclusion. by the end of the first day, jimmy carter began to worry. >> he was very, very difficult. he had made specific promises to the israeli people that he would not do certain things. and the most difficult of them was he had taken an oath before god that he would never give up an israeli settlement. >> day four, the two middle east leaders had stopped talking to each other. but they would talk to carter. so, he began riding his bicycle between the cabins of the egyptian and israeli delegations, trying to craft an agreement detail by detail. but by day six, they were still stalemated. >> american officials deny reports that the talks almost fell apart last night. >> it was then that carter suggested they all go for a sunday drive. >> let me ask you about taking those two amazing men to gettysburg. >> that was one of the most

emotional things i ever did. the first three days that we were together, they were completely crossed up. they didn't get along on -- didn't agree on anything. they were just resurrect ancient disharmonies, back 2,000 years. when we got to gettysburg, it was an interesting thing because all the egyptian officers and most the israelis knew all about gettysburg. when we got to where lincoln made his gettysburg address, everybody stopped and -- began to speak in a loud voice and recited completely the gettysburg address. >> wow, what a moment. >> i still get choked up thinking about it. it was a dramatic, unforgettable moment. >> the talks, which were supposed to last just three or four days, reached day 11. it was only carter's perseverance that kept the two leaders from packing up and leaving. >> almost never in our history has a president devoted so much

time on a single problem. it's an extraordinary effort. >> day 15, sedan had threatened to leave more than once, and now -- carter wouldn't give up. as a parting gift, he gathered photos that had been taken during the peace talks. >> he gets in his golf cart and he goes up to see the prime minister. and he goes in there and -- says, oh, jimmy, i'm sorry it didn't work, but, you know, it was not fated to be. and carter said, i have these pictures that you said you wanted for your grandchildren. he says, oh , thank you. thank you. he said, you know, i wanted to say on there, this is when your grandfather and i made peace in the middle east, but i guess i can't do that now. and bacon burst into tears.

and he said, i'll sign. and that was it. >> most of the major issues are resolved already in this document. and we will now sign this document as well. >> the camp david accords did not resolve all the issues carter had hoped, but it did lead to the end of hostilities between israel and its most powerful foe, egypt. and it's one of the longest-lasting peace treaty of modern times. it's considered by many the greatest success of jimmy carter's presidency. kept me... out of the picture. now i have skyrizi. ♪ keeping my plans, i'm feeling free. ♪ ♪ control of my uc means everything to me. ♪ ♪♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ now, i'm back in the picture. skyrizi helps deliver relief, repair, and remission in uc. feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks, including fewer bowel movements and less bleeding. skyrizi is proven to help visibly repair

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♪♪ coming into office, jimmy carter knew that americans were enduring an ugly period of recession, inflation, and gasoline shortages. his white house wanted to show respect for the hard times. >> white house events would be modest affairs. the presidential yacht got put up for auction. 9-year-old amy became the first child of a president to enroll in a local public school in over 70 years. and carter would dispense with the imperial flourishes. after his inauguration, there would be no more "hail to the chief." >> ladies and gentlemen -- >> hi, everybody. >> i went too far and i did away with all the flourishes and that sort of thing for a little while. but it was so unpopular with the american public because they

wanted to show reverence to the president, that i undid it. >> and carter quickly got to work. he prevented a potential bankruptcy in the social security system, passed an economic stimulus bill, and deregulated major industries, like aviation and oil. >> the economics stagnation, the unemployment that had seemed to be problem number one, that improved. and with that improvement, carter had very strong approval ratings, some of the strongest in his first year in office of any of the modern presidents. >> as a candidate, carter promised to take on the nation's chronic energy crisis. and soon after taking office, he was announcing the country's first comprehensive energy policy. >> with for the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetime. >> there was a shortage of oil, and we were being manipulated by the oil-producing countries. and he felt that the way to do that was to lower the

dependence. >> many of these proposals will be unpopular. some will cause you to put up with inconveniences and make sacrifices. >> but congress balked at many of his proposals, even though his own party was in the majority. >> carter did not have allies. he did not have allies within his own democratic party. >> let's talk about the democratic party of your presidency. you came to washington as a reformer, and you confronted the somewhat rotten democratic party. to be honest with it, it was a party that had people just used to spending money, keeping constituency groups happy. you come in to clean the place up. >> i never did get along with leaders of the democratic party. they were more liberal than i was as far as defense and budgeting and things like that. >> tensions in the capital and across the country increased when the second middle east oil

crisis hit in 1979. >> we need gas. >> bringing with it a vicious return of empty gas stations, heating oil shortages, and skyrocketing prices. >> here was jimmy carter who are had promised to take on the energy crisis, and yet here we were again waiting in these mile-long gas lines. people ran out of fuel. sometimes they turned violent. there were murders and stabbings and a sense that washington was incompetent. >> and americans more and more became dissatisfied with its leadership. >> where is our leadership out of washington, d.c.? >> with his poll numbers plummeting to record low levels and with inflation rising into double digits, carter knew that he had to do more than come up with new policy proposals. >> by july of 1979, carter was feeling, along with many americans, that things were falling apart, a general sense

of uncertainty and disease within the country. >> it really seemed like the american dream was over. and that's the context in which carter decides to now give this speech addressing what his advisers call the malaise. >> it is a crisis of confidence. it is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. >> he wanted to, kind of, shake americans and say, listen, we need to get ahold of ourselves. we need to understand who we are and what our collective purpose is. >> first of all, we must face the truth. and then we can change our course. >> in the time when president won't admit to error about anything, it's almost unimaginable that an american president would level with the american people the way he did and talk about his failures. >> that's why i've worked hard to put my campaign promises into law. and i have to admit, they met

mixed success. >> carter attending a reset then fired nearly half his cabinet, a move some believe was the worst mistake of his presidency. >> it made him seem like he was running an unstable administration. and people got the sense that maybe the job was too big for him. >> it looked like things couldn't get worse. but events that had been brewing halfway around the world were about to explode. lode are fighting to survive. with a gift right now, you can join the battle to save lives. katy: without saint jude, i don't know where we would be. can we see snuggles? they have given children with cancer, like my winston, a chance. christine: she has neuroblastoma and it has spread to her liver. i try to enjoy every minute with her because i do not know when would be my last moments with her.

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1979 events in iran would engulf the carter presidency and reshape the middle east. just two years earlier, the shah of iran had gotten a warm welcome on a state visit to the white house. the shah had been friends with many u.s. presidents. in fact, he'd been installed as head of iran years earlier, with

the help of the cia. as a major source of persian gulf oil, his regime grew to be a stronger u.s. interest. during that visit, to carter's white house, there were ominous signs that all was not well between him and his people. [ crowd chanting ] >> i remember coming to work and smelling tear gas because there was some kind of rally, a protest thing, near the white house when the shah game. >> both the shah and i got tear gas, our wives as well. there was a big demonstration against the shah by iranians who had come to the united states to get away from the shah's dominating dictatorship. >> that was the first time i said, these people are not going to leave that issue to them. they're going to bring it to here. >> in just over a year, the shah was overthrown in a violent revolution. the ayatollah and many americans were to get a taste for the

first time of radical islam. when the shah, exiled and sick with cancer, begged to enter the u.s. for medical treatment, carter reluctantly agreed. but his compassion would carry a monumental price tag, when angry iranians breached the walls of the american embassy. >> the american embassy in tehran is in the hands of slim students tonight. >> there was a long table setup in the operation center. and there were speakerphones set up along the table. each one was connected to a different part of the embassy. those lines were left open. and what happened in the course of the morning is that one after another of those lines went dead. as the attackers came in, took over different parts of the embassy and dragged these people off into imprisonment. >> tens of thousands of iranians filled the streets of tehran. >> and the hostages were taken,

obviously, it was a major crisis for me and for every american as well. and i was to blame for it in a way because it was up to the president to keep us away from having hostages taken. i gave the ayatollah a warning, that if you end your hostage, we will close every access between iran and the outside world. we'll have a complete embargo against you and not have any ships or anything go into your port. and if you kill a hostage, i will attack you militarily. >> no one expected it to drag on, but it did. >> on the 98th day. >> on the 99th day. >> on the 100th day. >> it became a national obsession. >> all across the country, americans tied yellow ribbons in support of the hostages. the mood of the country was angry. a parody of the beach boys tune

"barbara ann" became an anthem called "bomb iran," that was sung only half in jest. >> did you ever think of declaring war, just saying, you committed an act of war, you iranians, and we're going to war. >> almost every one of my advisers suggested we should attack iran militarily. but i didn't want to go to war. and i felt that if we did attack iran, the hostages would immediately be killed. >> the pressure on carter intensified during the christmas when the soviet army invaded afghanistan. it was another assault on the international order. >> any president would be challenged by that. but it was as if he was sucked into it and was never able to get out of it. >> a series of secret negotiations with the iranian government came to nothing. by april 1980, frustrated and angry, carter agreed to a precarious military mission to

rescue the hostages. eight helicopters and multiple c-130 aircraft were sent to a remote spot in iran called desert one. from there, they were to head to tehran and storm the embassy. but the operation was a disaster almost from the start. >> eight american servicemen were killed apparently in the crash of a helicopter with a c-130 cargo plane in iran during a secret united states mission to rescue the hostages. >> it was my decision to attempt the rescue operation. the responsibility is fully my own. >> it was the lowest point of jimmy carter's presidency, and it came when he most needed to be gearing up for re-election. news on the domestic front was no better. carter was facing challenges from the republican right, and members of his own party, meanwhile, were in open rebellion. >> no more high and inflation and no more jimmy carter. >> ted kennedy's decision to challenge carter for the

democratic nomination was almost unprecedented in american history and was arguably devastating to the carter campaign. >> if i spent more time pulling the democratic party together and making it strong, i would probably have been better off when the campaign came along. >> carter fought off kennedy's challenge, but it was a costly battle. i wrote a labor day speech to kick off his campaign against ronald reagan, who he still hoped was too far to the right to get elected. but when i watched the news that night, i was blown away by the sight of reagan delivering his speech at the statue of liberty. >> the carter record is a litany of despair, of broken promises, of sacred trusts abandoned and forgotten. >> with show business flair, reagan had stolen the spotlight and a cherished symbol of a sitting president. still, hopes of gaining release of the hostages before election day.

>> mr. president, what about the hostages? they're talking about an imminent release. >> but it was not to be. >> the exact anniversary of a hostage being taken was election day. so, it was impossible for any american voter to forget that jimmy carter has let our 50-some hostages stay in captivity. >> i was aboard "air force one" after his final campaign rally in seattle. the crowd had been enthusiastic. and we were still hoping that president carter would pull it off, until his team back in washington called the plane with the latest poll results. >> we said, not good, mr. president. it's over. and he said, okay, don't tell rosalynn. i want to tell her when i see her there. >> nbc news has projected that republican ronald reagan will be elected president of the united states over president jimmy carter. >> the sign of a landslide loss came early, and carter conceded before the polls closed in the west. >> i promised you four years ago

that i would never lie to you, so i can't stay here tonight and say it doesn't hurt. >> it was a humiliating loss. it was devastating for president carter, for his family, for the people around him. he was belittled in the moment. >> keep it really simple. >> but after his defeat at the polls, carter was still president and more determined than ever to bring the hostages home. in his last day in office, an agreement was finally reached. >> right on, man. that's great, that's great. >> the imprisoned americans were set to be released. >> after 444 days, the hostages came out alive. the iranians waited until just a couple of minutes after reagan became president before they released him. >> he worked so hard to give him back that clearly the iranians were not going to give him any satisfaction whatsoever in terms of releasing them while he was still president. >> after greeting the freed hostages at a private meeting, the now former president returned to his home in plains,

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♪♪ a few years after his presidency, the press caught up with carter, as he was building houses for the poor. and they found it hard to believe he didn't have ulterior motives. >> some people will say that's jimmy carter, he is a politician, he's probably running for something. how would you react? >> well, all i'm running for is to get this apartment finished. i'm not going to get back involved in politics at all. >> with his political career behind him, carter was only 56 years old and determined to follow his christian beliefs by giving back, both at home and around the globe. >> thank you. good morning. >> f. scott fitzgerald said, there are no second acts in american lives, he clearly had not come across jimmy carter. >> he said, i'm not going to

build some mausoleum to myself. i'm going to build something that's going to be future oriented, proactive, good for the world. i'm going to cash this check of my ex-presidency for mankind. >> the first idea i had was, why david the carter center. camp and i'll let foreigners come to the carter center and negotiate peace between them. or if they want me to, i'll go to their country and negotiate peace. that was the first idea. >> that idea involved into what has become the carter center's core mission to promote human rights and resolve conflicts around the world. over the past several decades, carter and his team have secured over 100 open elections in troubled countries. >> we have a very simple but very important mission in haiti. >> in 1994, with battleships already on their way, carter prevented a u.s. military invasion of haiti, by persuading the military junta there to step

aside. >> in an eft fort to head off a bar, former president jimmy carter crossed the dmz today. >> that same year, carter proposed a nuclear standoff between the united states and north korea. jimmy carter was now seen as someone who could solve intractable problems. >> a friend of mine told us about a disease called kitty worm that nobody wanted to fool with because it was so isolated in tiny villages that were not connected to each other. and there was no way to treat it once it started. >> the carter center taught the villages how to protect their water supply from devastating parasites. >> jimmy was very smart, and he was very open minded about how tough it would be to get rid of these diseases. he went and he built relationships with the people on the ground to get this work done. >> with the center leading the way, the number of cases fell from 3.5 million to just 30, a record-setting victory over

parasittic disease. >> when we first came to ghana -- >> it was more than a half dozen diseases carter organization was tackling. >> carter center, because of his work, is amazing. >> he's been a huge inspiration to us in philanthropy, in terms of how to live your values out, how to be con sis p tent, how to think about people in far away places. >> for his work, carter won the nobel peace prize at age 78. when i sat down with him at the age of 93, the former president and his wife, rosalynn, were still keeping packed schedules, commuting regularly to atlanta for meetings at the carter center. >> welcome to all of our students and our scholars. >> spending a week every year with habitat for humanity. >> thankful for all this. >> carter was still preaching at his local church, teaching at emory university, and had just finished writing his 32nd book. >> jimmy carter becomes the closest that we've seen to a renaissance man of any president since thomas jefferson in terms

of the enormous variety of things that he is very good at. >> how good a president was he? people are still debating that. >> his weakness was that he believed others would follow him, that if he could articulate the firmness of his convictions, he could encourage americans to join him. and that wasn't the case. >> there was some criticism of his management style, that he tried to be too hands-on. and there's probably some legitimacy to that. but i think he was a very good president. >> but what can't be denied was carter's raw guts in pursuing missions like the panama canal treaty, brokering peace between israel and egypt, awakening americans to the energy challenge, and pushing the world on human rights. >> he was able to push through an awful lot of gislation, very little of which is remembered but much of which

changed the country, from cleaning up toxic waste sites, deregulating airlines and trucking, which contributed eventually to lower airfares. >> deregulation of oil and gas. we now have huge amounts of natural gas. it's changed the whole energy equation. >> during that time, we managed to establish relations with china, get a strategic arms limitation treaty through. >> carter appointed more women to judgeships than all of his predecessors combined. >> jimmy carter increased the military, built up the military, during that period. he believed in a strong national defense. >> it's kind of unimaginable now, but for four years, there wasn't a single shot fired in anger by u.s. forces. and that's partly good fortune that we didn't get into a war and partly a testament to how committed jimmy carter was to peace.

>> in 2015, carter was treated for melanoma that had spread to his liver and his brain. >> when i went this week, they didn't find any cancer at all. >> your life seems at peace. have you found peace? >> i have, yes. i have a deep religious faith, and i have a good family. i've had a wonderful career. i'm grateful for i had his blessings. they've been quite voluminous and quite consistent. so, i'm at peace. i don't have any i am at peace. no unfulfilled need. >> would you like another crack at it? >> no, no, i would not. i enjoy being president. it was a great experience for me. and i, and i am very, very satisfied with what we did and, at the time i wanted