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Former President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 30, 2024 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNNI HOST: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Monday, December the 30th, 9 a.m. here in London.

It's 4 a.m. in Plains, Georgia, where reaction is pouring in following the death of the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. He was 100 years old, living longer than any other U.S. president. The Carter Center says he was surrounded by family when he died on Sunday after being in a home -- in home hospice care rather for nearly two years.

Jimmy Carter, known for his dignity and devotion to service, dedicated his life to fighting for human rights and brokering peace in many parts of the world. President Joe Biden has declared January the 9th as a national day of mourning, calling on Americans to visit their places of worship and pay homage to the late leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I find extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people all around the world, all over the world, feel they lost a friend as well, even though they never met him. And 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 just 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.

And his compassion and moral clarity lifted people up and changed lives and saved lives all over the globe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, CNN's Nick Robertson now takes a look back at the impact of Jimmy Carter's diplomatic efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I, Jimmy Carter, do solemnly swear. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Jimmy Carter's presidency lived in the shadow of America's Cold War with the Soviet Union, but he refused to be constrained by East/West, communist versus capitalist tensions.

CARTER: We expect that normalization will help to move us together toward a world of diversity and of peace.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): He improved relations with China and tried for the same with the Soviets. In his foreign policies, he pushed for nuclear nonproliferation, democratic values, and human rights. He cut off military supplies to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and dialed back support for other Latin American leaders in Nicaragua, Argentina and Brazil. One of his signature White House legacies was the Torrijos-Carter treaties that returned the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999.

He also calmed Mideast tensions, brought together Israeli and Arab leaders at Camp David, opening the door to the Israeli-Egypt Camp David accords. He normalized relations with China, weakened U.S. ties to Taiwan in a vain hope Beijing would weaken ties with Moscow.

But after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, the last year of his presidency, he toughened his Soviet stance, backed the Afghan mujahedeen in a war against the Red Army.

The same year, 1979, Islamic Revolution in neighboring Iran dealt Carter a double domestic blow, spiked oil prices, and led to a humiliating failed raid, Operation Eagle Claw, in April 1980, to rescue Americans captured by the theocratic revolutionaries in Tehran.

CARTER: I can't stand here tonight and say it doesn't hurt.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Events overseas contributed to his 1980 election loss.

CARTER: The people of the United States have made their choice. And, of course, I accept that decision.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): But out of office and the limelight, his global peacemaking grew. In 1994, he was the first former U.S. president to visit North Korea, met Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of today's leader Kim Jong Un, at a time of U.S./North Korean tensions, won concessions on North Korea's nuclear program, dialing back tensions for a decade. But 1994 was his big year of high profile peacemaking.

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In September, he went to Haiti, Raoul Cedras, the Caribbean nation's unpopular leader, was holed up in Port-au-Prince. Carter convinced him to step down quite literally, as the U.S. 82nd Airborne troops were inbound aboard Black Hawk helicopters ready to remove Cedras by force. Carter won the day. Save lives. The U.S. troops landed as de facto peacekeepers. And later that year, Carter went to the dark heart of Bosnia's violent ethnic civil war, met the nationalist Serbs in their mountain stronghold, Pale, tried to stop their bloody, murderous siege and shelling of the capital, Sarajevo, bring an end to the killing that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives during horrific ethnic cleansing. Success came slowly in steps. Carter helped initiate a short Christmas ceasefire and by his presence, push the horrific conflict toward greater international attention.

RICHARD HOLBROOKE, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS: We have work to do. We have to go back to it now. Thank you very much.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Less than a year later, another U.S. diplomat, Richard Holbrooke, parlayed Carter's brief calm into the war, ending Dayton peace accords.

1994 marked a peak in Carter's peacemaking, but far from the end of it. He helped found a group of seasoned international diplomats known as the elders, whose works span the Mideast and far beyond. He helped the charity Habitat for Humanity, change lives, building affordable homes, often showing up to help with construction himself.

In 2002, he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development. It was a path he'd picked, a post-presidency with meaning, and he followed it right up to his death.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: World leaders offering their condolences to the U.S. and the Carter family. The French President Emmanuel Macron celebrated the Nobel Peace Prize winner on social media, stating: 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 heartfelt thoughts to his family and to the American people.

That sentiment echoed by the U.K.'s King Charles. He writes: He was a committed public servant and devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights. His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many.

Meanwhile, the Australian Prime Minister recognized Carter's service, posting that his legacy is, quote: Best measured in lives changed, saved and uplifted.

For more, let's bring in CNN's Clare Sebastian. I mean, there's absolutely a theme, isn't there, in all of these comments, wherever they're coming from in the world.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Max. Commitment to peace, elevating the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy, sort of the key elements of a lot of the tributes that we're seeing. In terms of European leaders, we are seeing a focus in particular on

the Camp David Accords, his role in the Middle East. German Chancellor Schultz called him a great mediator for peace in the Middle East. This is a portion of what Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said. He said: His presidency will be remembered for the historic Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and it was that lifelong dedication to peace that saw him receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Which, of course, he did in 2002. He goes on to talk about how he redefined the post-presidency with his remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad.

But I think for Europe, there's some reflection as well, given that we're now approaching the three-year mark of Russia's war in Ukraine, on his USSR policy, which was seen as a bit of a failure at the time. It started on a warmer footing, but then deteriorated certainly after the invasion of Afghanistan. He did sign a nuclear nonproliferation treaty with Brezhnev, but that was seen as sort of not particularly effective and a bit controversial at the time. So President Zelenskyy has come out with a statement today.

He said: He was a leader who served during a time when Ukraine was not yet independent. He said yet his heart stood firmly with us in our ongoing fight for freedom. Today -- he said at the end of his statement -- let us remember peace matters and the world must remain united in standing against those who threaten these values.

And I think there's a reference there, perhaps veiled to the fact that there are nuances to his USSR policy, even though ostensibly relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union did deteriorate during his presidency, that he did, many believe, introduce the idea that the U.S. should foster the sort of more liberal elements of the Eastern Bloc countries, try to encourage that.

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And I think to see what Viktor Orban, one of those, he's the head of one of those former Eastern Bloc countries, said on Twitter. He said: The memory of President Jimmy Carter will always be cherished in Hungary by returning the Holy Crown -- this is a crown that was spirited to the U.S. at the end of the Second World War -- to the people of Hungary at the end of the 70s, he gave freedom-loving Hungarians hope in a hopeless time. He says, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the Carter family and the American people.

Interesting that he would hark back to that event. It was a controversial decision at the time, but it was part of that policy of fostering those liberal leanings. And he made it clear at the time that he was returning it not to the Hungarian regime, but to the Hungarian people.

I think, of course, the irony now is that Hungary is now sort of moving back into Russia's orbit, a Russia that is sort of bringing back elements of what Viktor Orban called that hopeless time.

FOSTER: I mean, he was a liberal, wasn't he? He wasn't as liberal as he could have been. And he, you know, he became more centrist, really, during his presidency.

But it's interesting to hear people that are regarded as right-wing Orban and also Trump singing his praises because he doesn't represent their type of politics at all.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, but I think he did sort of have those sort of universal values, right, of those human rights and peace, and all of that has come to the fore in his post-presidency years as well, when, you know, maybe things like Habitat for Humanity and the various peace initiatives, election monitoring was another big part of what the Carter Center has done, are uncontroversial in the eyes of many and obviously led to that 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

But I think, looking back, obviously we are at a point where some of the initiatives, particularly when it comes to Europe, are in a sort of bleak rearview mirror, right?

I mean, Hungary, as I say, moving back into Russia's orbit. He brokered that SALT II treaty with Brezhnev, but now we see basically all of the fabric of U.S.-Russia nuclear disarmament pretty much gone. There isn't a single treaty remaining that both sides are adhering to.

But, you know, I think, as I say, those values are things that hold true for many leaders today.

FOSTER: Clare, thank you so much.

Also joined by Leslie Vinjamuri, head of U.S. and America's program, Chatham House joins us from Salzburg in Austria. Thank you for taking time out to speak to us, Leslie, but it's a huge moment, isn't it, for American history and something you'll be speaking to your, you know, your students that you speak to, but also you'll be writing to in your papers, because, you know, he no doubt has a place in history.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF U.S. AND THE AMERICAS PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Absolutely. I think for so many people that have studied U.S. domestic politics, America's role on the global stage and especially human rights, it's Jimmy Carter. You know, we think now of human rights and democracy promotion in a very complicated way.

But America certainly being deeply involved in those efforts, whether it's, you know, using military force or using foreign assistance, not only was for the better, but Jimmy Carter was really the first American president that put human rights on the map at a time when nobody was thinking about human rights as being important for America's global role or for its foreign policy. And he really took a, you know, values-based presidency and morality-based. He wasn't known as being a, as we've heard so much in the last hours, as being a tremendous president.

But those human rights came first, sometimes at the expense of his political support. And it was really that effort that informed his post-presidency work. And I think this is what people will continue to think of him for, not only his work creating the Carter Center and elections monitoring, democracy promotion, serving as an unofficial ambassador, mediating peace around the world, restoring democratic leadership in Haiti, working in Bosnia.

But it really is championing those values, but not by advocating that America use military force, boots on the ground. None of that was part of Carter's ambition and certainly not part of his legacy. It was very much about making human rights central as informing conflict mediation.

And again, prior to his presidency, they'd been seen as, you know, really at odds with each other, that human rights would get in the way of what America needed to do to deter the Soviet Union around the world and to be a strong, strong superpower.

FOSTER: He represented in many ways the idea that, you know, the American president is the global policeman. America is the global police service, if you like. And, you know, talk about democracy, as you say, human rights, fairness, not promoting war.

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Do you think there's an interesting context in the time that we're living through now, that he was this almost classical view of what a modern president should be? But we've lost our way a bit there.

VINJAMURI: You know, it's a it's a really troubled time. I think Jimmy Carter was troubled by what was happening in the run up to last year's election. But, you know, on the one hand, he was a non interventionist, right?

He didn't think America should be using military force to promote democracy. And that's certainly an idea that I think has now come back to the fore in America's foreign relations, certainly with President Trump. But he was values first and he was deeply disturbed by the polarization, by the division in the United States.

He you know, as we know, he was very concerned to promote peace in the Middle East. The Camp David Accords were, you know, critical for his legacy, as was that peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

But if you look to the current moment, you know, America's in a one could argue a radically different position than it was during his presidency. It's very hard to map. But what we do know is that there is a deep struggle amongst those who wish to shape America's foreign policy going forward. And Carter's legacy, which is to say, you know, values must come first, that we must be a moral force for good, not with military force, but with the power of our diplomacy, our statecraft, our economic statecraft, that we must support democratic leaders.

Those values, I think, are very much, as you've intimated, very much at risk in the current moment. And I think it's one that would have -- did trouble him and would have troubled him had he had he been alive to watch.

FOSTER: OK, Leslie, appreciate your time with us today. Thank you so much. Across the U.S., flags are flying at half staff, including at the

White House and the U.S. Capitol to honor former President Jimmy Carter. President Biden's proclamation for an official day of mourning will require all flags on U.S. federal buildings to be flown at half staff for 30 days.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also ordered flags lowered at all state buildings and grounds to honor Carter, a Georgia native.

Now in New York, the Empire State Building was lit up in red, white and blue on Sunday to honor his life and legacy. Carter was the only former U.S. president to reach 100 years old. To put things into perspective, the Empire State Building opened on May the 1st, 1931, just five months before Jimmy Carter's seventh birthday.

Now, he only served one term, but Jimmy Carter left behind a legacy that endures to this day. A look back at how he changed the history in the Middle East and beyond. Next on CNN.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: During his presidency, one of Jimmy Carter's most significant achievements was the Camp David Accords, a peace deal reached after exhaustive negotiations between Egypt and Israel. Our Christiane Amanpour looks at what the ensuing agreement meant for his presidency and the world.

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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): Peace in the Middle East, the impossible dream. But President Jimmy Carter wasn't afraid to take it on, inviting two of the world's fiercest enemies to the White House retreat at Camp David in 1978.

Jimmy Carter had been derided for his administration's foreign policy failures, partly because he's considered to have lost a U.S. friendly Iran to the Ayatollahs. But the Camp David Accords were his geopolitical triumph. He managed to strike a deal between Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat. But this moment really got started a year earlier, when the cameras flashed and rolled to capture Sadat's journey into enemy territory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has never in all these years been anything as striking and dramatic as this.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Indeed, Sadat had made a massive gamble that coming in peace to Jerusalem, becoming the first Arab leader to visit Israel and speak directly to its people, would pay off.

But the two Middle East leaders failed to reach a deal on their own. Enter the American president. Carter recognized a rare opportunity to act as the indispensable mediator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost never in our history has a president devoted so much time on a single problem.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): He had studied the characters and histories of the two leaders who deeply mistrusted each other. He wrote Sadat and Begin personal letters inviting them to Camp David. And when they arrived on the American soil, it was high stakes for all three men involved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Failure here would just increase the impression that Mr. Carter is a nice man, but an inept president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This meeting is truly historic, and the people who will participate know it.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): 13 days of intense negotiations. Crucially, behind closed doors, no leaks, no social media, no media at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Israeli delegation is totally zipped up. Even less is coming out of it than is coming out of the Egyptian delegation.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): At Camp David, Carter and his team shuttle back and forth between the two men and their teams, often negotiating late into the night. Carter's national security advisor, the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, described what looked like Mission Impossible.

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Sadat, to sign a peace treaty with Begin, had to break ranks with the entire Arab world. He had to face isolation.

[04:25:00]

Begin, to agree with Sadat, had to give up territory for the first time and to give up settlements.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): When direct talks between Sadat and Begin became too heated, Carter kept them apart and quashed any attempt to call off the negotiations.

After two weeks of complications, drama and false starts, the men finally returned to Washington to deliver the good news. They had reached a deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just look at two weeks ago what the situation was. Peace process all but dead.

CARTER: An achievement none thought possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears that the president won, and he won big.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Decades after Camp David, I sat down with President Carter and asked him how in the world he had done it.

AMANPOUR: There you were. You brought peace with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. It all seemed so much easier then. Was it? Or is that just what we think now, all these years later? CARTER: I think it was much more difficult because I was negotiating between two men whose nations had been at war four times in just 25 years.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): The magnitude of that accomplishment lives on in the image of that three way handshake. The Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin summed it up like this.

MENACHEM BEGIN, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: At Camp David Conference should be renamed. It was the Jimmy Carter Conference.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): The final result, Israel would return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, a piece of land the two had fought wars over. Egypt would finally recognize Israel's right to exist and give Israel access to the crucial Suez Canal shipping lanes. Both leaders declared no more fighting.

All three men would eventually be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But one thing wouldn't change. Arabs called Sadat a traitor. Three years later, he was assassinated by Muslim extremists in his own country.

Still, many years later, President Carter told me that he was proud of this first peace deal between Arabs and Israelis.

CARTER: The peace treaty that was negotiated between Israel and Egypt over extremely difficult circumstances was beneficial to both sides. And not a single word of the treaty has been violated. It was much more difficult than the altercation between the Israelis and the Palestinians is today.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): And that conflict, the one between Palestinians and Israelis, still rages on to this day. But it doesn't alter the fact that there was a shining moment when Jimmy Carter engaged the full and indispensable role of the United States and changed one corner of the Middle East forever.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: For more, let's bring in Paula Hancocks from Jerusalem. I mean, obviously, the Middle East is always going to be a complicated patchwork of politics, but, you know, that legacy exists, doesn't it, of this peace deal between Israel and Egypt, and that's been profound.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Max, and it's a peace treaty that is enduring as well. It stands to this day despite the tensions in the region. At the moment, it is a peace treaty that also laid the groundwork for further treaties, being the first between an Arab leader, an Arab nation and Israel.

Now, you can see from the responses from the current presidents of both Egypt and Israel just how significant what President Carter did was and that enduring peace. For example, Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, in his statement offering his condolences, he spoke of President Carter as being a brave leader. Saying, quote: In recent years, I had the pleasure of calling him and thanking him for his historic efforts to bring together two great leaders, Begin and Sadat, and forging a peace between Israel and Egypt. He went on to say: His legacy will be defined by his deep commitment to forging peace between nations.

Also, a statement offering condolences from Egypt's current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, saying, quote: President Carter was a symbol of humanitarian and diplomatic efforts. His deep belief in peace and justice has inspired many individuals and institutions around the world to follow his path. His efforts in preserving the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel will remain etched in history.

So undoubtedly one of the most significant foreign policy achievements of President Carter.

We did hear in later years, though, his disappointment that he was unable to go further than that, that he wanted two parts to this agreement.

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Firstly, he wanted there to be peace between Egypt and Israel, but he also wanted to further negotiations towards Palestinian autonomy. He wanted negotiations to be forwarded for Palestinian statehood, for the two-state solution, and that is something that eluded him during his presidency. It is something that has eluded all leaders up until the current day as well.