From peanut farmer to President: Why the world is mourning Jimmy Carter
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Learn more at apu.apus.edu/military. The American flag that flies over the White House has been lowered to half-mast. It's after Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, passed away at the age of 100. He was the longest living president in U.S. history, and he was being treated for cancer. He'd spent the last 19 months in a hospice.

His rise to the top of American politics was somewhat unusual. He grew up on a peanut farm in rural Georgia with no running water. Decades later, he was living in the White House. Jimmy Carter was in office for just one term, from 1977 until 1981, and there's huge debate about whether he was a good president.

But there's one thing that people do tend to agree on. His life after his presidency has been seen as a model for future leaders. So on today's episode, you're going to hear who Jimmy Carter was and we're going to explain why he's being mourned by people around the world. I'm Hannah Gelbart and you're listening to What In The World from the BBC World Service. MUSIC

I think my legacy has been perpetuated, whatever it might be, by a commitment to peace instead of constant wars.

That was Jimmy Carter speaking about his legacy back in 2011. And you're going to hear more about that later. But first, to tell us more about his life is BBC journalist William Lee Adams. Hello. Hi, Hannah. So, William, first things first. What has the reaction been like to Carter's death? There's a real sense of collective sadness and it really is crossing political lines and borders.

In the United States, President Joe Biden has praised him as an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian. President-elect Trump has echoed those sentiments. He said that President Carter did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans, and that for that, he's owed a debt of gratitude.

gratitude. And leaders outside the U.S. are echoing those sentiments. They're remembering how President Carter did what he could to build bridges between different nations. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, he cited Carter's role in brokering a peace agreement between Egypt and

Israel. And in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban cited how Carter at the end of the 1970s returned the Holy Crown. This is a thousand year symbol of Hungary and its people. And the US had actually seized it after the Second World War, fearing that the Soviet army might destroy it. You're seeing warmth coming in from all over. It sounds like a real personal relationship that people feel

So I was scrolling through Instagram on the way to work today and I saw people sharing pictures, videos of President Carter and they frequently echoed one sentiment which was along the lines of this one really hurts.

When I was growing up, you still hear people talking about our president. And they didn't mean Ronald Reagan, the former Hollywood actor who replaced him. They meant Jimmy Carter. There was so much propaganda

pride in that. Illinois, they had Abraham Lincoln. California had Ronald Reagan. But Georgia, Georgia had Jimmy Carter. He was just so approachable and he was always out and about. Like all presidents, he had a security detail. And yet somehow, before the selfie was even a thing, I remember my friends and their parents would have photos of them with Jimmy Carter at a baseball game or at some convention. He was everywhere. He was larger than life and yet he felt the same size as you?

He sounds like a real man of the people. And what was his life like before his presidency? So he comes from incredibly humble roots near Plains, Georgia. That's a very small town. It had just 600 people when he was born there in the 1920s. And he grew up in a one-story white house on a farm, no running water, no electricity, and an outdoor toilet. He learned how to cook properly.

Now, I don't know if you're familiar with this animal. Most people consider it vermin and it's often seen as a roadkill. His father was very pro-segregation. So that meant he believed in enforcing the social separation of African-Americans and white people. But Jimmy Carter, young Jimmy Carter would befriend the children of black farmhand.

And indeed, he'd often sleep at their houses and eat dinner with their families. Later in life, he told Oprah that when he was old enough to attend white school, it felt like an alien culture to him because the people most influential to him, the people he loved most besides his parents, were his black friends.

And how did those early relationships affect his politics later in life? Yeah, I'd say that they absolutely did. From an early age, Jimmy Carter understood racial injustice. So when he ran for governor in 1970, he handpicked his staff and he chose people from all races. And he carved this idea of a new South, one that would look past the legacy of slavery, one that would look beyond segregation and would embrace progressive values, that would embrace business.

He ended up winning the election and became governor in 1971. And at his inauguration, he sent shockwaves through the hall when he said, quote, the time for racial discrimination is over. That drew audible gasps at the time. So he really made waves even from the early days. And after serving one term as governor, he was elected president. He took office in 1977. What did he inherit when he came to office? And what were some of the big promises that he made when he became president?

Yeah, I like how you said inherit because he really was lobbed with some very big issues. He had to tackle them head on from the beginning. The first is the Watergate scandal. To cut a long story short, in 1974, President Richard Nixon had been investigated over a break-in at the Democratic Party's headquarters. And as evidence emerged of his involvement, he became the first American president to resign. Now, this undermined trust in American politicians.

Carter had the task of restoring faith in politicians, so he said very clearly, "I will never tell a lie." The second big issue he inherited was the aftermath of the Vietnam War. He came to office two years after the war in Vietnam ended, and in that conflict, more than 50,000 Americans had died. Now, many of those men who died had been drafted, meaning they were forced to fight in the conflict.

And there were many people who chose not to fight. How did they do that? They dodged the draft. They moved abroad. So Carter, as part of his humanitarian approach to governing, he decided, I'm going to pardon these so-called draft dodgers, those who evaded the war, and we're going to welcome them back into the fold. This was his way of

healing the wounds of the war so the country could move forward. It was incredibly controversial. Some of his political rivals said it was the most un-American thing he could do. They said that he was in some way stamping on the memory of those who did die. So he was something of a trailblazer, not always well-received, and his time in office is often remembered for some pretty big challenges and setbacks.

at home and abroad. Talk me through some of those challenges. Sure. So the first one would be the energy crisis. In 1979, as a result of the revolution in Iran, Iran was producing less oil and that led to a major decrease in oil production. So with less oil around, that meant prices went up. And that, of course, had knock-on effects. It led to a spike in inflation, which is the increase in the price of goods.

The second issue I'd point to is the Iran hostage crisis. In 1979, revolutionaries in Iran seized 52 staff members at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and they held them hostage for 444 days. Now, that was seen as punishment for the U.S. giving asylum to Iran's recently deposed leader,

Carter then ordered a military rescue mission, but it failed, and eight U.S. troops actually died in an aircraft mishap. So there were some failures, but where did he manage to make progress?

He was very much a diplomat. He's remembered perhaps most significantly for, in 1978, brokering the Camp David Accords. That was a series of agreements between Israel and Egypt, which led to Israel and its Arab neighbor signing their first ever peace treaty, which came after decades of conflict. You may have seen the iconic footage that's being played all over the news. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States,

the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the prime minister of Israel. It shows Carter, along with the Israeli prime minister and Egypt's president, locking hands, the three of them, and sort of shaking hands in this really vigorous way. And, Hannah, he's also considered by many to be the first American president to take climate change seriously. Shortly after taking office, he delivered this famous speech, the Sweater Speech,

And he was wearing a knitted sweater and talked about conservation and protecting the planet. And a final example, in 1979, he actually installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the White House. They were used to heat most of the water used by the staff kitchen. And what about women's rights? Didn't he have some successes there as well?

Definitely. He's been praised for transforming power structures, not just for women, actually, but also for people of color. He appointed twice as many women and minority judges to federal courts as all of his predecessors combined. And perhaps the most famous of these appointees was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who decades later would ascend to the Supreme Court.

You also see him promoting women's rights, starting with his wife. First Lady Carter requested an office in the White House, and so President Carter established the East Wing for the First Lady. That's a tradition that still endures today. What did he do when he retired from politics, William? He decided to go home. He is the only president in the modern era to return full-time to the house he lived in before he entered politics.

went back to Plains, Georgia. In 2018, it emerged that that house cost $167,000. This is according to the Washington Post. That is less than the armored vehicles that sat outside to protect him. He was such a humble man who really practiced what he preached in terms of frugality. He would...

teach Sunday school lessons at the Marantha Baptist Church every other Sunday. I say all of this because he wasn't pursuing wealth. So many other former presidents go into the private sector. They go on the speech circuit. They go consulting, and that's to enrich themselves. Whereas Jimmy Carter, he wanted to enrich other people, not just those in Georgia, but also around the world. So he founded the Carter Center.

Now, that's a nonprofit that Hina's Wife founded in 1982, and it provides development assistance across a whole range of issues, notably the eradication of guinea worm. So since 1986, the Carter Center actually led an international campaign to eradicate this disease. And Hannah, the program has been such a success. In 1986, when they started fighting guinea worm, there were about 3.5 million cases in more than 20 countries.

But this year, as of early December, the Carter Center said that there were just 11 cases globally. That is really impressive, isn't it? It's only the second disease to ever nearly be eradicated. And William, we have actually spoken about that on a previous episode of What in the World. And if you want to find out more about Jimmy Carter's work to eradicate guinea worm and other diseases, you can find that wherever you're listening to this.

And what else did he do besides his work with Guinea Worm? People who live in the southern United States will be familiar with Habitat for Humanity. This is a charity that builds homes for poor families. But President Carter and his wife Rosalyn, they worked with Habitat for Humanity for four decades. I love this story that in 2019, President Carter, who was 95 at the time, he fell and he hit his head on a sharp edge in his house and he wound up in hospital.

And local media, they were incredibly worried. But the very next day, with a black eye, a bandage on his head, a dozen stitches, he and his wife were out in Tennessee. They were holding hammers and drilling with nails. And they were once again building houses for poor people.

It sounds like one breathtaking achievement after another. And he went on to win a Nobel Peace Prize. What were the social and political causes that he advocated for other than the ones that we've already been talking about? The Nobel Committee, they cited his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy and human rights and to promote development, both economic and social issues.

One thing we could point to is Sudan. In 1995, President Carter personally helped negotiate a ceasefire in the civil war that had been fought in the south of the country for more than a decade. That agreement helped start a long process of negotiation between government and rebel leaders that ultimately resulted in the independence of South Sudan. And so much of what he achieved over that 100 years is still relevant today. How will he be remembered? How will he be mourned?

I think that he'll be remembered as a man of principle. He never wavered in his commitment from putting his beliefs in his politics. That's what you hear time and time again from his early days in Plains, Georgia, where you could say he was an early desegregationist because he was crossing the line. He was talking to and forming relationships with those African-American children, his playmates, to propping up women, to helping people in the developing world.

This was all about making the world a better place. That was central to his philosophy, leaving a bit of yourself with others so that they may do good as well. The fact is people all over the world are mourning him. President Joe Biden has said there's going to be a national day of mourning and a state funeral. But I think ultimately people won't remember him as the president, the man who led the people, but instead a president of the people, who led with the people, beside them, and really did try to make the world a better place.

That is it for today. If you want to hear more of our episodes, please do check out our back catalogue wherever you're listening to this. And if you want to see us chatting away in the studio, we're also on YouTube on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. Thank you for listening. I'm Hannah Gelbart. This is What In The World from the BBC World Service. And we'll be back with another episode tomorrow. See you then. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.

And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing. But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders.

I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing. The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave.

You just get sucked in so gradually.

And it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me,

was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice.

And for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemise some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets, Season 6, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

When it's PCS time, you know the drill. Pack, research to new base, get the kids in school, because family supports family. At American Public University, we support military families with flexible, affordable online education that moves with you. As a military spouse, your tuition rate is the same as your partner's, just $250 per credit hour. American Public University, education that moves with you.

Learn more at apu.apus.edu/military