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CNN This Morning
Jimmy Carter Dies at Age 100; Officials: Pilot Reported Bird Strike Before Jeju Airlines Crash. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired December 30, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: It's Monday, December 30. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
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JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights at home and abroad.
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REID: Paying tribute. America prepares to say farewell to its 39th president, Jimmy Carter, after he passed Sunday.
Plus --
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CARTER: A significant achievement in the cause of peace.
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REID: A defining moment. Jimmy Carter's fight for peace, brokering a historic agreement between two rivals that still stands today.
And --
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CARTER: Now I feel, you know, that it's in the hands of God, whom I worship. And I'll be prepared for anything that comes.
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REID: How a life of steadfast faith shaped Jimmy Carter's legacy, both in and out of office.
And, a deadly tragedy, a search for answers underway in South Korea after a plane crash kills 179 people.
Since 6 a.m. here on the East coast, here's a live look at Atlanta, Georgia. Good morning, everyone. I'm Paula Reid, in for Kasie Hunt. It's
wonderful to have you with us, as tributes are pouring in from around the world and across the country for America's late 39th president.
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CARTER: My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for president.
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REID: Jimmy Carter only served one term in the post-Watergate era, from 1977 to 1981, but it was consequential and historic.
Carter, though, was soundly defeated by Ronald Reagan and his reelection bid. His presidency, clouded by a 444-day hostage crisis in Iran and an economy crushed by inflation and oil shortages.
At his inaugural address in 1977, Carter made his vision clear: end global conflicts and serve with humanity.
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CARTER: I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, based not on weapons of war, but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.
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REID: Carter died peacefully at the age of 100 Sunday, surrounded by loved ones at his home in Plains, Georgia. He'd been under hospice home care since February of 2023.
President Biden designating January 9, 2025, as a national day of mourning for Carter.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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 -- clarity lifted people up and changed lives and saved lives all over the globe.
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REID: Our next guest is the author of "The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter."
CNN contributor Kai Bird joins us now from Miami Beach.
Kai, I think when you talk to a lot of people today, I mean, their first memory or first thought when it comes to Jimmy Carter is Habitat for Humanity. But based on your work, what is your defining memory of Jimmy Carter? KAI BIRD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Well, most Americans remember him as
an excellent ex-president, but he was actually a very consequential president in those four years.
He accomplished much more than people realize. He passed a lot of legislation that was extremely consequential. He passed -- he mandated seatbelts and airbags in our cars, which save 10,000 lives every year.
He passed the Panama Canal treaty. He, of course, did the Camp David Accords, which brought peace to Egypt and Israel. He was a very consequential president.
But as your clips sort of emphasize, he spoke to Americans almost like in a sermon. And this was very much part of Carter's character. He was -- he was a Southern Baptist. He was a born-again evangelical Christian.
And at one point in 1979, he gave this famous so-called "malaise" speech in which he -- he said too many of us now are -- are tending to worship self-indulgence and consumption.
Now, that doesn't sound like a political speech, does it? It's -- it's really a sermon. And it was speaking, however, to a truth that we are still grappling with as Americans, even in the 21st Century.
REID: Yes. Carter's legacy, it appears, likely will be more what he did in the decades after leaving office. And let's actually take a listen to him describe what human rights meant to him.
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CARTER: The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color or nation or language. Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity, and who suffer for the sake of justice, they are the patriots of this cause. I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights at home and abroad.
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REID: I mean, this really was the motto, or the spirit of his decades once he left the White House, wasn't it?
BIRD: Yes, it was all about human rights, both during his presidency, which -- where he put human rights at the as a keystone of his foreign policy.
And after his presidency, he went around the world trying to improve the lives of ordinary people: wiping out guinea worm disease in Africa and Latin America; monitoring elections and dictatorships around the world. And, you know, trying to make a better world, trying to always do the right thing. That was his key motto, to do the right thing.
And human rights was, I think, his mantra. And, you know, it's hard for Americans to turn their back on that. No president since then has refuted the notion that human rights should be a central part of our foreign policy.
But it's hard to live up to its -- you know, it's a difficult principle to follow. And, you know, were -- were constantly -- Americans were -- were torn between our idealism and our pragmatism. And that -- that was actually Jimmy Carter's dilemma, as well, during his presidency.
REID: Now, Carter, of course, famously lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan. And I think it's interesting to hear him describe why he believes that happened. Let's take a listen.
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CARTER: I think the three things that cost me the election, among others, was the holding of the hostages, which created a sense that I shared of a great nation being impotent in seeking the release of 52 innocent people. I felt impotent as a president. I was identified with it. That was a major thing.
The next one was the worldwide inflation rate that resulted from the shortage of oil. All countries suffered, including ours.
And the third thing was the schism in the Democratic Party that we never did heal.
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REID: That seems like a pretty accurate assessment, right, of why he lost and didn't get that second term.
Yes, that's true. He was right on the mark there. It was the Iran hostage crisis and inflation. The energy prices.
But in a deeper sense, you know, you have to remember that, when Jimmy Carter came out of nowhere to win the presidency in 1976, you know, he won the black vote, he won the Jewish vote overwhelmingly. He won white working-class votes in the South and the deep South, his home part of the country. You know, he -- he put together an enormous coalition.
And then just four years later, he only won the black vote. He lost, you know, the Southern vote. White Southerners turned against him. He lost the evangelical vote, which was, you know, had voted for him by 75 percent in '76. And he lost it.
And the reason was that he had taken on tough political positions on all of these issues. The Middle East, he had brought peace between Egypt and Israel, but he offended many Israelis by being tough on -- on his insistence that they should stop building settlements in the West Bank.
He lost the evangelical vote, because he was -- as a Southern Baptist, he believed in the separation of religion from the state. And so, he refused to give tax-exempt status to white Christian academies that were popping up in all over the South in the wake of integration. So, he was -- he was a politician who was most unusual in that he,
you know, stood by his principles and refused to compromise. And he always decided he needed to do the right thing. And that, you know, sometimes meant that he had to pay a high political consequence for -- for taking those positions.
REID: Kai Bird, thank you.
And for more of Kai's insight, you can pick up his book, "The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter."
And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, families grieving in South Korea after a jet-crash travesty leaves 179 people dead. We'll have more on the mayday the pilot called in moments before the crash.
Plus, President-elect Trump picks a side in the feud over foreign worker visas between his tech allies and his MAGA base.
And the life and legacy of Jimmy Carter. How his dedication to humanitarian work reshaped how we view the post-presidency.
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CARTER: Well, the work at the Carter Center has been, I'd say, more personally gratifying to me. And I would say that my having been president of the United States, a great country, has made it possible for me to have the influence and the contact with people and knowledge that has been the foundation for the Carter Center.
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FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: What would you like to be remembered in terms of your legacy for your presidency?
CARTER: Well, we always told the truth. We kept our country at peace. We brought peace to other people around the world, and -- and we promoted human rights and never deviated from that commitment. Those are some of the things of which I'm proud.
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REID: And we are remembering Jimmy Carter today for just those things. The former president, well known for his work after he left the White House, including, most notably, for the organization Habitat for Humanity.
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BIDEN: The entire Carter family, on behalf of the world, the whole nation, we send our whole heartfelt sympathies and gratitude. Our gratitude for sharing President Carter with us for so many years.
You know, Jimmy Carter stands as a model of what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose. A life of principle, of faith and humility. He -- his life dedicated to others.
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REID: Carter's legacy also bringing out bipartisanship. President- elect Donald Trump, writing on social media, quote, "While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our country and all it stands for. He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that, I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most presidents, after he left the Oval Office."
And joining me now, staff writer for "The Atlantic," Jerusalem Demsas; CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere; former Biden White House director of message planning, Meghan Hays; and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Kristen Soltis Anderson.
Thank you so much for being with us.
I want to get your reactions to this news. It was, of course, very much expected. He'd been in hospice for nearly two years. He is 100. But what was your reaction when you first heard the news?
JERUSALEM DEMSAS, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": I mean, it's funny, because you say it was expected, but it's also surprising because he's been hanging on for -- for so long. He himself had said he wanted to hang on to vote for candidate Kamala Harris, which of course, he did get to do. That was his last public appearance.
But I was just surprised. I was surprised. And then also just thinking and reflecting back on his work on housing, which is probably his biggest legacy.
REID: She makes a great point, right? He's 100 years old. He's been a part of all of our lives as long as we've been alive. How does -- how does this news land in the political world?
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, as a political figure, he was out of things for a long time but still relevant in moments that came up.
I think that probably the biggest one lately, in terms of Democratic politics, was when he said a couple of years ago that he had actually voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primaries, and that caused a little bit of a stir then.
But I interviewed Jimmy Carter in 2018, and I said to him, you know, you're always brought up as the example of, like, a bad presidency. People say like, oh, you're like Jimmy Carter. And I said, how does that make you feel? And Carter said to me, Well, you know, you expect it a little bit, but
I'm human. And I don't -- I don't like to be compared unfavorably to anyone. But it's politics. And so, it goes up and down, and you just have to accept that.
REID: A very diplomatic --
DOVERE: Yes.
REID: -- answer there. I think we're all human. He could just say, It stinks, I hate it. It's terrible.
But I think some of us were a little surprised by -- by the bipartisan outpouring. Were you surprised by former President Trump's postings?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was, and I was very glad to see it.
It sort of reminded me of a time gone by, when you would expect that the response from both sides would be a little more positive, a little less, you know, trying to get a dig in.
And the thing that, in President Trump's statement that I think was so powerful was when he also said he was so consequential after his presidency.
Because for all that there is criticism of decisions that were made during Carter's presidency -- and he was only one term -- it was the work that he did after office that has left such a big impact.
The other thing that Carter said he wanted to do was he wanted to outlive the very last guinea worm. I was telling you all back before he came out here, don't Google it. Especially not in the morning before you've had your breakfast. But it's a terrible, terrible affliction that has almost been wiped off the face of the earth because of the work of Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center. And that is something for which we should all be grateful.
REID: Do you think that his legacy, the decades that he spent out of the White House, can that really define him, as opposed to what Isaac was just referencing, a time in the White House that is not really regarded as being terribly successful?
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: I think it does define him. I was watching a documentary last night that one of the news organizations was playing, and there was so much stuff that happened in the White House that I didn't know, because I was not born yet. And I know him for all the things after the White House.
So, I do think it also goes to show what having younger politicians mean and what they can do after they are in office and the platform that they have. And regardless if he was a good president or people viewed him as a good president or not, the legacy he left afterwards is going to be what we all remember him for.
DOVERE: That that defines -- redefined the post-presidency for a lot of people, right?
Bill Clinton and the work that he has done with his foundation seems very clearly a connection to the work that Jimmy Carter is doing.
The stuff that Barack Obama has been doing. George Bush, George W. Bush has taken a more behind-the-scenes role and taken himself out of the public spotlight.
We'll see what happens when Joe Biden leaves office. But of course, like, Joe Biden is 82. He will probably not have as long a post- presidency as Jimmy Carter did. Maybe, I don't know, with --
REID: You could say the same with --
DOVERE: -- modern medicine.
REID: Yes. No, I think that's just a fact. Right? And same for the incoming president, as well. They won't have as long outside of office, the opportunity to define this kind of legacy.
But we're going to come back to our panel.
Coming up, new details in the deadly South Korean plane crash. What the pilot said just moments before the landing. And the investigation officials are now ordering.
Plus, the nation remembers Jimmy Carter, a man who brought decency and hope to American politics.
[06:20:03]
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CARTER: There's a fear that our best years are behind us. But I say to you that our nation's best is still ahead.
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REID: We're learning more about the deadly Jeju Airlines crash in South Korea that killed 179 people Sunday.
Officials say the pilot made a mayday call, reporting a bird strike in the minutes before the deadly landing. South Korea's acting president now ordering an emergency safety inspection of the entire country's airline operations system.
The U.S. is sending a team to help with that investigation.
CNN's Mike Valerio joins us live from South Korea with more.
Mike, what are you learning?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, we're here just a few yards away from the crash scene. And I got to tell you, you know, from all the breaking news events
that you and I have covered, this is so arresting, to be just steps away from what we can see here. So, let's zoom in.
[06:25:04]
You can see the epicenter of this disaster zone. The tail section, about 15 yards tall, where those two survivors were found.
And in terms of what we're learning right now, I can tell you, Paula, even at this hour, far after sunset, there are still members of South Korea's military police force.
People in forensic teams that are going through this disaster zone, scouring for pieces of the plane and looking for human remains that still have not been found yet.
So, what we're waiting for is to see what, if any, help the team of Americans from the NTSB can give to this investigation. Let's just show you what they have to do. They have to contend with.
Let's zoom in just a little bit past the yellow crime scene tape. You can see pieces of this plane that were flown or flung, I should say, yards and yards away from that tail section. So, it is such a meticulous effort that they have ahead of them, to find out whether or not this was a problem with this specific aircraft. Perhaps a problem with this specific flight crew.
Or if there's something that the wider fleet in the United States and around the world, that the 737-800s have to contend with -- Paula.
REID: Mike Valerio, thank you.
And still coming up after the break, although he only served one term, we'll take a look at how some of Carter's accomplishments from his time in office are still regarded today.
Plus, how he brokered a historic peace deal in the Middle East, which set a precedent for administrations to come.
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CARTER: Through 13 long days at Camp David, we have seen them display determination and vision and flexibility.
All of us owe them our gratitude and respect.
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