 |
| More than 1,000 people attended
a town hall meeting with Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn
Carter. The meeting was moderated by Brian Williams.
Anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Williams
was an intern at the White House during the Carter
administration. |
The lens of “The Carter Presidency: Lessons for
the 21st Century” conference provided a means
to examine Jimmy Carter’s presidency at just
the right distance, when the shift from journalism to history
begins.
Presidential historian and conference guest Michael
Beschloss claims that history needs 25 years before it
can sort out the effects of an administration. And the
conference, which ended 25 years to the day after Carter
left office, hit that mark.
“I think to some extent this conference reflected
a few of the qualities of the Carter administration,” said
John Maltese, conference director. “I thought of
openness, accessibility and diversity. And I think that,
in a sense, we’ve been able to reflect some of those
things in this conference.”
In three days former officials, journalists and historians
dissected the workings of Carter’s policies at home
and overseas, offering a new way to see his presidency:
a success obscured by a bitter fourth year.
Panelists from both political parties met and talked openly
about Carter’s legacy, sometimes disagreeing
on the legacy of the Carter administration and what it
can teach current politicians, but always in a respectful
tone.
“If there’s a lesson that comes out of this
conference, I hope it is that we can one day return to
an age when people can have differences of opinion and
talk to each other instead of just shouting at each other,” Maltese
said.
The passions Carter carried into the White House are still
burning, and that progress can be seen through the Carter
Center. These efforts also provide challenges and lessons,
said UGA President Michael F. Adams.
“I come away from this conference convinced that
the divide that exists in this country and in the world
between the rich and the poor, which has been highlighted
in almost every session, may be the most challenging issue
of this century,” said Adams at the Jan. 21 session “Summing
Up: The Carter Legacy and Post-Presidency.”
“With the various challenges the Carters have presented
to us, I want you, particularly those of you who are students,
to see this one clearly,” he said. “It’s
one of our great challenges.”
Carter’s final address at the conference was a call
for peace and negotiation, two hallmarks of his tenure.
“This is the greatest nation on Earth. We can be
received by all leaders and all citizens with open arms.
And they are so hungry for the fire, light and leadership
of this great nation. They want the simple things that
every American would agree on: They want their children
to be educated and they want their babies to survive, they
want some help if they have a disease,” he said.
“I think we can be on the threshold of a new greatness.
We are the greatest nation on Earth, and I’m very
grateful for the people who let me be governor and president
and let me play a role in that.”
|
