|
More than 1,000 turn out for conversation with Carters
during town hall meeting |
| By Kelly Simmons |
| simmonsk@uga.edu |
 |
| Eight-year-old James Waldsmith
waited patiently for Jimmy Carter to finish discussing
his strategy for Cold War defense spending. His turn,
finally, he stepped to the microphone, which had been
lowered so he could reach it, and asked: “Mr.
President, who started World War II and why did it
happen?” (Photo by Paul Efland) |
NBC anchor Brian Williams launched the
town hall meeting with former President Jimmy Carter and
first lady Rosalynn Carter with his own question: Which
one thing would you disclose to the audience for the first
time ever?
Williams, who was moderating the event, gave the Carters
an hour to think about it, at the end of the meeting returning
for a response.
His wife at his side, the president told a story of his
1978 meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli
Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David. Carter had
brought the two men together to pursue peace between their
warring nations.
After three days, Carter told the audience, it was clear
that the men would do nothing but argue. Carter separated
the two leaders and went back and forth between them in
an attempt to negotiate an agreement.
Without telling Carter, a frustrated Sadat decided to return
to Egypt, and called a helicopter to take him to the airport
in Washington.
“I was stricken,” Carter said. “Sadat
had been my friend.”
Carter changed from his casual clothes into a suit and
tie, went into a back room, knelt and prayed.
| |
| At the town hall meeting Alan
Godlas, UGA professor of religion, asked why there
was so much conflicting information about the war
in Iraq, and whether the media covering the president
was to blame. “I don’t think the news
media did their job,” Carter said. “Congress
didn’t either.” (Photo by Peter Frey) |
“I asked God to help me,” Carter said, his
voice breaking. He went to Sadat’s cabin, where the
suitcases had been packed and were ready to be picked up.
He told the Egyptian leader that if he left, “our
friendship was severed forever.”
Sadat walked to a corner of the room, then came back and
said, “I’m staying.”
It was a powerful and poignant end to what was perhaps
the most anticipated event of the three-day symposium.
At the Carters’ request, the town hall meeting was
free and open to the public. More than 1,000 people turned
out for the event, held in a room that could seat just
600. Many watched the conversation on closed-circuit television
at UGA. It also was televised live on C-SPAN. For more
than the scheduled hour, both Carters fielded questions
ranging from their work with the Atlanta-based Carter Center
for human rights to the recent controversy over Carter’s
book, Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid.
A man who identified himself as a Holocaust survivor chided
Carter for using the word apartheid, because he felt it
implied that the Israeli motives were racist.
“The Israelis are not motivated by race, but by greed
for Palestinean land,” Carter responded.
Alan Godlas, a UGA religion professor, asked why there
was so much conflicting information about the war in Iraq,
and whether the media covering the president was to blame.
“I don’t think the news media did their job,” Carter
said. “Congress didn’t either.”
The Carter Presidency: Lessons
for the 21st Century
Carter: United Staes should epitomize
human dreams
‘No road maps’:
Mondale discusses forging of a new vice presidency
Panelists: U.S. needs to develop
othe fuel sources
Foreign exchange
Former first lady sheds
light on private thoughts behind public face
More than 1,000 turn out
for conversation with the Carters during town hall meeting
Student panel discusses
policy decisions with former president
Journalists discuss Carter’s
political rise. . . and fall |
|
|
|
