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State Funeral of Late Former President Jimmy Carter Begins in Georgia; Funeral Procession for Jimmy Carter Travels to His Hometown of Plains, Georgia; Secret Service Agents Who Protected Jimmy Carter and His Family Serve as Pallbearers at Carter's Funeral; Jimmy Carter's Promotion of Civil Rights as Georgia Governor and U.S. President Examined; Jimmy Carter's Biographer Recounts His Legislative Accomplishments as President; Jimmy Carter's Post-Presidency and Effect He had on Georgia Residents Profiled; National Park Service Honor Guard Rings Bell 39 Times as Tribute to Jimmy Carter Being 39th President of the United States. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 04, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:35]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is CNN's special live coverage of what is the start of late President Jimmy Carter's state funeral. I'm Dana Bash in Washington.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell live from the Carter Center in Atlanta as the nation and the world honors the life and the legacy of Americas 39th president.

BASH: Any moment, six days of tributes and observances for the late president will begin, starting in southwest Georgia. The Carter family motorcade is expected to arrive at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia, in just minutes. Their Secret Service agents, who protected President Carter during his lifetime, will escort his casket to the hearse.

BLACKWELL: And the motorcade will make two stops on the way here to the Carter Center in Atlanta, where services will be held later today. They'll stop at the former president's boyhood home in Archery, Georgia, and then at the Georgia state capital here in Atlanta, where he served, of course, as state senator and as governor.

And Dana, Georgia was a really big part of the late president's life. And you can see that through the events that are happening here over the next few days.

BASH: Yes. And I know people have been showing up there at the Carter Center where you are, Victor, to pay their respects. What's it been like there?

BLACKWELL: Yes, I mean, maybe you can see in the shot behind me there are a few people who are placing flowers here outside the sign at the sign at the library in the Carter Center. It's, of course, closed to the public at this moment as its awaiting the arrival of the former president and the Carter family. But we've seen expressions of grief and gratitude across the metro area. I was at dinner just a couple of nights ago and looked out the window, and there was a digital billboard that just said, "Thank you, President Carter."

And we're seeing some of that quiet gratitude across the state. We're going to check in with Eva McKend in a moment in Plains, Georgia, to give us an idea. But as the president makes his way to Atlanta, he's stopping at some of those small southern cities that have been part of his life from the very beginning, all the way through his naval career and through his time in public service, in civil service as the governor, state senator and president. And so we're going to see more of that, more of what we're seeing over my shoulder throughout the day here.

BASH: All right, and you mentioned Eva McKend. Let's check in with Eva, who is live from President Carter's hometown, famously, Plains, Georgia. Eva, walk us through what is happening now and what we will expect very soon.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: So, Dana, what we have seen all morning is people lining up against the barricades here as they wait for the motorcade to pass through later this morning. And in many ways, this is exactly what Jimmy Carter would have wanted for his hometown that he loved so much of Plains to be in the spotlight like it is today. And all week long we've been catching up with people here. Everyone, nearly everyone has a Jimmy Carter story. They share things like he came to my grandfather's funeral, or he visited me when I was sick to pray with me, or I would see him distributing food at food pantries before he fell ill.

So that is the type of person that his neighbors here will remember. And it is not only the residents of Plains that we're going to see here today. They're actually people that have traveled from all over the country to express their well wishes. Take a listen to what they shared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SMITH, TRAVELED FROM FLORIDA TO HONOR CARTER: He is the president of my lifetime. And like me, he's a son of the south. And there's negativity that comes with that, but he rose above that. You know, segregation was not acceptable to him from the get-go, it seems like. And me too. And so he represented the high ideals of what my generation and and my part of the country represent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And, Dana, something else that really resonated with me. I was speaking to a shop owner this week, and he said that most important to the Carters was the character of a person.

[10:05:03]

You could imagine here in purple Georgia, there are people with all different types of politics. But the love for them, especially in rural parts of the state, really transcended politics. It was really a deep gratitude for the lifetime of service. Dana?

BASH: And what a lifetime it was, 100 years. It's really, really remarkable. Eva, thank you so much. Really interesting to hear from people from his hometown there.

I want to go back to Victor Blackwell, who is at the Carter Center. So Victor, the late president's body will be driven pretty soon from where you are for services later this afternoon.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and there will be a service later this afternoon. The former president will lie in repose here until Tuesday when he will then travel to the nation's capital, where he will lie in state. And then there is that state funeral that's happening on Thursday.

Let me set the scene for you here and start. First, it's cold here, right? It's in the 30s in Atlanta, very cold by Atlanta standards. But there is this warmth that we're seeing. And you're seeing more people over my shoulder bringing flowers, some with notes and pictures of them with the former president, former governor here of Georgia. The warmth stands out. We're expecting large crowds here to watch Carter's motorcade arrive in just a few hours. Members of the Carter family, leaders of the Carter Center, will also be here.

Most importantly for the Carters, though, will be the presence of the employees of the Carter Center and the presidential library and museum. They'll have a chance to pay their respects. This is a testament to the respect for the man who defined what it meant to remain in service of others after leaving the most powerful office in the world.

Jeff Zeleny is here with me. Jeff, a symbolic journey for the late president today, mirroring his life from humble beginnings in southern Georgia, here to the capital here in Atlanta.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, it's extraordinary, that improbable journey from a peanut farmer to the presidency. But it would not have happened, of course, without Georgia and Atlanta, where he served, as you said, as a state senator and as a governor. And it was his work as a governor, also ahead of his time at that moment, that led him to the presidency.

And his life will be celebrated, I think, quite appropriately, through the chapters in which he lived. We will see him going, obviously, from Plains, his small town, here to Atlanta where he began his rise. But I do think the Carter Center behind us here represents his largest work of all, the post-presidency where he lived, the longest living president, stretching over nearly five decades of time.

But when he came back to Georgia in his defeat, there was a choice facing him. He wasn't sure at first, but then he decided, along with the Rosalynn, of course, to open the Carter Center, that really when you walk through it, it just celebrates and documents all that he has done. And it's not a history museum. It was a very active center where he was across the world, as you know, doing election work, obviously, humanitarian work, peacemaking work. So it is inside the Carter Center that really is his largest legacy. BLACKWELL: Active for 40 years post-presidency. And what we'll see today is how the early years of Carter's life informed his work, not only in office but after his time in office, starting at that farm, that boyhood farm where he wrote in an hour before daylight about some of the lessons that he learned there that informed his work as president and some of his priorities.

ZELENY: Absolutely. And of course, he was the first southern president in nearly a century. And the moment he was elected into office, he wanted to use it as a time to sort of lead forward the Civil Rights movement, take that baton, of course, from the Civil Rights Act, which he called one of the most important things to ever happen in the country, and move it in a new direction. So we are going to see that celebrated. Both Andrew Young, of course, a longtime friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, he immediately brought him into his administration. Just the civil rights work that President Carter did.

But again, going forward to the work that is still going to be going on in the Carter Center, I was behind us just a short time ago looking at some of those memories and the cards written. A seven-year-old wrote a thank you to the president for treating people with kindness. That, I think, is also a through line. His humanity certainly shined through.

So he was swept into the White House with a very angry country in the post-Watergate Vietnam era. He was, of course, was swept out of the White House because of the economy, inflation. But never mind that, at least for this moment. It's his life that is being celebrated in his post-presidency here today.

[10:10:00]

BLACKWELL: And what's interesting and unique -- I mean, right now we're seeing the full spectrum of post-presidency approaches, from, you know, George W. Bush, who is, for large part, left the political stage, to President-Elect Trump, who decided to run again.

In his post-presidency, President Carter found this hybrid in which he still worked on the humanitarian elements and still was so accessible. What I found to be interesting is there are so many people with personal stories about meeting even the former president on a Delta flight. You know, he would walk through and shake everyone's hand. So he still did the work of a former president, but tried to return to, as possible, an everyman life.

ZELENY: No question. He said the most important role when he was taking his leave after he was defeated in 1980, he was returning to the work of being a citizen. He said that is where the actual work can be accomplished and done.

And again, just the -- this is an ongoing project. I mean, really up until the last few years, he's been traveling around the world eradicating guinea-worm, fighting for fresh water and other things. But I think, politically speaking at least, and again, his life will be discussed in chapters this week as he goes to Washington, both parties sort of used him in their own ways. Donald Trump during the presidency used him to mock Joe Biden. Democrats have not always embraced him at all. I remember during the Obama administration, Barack Obama did not want to be compared to Jimmy Carter.

So I think his important work was he was ahead of his time in the presidency, there's no doubt about it, from putting solar panels on the White House back in the 70s. Reagan, of course, removed them. But beyond that, the work he did as a private citizen is the thing that will be remembered perhaps even longer than anything else.

BLACKWELL: Dana, what we'll watch not just today, but over the next several days has been meticulously planned, not only with federal officials, but with former President Carter, the late Rosalynn Carter, as well. They started planning in 1986 for what will happen leading up to his final resting place. So it will begin in just a few moments.

BASH: Yes. When you live to 100, you have a lot of time to plan, that is for sure. Thank you so much. Such an interesting conversation with our friend, Jeff.

And as we go to break, any minute now, we are going to see the late former President Jimmy Carter's funeral procession. It's going to leave where you are looking right now, the Phoebe Sumter medical center. That is important to Jimmy Carter, because it is a place that treated him often with his -- a lot of his ailments, particularly through the end of his life. It's going to start there, and then bring him to his childhood home. We're going to bring you all of that live. Our special coverage continues after a very quick break.

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[10:16:33]

BASH: Six days of public observances for former President Jimmy Carter will begin very soon. Just moments from now, members of the Carter family will arrive at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia. From there, a motorcade will take Carter's casket past his childhood home and then on to Atlanta. There, a series of tributes will be held for the longest living president in U.S. history before his body lies in repose at the Carter Center.

Joining me now are Kate Andersen Brower, Mark Preston, Nia-Malika Henderson, and Kai Bird. Thank you all for being here, appreciate it.

Kai, you are a biographer of the of the late president, and I was just reading something that you wrote back in 2023 when he went into hospice, which, by the way, just speaks to the entire the strength of this man that he was in hospice for so long, where you write, among other things, "Mr. Carter remains the most misunderstood president of the last century." Why?

KAI BIRD, AUTHOR, "OUTLIER, THE UNFINISHED PRESIDENCY OF JIMMY CARTER": Well, he was an outlier in everything from his childhood growing up in Archery, where he was the only white boy virtually in this hamlet where all his playmates were African American children, to when he became governor and then declared on his, in his very first day in office that the time for racial discrimination was over. He was an outlier -- well, let me tell you this story. His first day

in office, he came in and he signed a proclamation issuing amnesty for all Vietnam era draft evaders. His second decision was to hire Mary Prince, an African American woman who was a convicted murderess. And she he brought her out of penitentiary in Georgia to the White House and put her in the third-floor bedroom, and she served as his daughter Amy's nanny for the rest of the of his White House years. And she continued to work for him until the day he died.

This is a very unusual man who was driven by his faith and his desire to do the right thing. He was a very unusual president.

BASH: And as we are watching images of the Carter family arriving, the first time we see them gather at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia, Kate, you were able to spend time not just with the late president, but Rosalynn.

KATE ANDERSON BROWER, AUTHOR, "FIRST WOMEN": Yes, and I did get to know Mary a little bit also, who Kai is talking about. And it is extraordinary that both Rosalynn Carter and Jimmy Carter were so ahead of their time. They thought that Mary was unfairly convicted. She was a black woman in Georgia, at a time when racism was rife. And they did something about it.

I think with this video, you see that they were in such a small, tiny town, less than 700 people in Plains. And when I went to interview them, I was just struck by how normal they were. I mean, they're authentic, normal, humble people. Their house was worth less than some of the Secret Service cars that are parked outside of it.

BASH: Wow.

BROWER: And anybody who's heard Jimmy Carter give a Sunday service knows how deeply their Christian faith was part of their lives. And they really did practice what they preached.

[10:20:05]

But I think just the small-town nature, I mean, Rosalynn's little sister was named Lillian after Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian. And Lillian delivered Rosalynn. Rosalynn met Jimmy Carter when she was three years old. When he was three years old, she was a newborn. He came to visit her. So this, this marriage was --

BASH: Seventy-seven years.

BROWER: Remarkable.

BASH: Yes.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, OPINION COLUMNIST, "BLOOMBERG": No. And listen, they never really left that town, right? They, of course, moved back. They were in the White House for those four years. And those small- town values of community, of faith, of kinship, of seeing people as valuable, even as he was growing up in a very segregated time. His father, of course, held very racist views, as did a lot of people during the time. His mom had more progressive views, but he brought that to the country, this idea that America could be better than its racial past, it could get over its racial history. And then, of course, his post-presidency, a model. You can hardly think of any other president who has done what he has done on the global stage.

BASH: And I just want to, again, emphasize that what you are seeing right now is the very large Carter family beginning to gather, to start this very long planned celebration of their father, grandfather, great grandfather's life.

And Mark Preston, people might be tuning in and wondering, why are they at a medical center in Americus, Georgia? And this is a place where he was treated.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: So not only is this a place where he was treated, but to really jump off of what Kate was saying earlier is that once he left the White House, he moved back to this area. Now, I know folks who live down there, and when it got to the point where he was supposed to go to hospice, when that decision was made, the question was, does he move to Atlanta, to medical facilities up there? And he refused to go because this is where he was always treated.

BASH: And Kai, we're starting to see, it looks like the pallbearers come out. These are men chosen by the late president, by his family because they protected him for many, many years. I mean, his post- presidency was half a century.

BIRD: You mean the Secret Service?

BASH: Excuse me, the Secret Service, yes. And that's, those are the pallbearers that we are seeing right now. What should we take away from this decision to choose them by the late president?

BIRD: Well, it's very characteristic, I think. Jimmy was a very down home, simple man in many ways, and yet complicated, as throughout his life he was the most intelligent and most decent. And he tried very hard to be genuine with people.

On the other hand, I have to say that, as his biographer, he was impatient and difficult, and impatient with familiar questions. And he wasn't very interested in looking back. He was about doing good and doing the right thing for the Carter Center's various projects. And that was his life, hardworking.

BASH: I mean, just look at the image. It's a reminder of what a long life he had, because some of these pallbearers are not young men.

Jonathan Wackrow, I believe we have you with us. You are a former Secret Service agent. What does it say to you and members of the Secret Service community that these are the first pallbearers chosen for this long commemoration of Jimmy Carter's life?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all, I appreciate the family including these agents. These are agents who served the former president and are really standing the ceremonial watch over the casket and engagement with transporting the former president to his final resting place.

It really symbolizes a lifelong duty to protect. Former President Carter is the longest protectee the Secret Service has had. He has had protection for nearly 50 years. So this is really important for the Secret Service as an agency to really respect the former president, our longest protectee, and say that final goodbye. And being a part of this is really important to those agents that we are seeing on the screen.

[10:25:02]

They served the former president in a protective capacity during various phases of protection. But its also really important that, not only did these agents, protect the former president. They were part of this community. One thing that I've heard is talking about where the Carter's live, this small town, everybody knows each other. So not only are these agents saying goodbye to their protectee. They're saying goodbye to this community that they themselves have been a part of. So this is a really important moment. We see them standing by the hearse. We see the presidential seal on the hearse itself, most likely this hearse is being driven by one of the limo drivers that have been assigned to the former president over time. So this is a really symbolic moment for the agency.

BASH: One of the former agents there I'm seeing here, Steve Miller, he began protecting the late president in 1982. So that kind of gives you -- hits home how long they have been with him.

WACKROW: Yes. And Dana, this is, one thing to understands, because the timeline protection of former President Carter was generational within the Secret Service. You had fathers whose sons became agents and also protected the former president. I don't know anybody over the last 30 years that hasn't protected the former president.

But thinking about the generational aspect of protection in this moment, there are many people that I'm looking at on screen right now that I know and that I have worked with over time, and I just know how important this moment is, as much as they prepared for it over the years, how important this moment right now is for them to really preside over the final watch, if you will, bringing the former president to his final resting place.

BASH: And Kate, the next six days, there's going to be a lot of discussion about the various parts, chapters, as Jeff Zeleny said, of his very long and productive life. But just staying on this moment now, knowing the Carters as you did, and covering so many presidents and former presidents, the Secret Service does become family.

BROWER: Absolutely. This does remind me of George H.W. Bush's funeral, in a way, and this presidents club that is a very elite, small group of men. I'm sure that some stories will surface about Jimmy Carter and his relationship with the Secret Service. I know that Bush was so close with Secret Service agents that he actually shaved his head when he was 89 to support the two-year old son of a member of his Secret Service detail. And I thought that was so poignant because it shows that they really are members of their family. And I have to think, knowing how authentic and genuine the Carter's

were, that there were tremendous friendships that were forged over those years between the agents and the family.

BASH: Yes. Let's just listen and watch for one moment.

[10:30:20]

Kai Bird, the late president's biographer, as you watch this, what goes through your mind?

BIRD: Well, it's a sad moment, but he was 100. And this reminds me that a few months ago, his personal lawyer, longtime personal lawyer, Terry Adamson, told me a funny story that Carter was talking to one of his grandchildren or great grandchildren, and he was reminiscing about what a great life he'd had, what a success he had been in everything he did. But then he quipped, but I'm apparently not very good at this dying business.

(LAUGHTER)

BIRD: And that's classic Carter, acerbic humor. And he wasn't very good at this dying business. He lived a very long, productive life. It's just an astonishing record.

HENDERSON: And a life of service, right, which is in so many ways at the core of his faith and his Christian values and beliefs. He could have had a different life after his presidency. He went out of office, and many saw him as a failed president. But then he went on and had this decades long career of serving others in small and forgotten places all over the world, and, of course, would come back and teach Sunday school two out of three Sundays, would teach Sunday school in this in this small town. When kids would see him, they would refer to him as Brother Carter often. And so he was a real beacon in that town.

And as a southerner and as somebody from a small southern town, I mean, he's especially meaningful to me. His legacy will live on. And obviously, people will have different opinions about his presidency, and I think probably more revelations will come out in terms of the kind of president he was. But as a man, he was fundamentally decent and good.

BASH: And this is the first time, the first moments that the public, that Georgians, presumably, maybe people who went there from around the country have to be out and pay tribute to the late president, who was such a huge presence in Georgia.

And right now the motorcade is beginning its very long route and the long six-day commemoration and honoring of the late president. The next stop will be at his boyhood home in Plains, Georgia.

And Mark Preston, I mean, you and I are the same age. For us --

PRESTON: Twenty-two.

BASH: Obviously. (LAUGHTER)

PRESTON: Jimmy Carter is the first president I remember I was kind of aware of.

PRESTON: Yes, not only that was it somebody that you recall, but, Dana, you and I were covering Congress 20-ish, I don't want to say how many years ago. And I remember Jimmy Carter, though, if we go back 20 years, he was not held in such high esteem. And I really, I'm a big believer in the comment that the historians will always get it right. And over time we have really recognized Jimmy Carter for not necessarily everything that he did in office, although if you were to go through his list of accomplishments, I mean, they're pretty, pretty big given the time that he was governing in. But really what he did after office, right? I mean, isn't that the true mark of a person who has held the most powerful position in the world to then go back to Plains, Georgia, teach Sunday school, just be a normal person? That's what the framers, when we talk about government and what did the framers of the Constitution want, that's what they wanted.

BROWER: In many ways he was a lot like Harry Truman, who was his idol, right? Harry Truman went back to Independence, Missouri. He would walk from his childhood home to the library that he was building, and that was much like Jimmy Carter. I know when he was very sick recently, he would say, we've got to fix up Plains, right? We've got to get the town ready because people, all eyes are going to be on this tiny town. And the fact that he went back, lived such a humble life, and then also the fact that he worked with other presidents across the aisle. In 94, Carter, Ford, and Reagan wrote to the House urging them to pass Bill Clinton's assault weapons ban. This is something you would never see today, where you have a Democrat, Republicans working together to do something that's right.

[10:35:04]

BASH: And just going back to the life of service, it's kind of interesting that he was president of the United States. And if you look at his life through the lens of service, those four years are almost a footnote.

BIRD: Well, that's true, Dana. Thirty years ago, when I first started writing about Carter in a magazine article, I quipped that he was the only man, only president who had used the White House as a steppingstone to greater things. Now, it was a joke, and Carter actually, as I got to know him more, I realized he really didn't like the fact that people were accusing him of being a failed president and a great ex-president.

And in fact, he's very proud. He was very proud of his service in the Oval Office. And he accomplished actually, legislatively speaking, more than any other president in the 20th century. The list of laws he passed -- seatbelts mandated, airbags mandated, saving 10,000 American lives every year to this day, deregulating the economy, allowing middle class Americans to fly in airplanes for the first time in large numbers. He transformed America domestically. He saved Social Security. He passed the first major immigration reform bill in decades. He, on foreign policy, he passed the Panama Canal treaty. He did Camp David, bringing peace between Israel and Egypt. He passed the SALT canal, SALT II treaty on arms control. It was just an extraordinary record, and it's all been forgotten.

BASH: Yes, I'm glad you gave that list. And it's not a complete list, but it is important. And I was rereading some of what you wrote, and just the deregulating and allowing airlines to kind of reduce prices so that middle class Americans could fly, I mean, these days we take that for granted. But that was --

BIRD: Absolutely.

BASH: We're going to sneak in a very quick break. Don't go anywhere, though. Our special coverage of the late President Jimmy Carter and his funeral procession will continue after a quick break.

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[10:41:13]

BASH: Welcome back to CNN's special live coverage of former President Jimmy Carter's state funeral. Right now, the Carter family motorcade is en route to the late president's boyhood home that is in Archery, Georgia. We just saw the former and current Secret Service agents who protected Carter during his very, very long lifetime escort his casket to the hearse in a very somber ceremony.

And soon at Carter's boyhood home, the National Park Service Honor Guard will salute and ring the farm bell 39 times as a tribute to Carter being the 39th president of the United States.

The motorcade will then head to Atlanta for its next stop at the state capital there. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will be there to lead a moment of silence.

Victor Blackwell is at the Carter Center in Atlanta where there will be a private ceremony for former late President Jimmy Carter later today. That was pretty emotional, what we witnessed moments ago. And there will be a lot more to come.

BLACKWELL: There will be a lot more to come. And the choice that President Carter made to have those former Secret Service protectees to be the first public appearance with him as these several days begin really tells about the importance that he valued -- the value that he saw that they brought to his life, his appreciation for their service.

We, of course, are looking at some of the National Park Service who are waiting. The motorcade there at Archery, Georgia, the boyhood farm where he spent most of his childhood. Earl Carter, his father, took ownership of that farm in 1928, when Carter was just four years old. He was there until he left for college, and it really shaped a lot of his views, especially as it came to civil rights, which he called human rights, not just civil rights or black rights, but human rights.

And that's what I want to bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny and take a deeper look at the former president's approach to human rights of Americans and people around the world, because you mentioned this just a few moments ago, that 1971 inaugural declaration that the time for racial discrimination is over in Georgia. And that came as a surprise to the attendees.

ZELENY: It did. It was extraordinary when he said it, because he did not campaign on ending racial segregation. That was not part of his message. Had he done it, he might not have won. But it was the very first thing he said.

And when you go back and look at that old footage, there were some shocked looks on the faces of many in the crowd. But that was the first, really a signal of what his governorship would be like, but also his presidency would be like.

And not far from here in Ebenezer Baptist Church, he also spoke because he was president. He said the only way to overcome unequal history is to promote and defend equal opportunity. That was sort of the anthem of his life as a public servant, equal opportunity. But he did see that as human rights. And you're right, it started right here in archery because of how he was raised.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the former president -- the late president, I should say, wrote in his memoir "An Hour Before Daylight," about some of the people there on that farm who shaped his views and his worldview. And three of them, he said, were a black friends, his playmates, people he worked with farming the cotton and, of course, peanuts there on his father's farm.

[10:45:00]

And he said that there was one day that they were, as teenagers, going through a gate. And his black playmates, his friends were saying that you should go first. And that was his first moment of understanding segregation, the Jim Crow deep south. And that, as he wrote, shaped his view of the equality that must be afforded to all Georgians, and then as president of Americans.

ZELENY: That book is so fascinating. It's one of 34 books he wrote in his life, but it is that where he sort of laid out the history. And also in later years, he talked about when the White Citizens Council came and paid his father a visit and wanted him to join. And they said, its $20. And he said, no, I do not want to join. And they said, well give you $20. And he refused. At that point, he lost business because of -- the peanut business. But it was something that he learned from his parents. And they were obviously very instrumental part of his life. But it is the upbringing right there in Archery where we're seeing that was so fundamental to everything he did after.

BLACKWELL: Jeff Zeleny, we'll talk more in a moment.

Let's bring in now Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat. He joins us now, CNN contributor and Carter's former chief White House domestic policy adviser. Mr. Ambassador, good morning to you. And as we watch the National Park Service and those who work there at the boyhood farm, what goes through your mind about how these moments and those early experiences informed his views and choices as president? STUART EIZENSTAT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: So thank you, Victor. The arc of

his life goes from that farm that we're going to see, which had no insulation, no electricity, no indoor plumbing. They got their water from a windmill driven well. And their connection to the outside world was a battery-powered radio. And the fact that he could come from that background to the White House is remarkable.

But also, he lived in a county that was 60 percent black. His childhood playmates, with the encouragement of Miss Lillian, his mother, were black. And so he understood in ways that other Democratic candidates didn't when he ran for president. I was his policy director at that time. They were talking about new programs, and he connected with black voters because of the shared experience that he had that really let him see personally the discrimination, the lack of opportunity. And when he went on the school board, Victor, he went into a black school, and he saw in a high school that the seats were for five and six-year-olds. It was impossible for a kid to do. And he said, this is the kind of discrimination we can't tolerate anymore.

So he saw this from the ground level up. It was very personal to him. When Andy Young took him to the Black Caucus in Congress to try to convince them to support him, there was great feeling. Why are we seeing, as Charlie Rangel from New York said, this Georgia cracker? Well, when he started talking about his background, his feelings of what happens when you see discrimination, it totally transformed the whole caucus. So his connection with black voters and with black Americans and with all of the under-trodden was important.

BLACKWELL: You know, it's interesting that you bring up the former U.N. ambassador, Andrew Young, appointed by president -- OK. Stand by. Let's go to Eva McKend, who is in Plains, Georgia. Eva, what are you seeing?

MCKEND: So, Victor, the motorcade seems to be passing through here. Some of the early vehicles are here. And what we see are just people lining the streets. They've been here all morning to pay their respects to the late Jimmy Carter. When President Carter gave that "Crisis of Confidence" speech in 1979, it was foreboding when he said to many of us, too many of us worship self-indulgence and consumption. And he could not have lived his life any more differently. If you speak to people here, they often celebrate his modesty, the way that his small-town roots really informed his entire life.

And so that is what people will remember most. It is often said that he treated everyone just the same. And I'm just watching here. It seems like the vehicles are coming through now. We see people waving the American flags. A very emotional moment here, Victor, as people say their final goodbyes.

BLACKWELL: They were watching the hearse pass through Plains. And I think, Eva, what stands out is that many of those people who are residents of Plains likely have personal stories about their interactions with the late president.

[10:50:07] Not just that this moment is passing through their town, but they have their own stories of seeing him around Plains and shaking his hand and having conversations with him.

MCKEND: They do. They referred to him as Mr. Jimmy, and say that before he fell ill, they would see him and Rosalynn -- they never left each other's side -- out all of the time, walking on the main street or even going to the Dollar Store. I mean, they just lived a really modest and humble life, a life that really afforded them the opportunity to be in touch very intimately with their neighbors.

A lot of the people that I've met here actually interacted with President Carter at Sunday school. For many years, for decades, he taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church, and many of the people from across the country that had the chance to sit in on those lessons, they have returned here this morning to say their final goodbyes, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And Eva, after the motorcade passes through Plains, well see it pass through Preston and Ellaville and other small towns here in Georgia that were at the center of his service as a state senator, as governor, places he frequented as a former president. So those communities as well will have an opportunity to pay their respects as the motorcade slows and passes through those small towns.

Dana, I'll send it back to you as we are seeing people stand on the roadside just for a few seconds to say thank you to the 39th president, Jimmy Carter.

BASH: Yes. And right now, that procession, which we just saw go through Plains, is headed to Archery, Georgia. That is where Jimmy Carter's childhood home is. And Kai, I was just asking how far Archery is from Plains, and you said --

BIRD: Well, it's less than two miles, just right down the road. But in the middle of nowhere. I mean, there was nothing there. It was a few -- his Sears Roebuck house that was put together in the 20s. No running water when he was growing up. An outhouse, no electricity. You know, Jimmy Carter was sort of, he was born in 1924, but he essentially grew up in the 19th century and survived into the 21st century. It's a really long, amazing life.

PRESTON: Is it fair to say, by the way, Dana, that this may be one of the final, if not the final chapter of the greatest generation? There was a lot of talk about it. Within the last 10 or 15 years we've seen the greatest generation, all these World War II heroes who have passed on. And Jimmy Carter at 100 years old, somebody who served in the military, but now has passed on. And it's almost like were going to lose sight of what it means to be at war, necessarily. We're at war constantly right now, but to be at a world war and understand what is happening. And Jimmy Carter is one of these folks who really gave his life, again, not only when he was a young man, when he became president, but again, as we talk over and over again, to your point, the footnote in history about everything that he has done since he left office. BROWER: It does feel like there's this kind of wistful nature about

this, a nostalgia for an earlier time when politicians were more authentic. I mean, he was born between World War I and the Great Depression, right? And this is somebody who was the first president born in a hospital, and, as we said, grew up with no -- without running water and electricity.

And I think that's what -- and a self-made president. I think that's what we've lost. And I think when he was in the White House, one of the worst things you could say to him was that something was a good political move. Walter Mondale, his vice president, told me you would never make that argument to him, because that would be the minute the decision he wouldn't do, he wouldn't make, because he wasn't about getting reelected. Of course, he wanted to be reelected, but it was about doing the right thing. I think we have lost some of that.

BIRD: It was about small-town values, and that is Jimmy Carter. And I recall vividly the speech he gave in July of 1979 that's called the so-called "Malaise" speech. He never actually used the word malaise. But it's a most unusual speech. And I urge everyone to look it up. It's an extraordinary record of his thoughts.

BASH: Why?

BIRD: Well, it's a sermon. It's sort of a Southern Baptist sermon. And he's preaching against this culture that he sees of narcissism that is sweeping across America, where Americans tend to have to worship too much self-indulgence and consumption, material goods.

[10:55:06]

And, you know, it's about, it's about America's two conflicting values -- individualism, individual freedom versus community. And Carter wanted to emphasize, to remind people that you cannot have individual freedom unless you have community.

BASH: And you mentioned his boyhood home. That's what we're seeing right now. The motorcade is pulling up.

BIRD: That's the windmill that that pumped the water.

HENDERSON: Yes. I mean, the simplicity of that house, of his boyhood there, as you said, no running water, no electricity. And here he returned. So many values we can learn from Jimmy Carter, just this emphasis on community, as you said, and kinship and seeing other folks as brothers and sisters. And here he is, and going through this area for the final time.

BASH: And we are waiting for a really poignant moment to happen, and that is there will be a bell rung 39 times to mark his the fact that he was the 39th president.

PRESTON: As we spend this next week reflecting on his career, and I think it's important to have Kai and Kate also talk about some of his warts to truly understand it.

BASH: Let's listen in.

That was Randy Dillard ringing that bell. A lifelong resident of south Georgia, he started working for the National Park Service in 2010 as a ranger at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park, and he worked there at the Jimmy Carter boyhood farm until 2017. It's just one little slice of this very long tribute that we're going to see, but such a reminder of the attention to detail at every stop. Not just, of course, that they went to this boyhood home, that they rang the bell 39 times, but the person that they chose to ring that bell was obviously somebody important to Jimmy Carter, to the family, and to the people of that very, very small town.

BIRD: Well, he, Jimmy Carter was notorious for paying attention to detail. And you can see this in the funeral services that were going to be watching over the next few days. They've mapped it all out. And he paid a lot of attention to the detail of everything. He was criticized for working too hard in the Oval Office, reading 300 pages a day of memos. And he had this tendency as an engineer -- he was famously a nuclear engineer, and he paid attention to detail because --