Remembering Jimmy Carter (Part II)

纪念吉米·卡特(第二部分)

Fresh Air

艺术

2025-01-10

44 分钟
PDF

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The 39th president spoke with Terry Gross in 1995, 2001 and 2005 about poetry, Sept. 11 and his concerns about how intertwined politics and religion had become. Carter died on Dec. 29 at age 100. Today is his funeral. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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  • What's in store for the music, TV and film industries for 2025?

  • We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year.

  • Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from npr.

  • This is FRESH air.

  • I'm Terry Gross.

  • On this day of Jimmy Carter's funeral, which has also been declared a national day of mourning, we listened back to more excerpts of the interviews I recorded with him over the years.

  • At 100 years old, Carter was the oldest living former president in American history with one of the longest and most productive public lives after leaving the White House.

  • Those post presidency years were devoted to public service.

  • He and his wife, Rosalynn, teamed up with Habitat for Humanity, building or repairing thousands of homes in the US and other countries around the world, including Mexico, South Africa, Haiti, Vietnam, India and the Philippines.

  • He flew around the world to war zones to mediate violent conflicts and monitor elections and fledgling democracies.

  • And Carter wrote several memoirs about his presidency, his childhood, his deep religious faith, his reflections on getting older and life after leaving office.

  • That gave me the opportunity to interview him several times.

  • We'll start with a side of Jimmy Carter most Americans were unaware of when he was in the White House, his lifelong interest in and love of poetry.

  • When we spoke in 1995, he'd just published a collection of his poems titled Always a Reckoning.

  • Carter was the first former president to publish a book of poems.

  • What do you think the assumptions are that people make when they hear a former president is also a poet?

  • Well, I think it's been a rare.

  • Thing in history to have a president who was a published poet.

  • I think I imagine a lot of folks that have been in the White House have written a poem or two.

  • And hid them.