Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World night Side Studios on w b Z, the news radio.
So Jimmy Carter was laid to rest today. The longest living president in the history of the country lived into his one hundredth year. Where his hundred and first year, I guess he lived past one hundred, So he was in his hundred and first year, and we watched today those of us who had the opportunity became a really
national day of mourning. President Biden was there, as were the other living presidents, former President Trump soon to be once again President Trump, President George Bush forty three, President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama. Was interesting by the way that President Trump, who was seated next to President Barack Obama, they had a very animated contentation as they were waiting for the for the ceremony to begin. It was really
quite interesting. I love to know what they were talking about. Uh. There wasn't much interaction between between Jill Biden and and Vice President Harris Doctor Jill Biden, I should say, but President Biden delivered in the eulogy. And then there were also some interesting aspects. Apparently Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, who were the party's nominees in nineteen seventy six, when
Ford had become president. He was never elected vice president or president, but became president, became vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned, and then became president when Richard Nixon resigned. They apparently bonded on a flight to the Middle East when Monoccam began and Whilest not signed the peace treaty which still exist today between Egypt and Israel. Uh, and they became you know, you know, former adversaries became great friends.
And UH Steve Ford, president Ford's son, UH pointed out that apparently President Ford and President Carter had said that they each would be willing to deliver the eulogy at at one another's funeral, and obviously Gerald Ford died first, Jimmy Carter did deliver the eulogy, and so Gerald Ford's eulogy to Jimmy Carter was delivered in effect in absentia
today posthumously by his son. So this was this was Steve Ford's tribute written by his father, President Gerald Ford about Jimmy Carter, and it was I thought it was pretty touching a lot of I want to share it a particularly case you missed it. Go ahead, Rob, that's Cut thirty one.
The entire Ford family, we extend our love to you, and we add our prayers to the prayers of tens of millions of people around the world. May God bless and watch over this good man. May he grant peace to the Carter family. And they say goodbye to a man whose life.
Was lived to the fullest, with the faith demonstrated and countless good works, with a mission richly fulfilled, and a soul rewarded with everlasting life.
As for myself, Jimmy, I'm looking forward to our reunion. We had much to catch up on. Thank you, mister President. Welcome home, old friend.
Pretty good again. Steve Ford reading the words that Gerald Ford, his dad had written in tribute to Jimmy Carter. One of the funniest moments was when Jimmy Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, talked about his grandfather and getting a cell phone. So here's a guy who was a nuclear engineer of some sort at the Naval Academy. But like many folks who got cell phones later in life, wasn't quite as fastial with that new contraption as mate you might have expected.
Cut number twenty nine this is Jimmy Carter's grandson, Jason Carter.
Funny story and demonstrating their Depression era roots. They had a little rack next to the sink where they would hang zip lock bags to dry, and demonstrating that they changed with the times. Eventually, he did get a cell phone, and he one time he called me sort of early on in that process, and on my phone it.
Said popa mobile.
So I answered it.
Of course, I said, hey, Papa.
He said, who's this. I said, this is Jason. He said, what are you doing. I said, I'm not doing anything.
You called me.
He said, I didn't call you.
I'm taking a picture that nuclear engineer, right.
I mean, I guess a lot of us can identify with that. So I have a lot of Jimmy Carter stories and I want to share them with you because there's no reason for me to share them at any other night. I hope that you will join the conversation as we as we go along. But I had the opportunity unity to meet Jimmy Carter when very few people in New England knew him. He was the governor of Georgia.
We're talking. This is nineteen seventy five, September of nineteen seventy five, and I was fresh out of law school and I was working then in the office of the state Treasurer at Conwalth of Massachusetts, Robert Crane, who is a great guy and a great friend. And one day the Treasurer assigned me a task and he said, Dan, he said, there's a governor, some sort of a governor from the South who's coming around today looking for for us to endorse him for presidential. He's running for president.
I don't want to see him. I'll be back in about an hour, but under no circumstances do I want to see him. So I sat there. I said, fine, no problem. And about five minutes after the Treasurer left, in what the then Lieutenant Governor of the Cormwealth of Massachusetts, Tom O'Neill, Tommy O'Neill, and Tommy and I were contemporaries. He came in. He said, Hey, Dan, how are you doing? He says, I one introducer to Governor Carter of Georgia.
Now I knew Governor Carter's name in large part because he was there the night that Hank Aaron broke Babe Roots record, and he had his seven hundred and fifteenth home run, eclipsing the bambinos all time home run record of seven hundred and fourteen. So I explained to the then the Lieutenant Governor, we were both two pretty young guys. I said, well, well, the governor, which is the proper appellation for the lieutenant governor? I said, A treasure's gone
for a while, and Jimmy Carter piped up. He said, I'll be happy to wait. I'll be happy to wait. Couldn't have been nicer. At that point, Tommy O'Neil turned and looked at me. He's all yours. Literally said, he's all yours. Gave him a pat of the back, and he left the office. So I invited him into the Big office and sat in front of Jimmy Carter for
an hour waiting for Bob Crane to return. And I'm sitting at Crane's desk, which is a very impressive Statehouse desk, looking out over the archway, and I talked to Jimmy Carter about peanuts, and I talked to him about his roots as a farmer. I talked to him about planes, everything I could think about, and Jimmy Carter could not have been nicer. And we sat there for about an hour.
I talked with him about seeing him on TV the night that Babe Ruth, or rather that Babe Root's home run record had been broken by Hank Aaron, and those who might remember that that evening, that was a huge story if you were a baseball fan at the time. A former Yankee pitcher who was pitching for the Dodgers, Al Downing was the guy that through the pitch that Aaron hit for number seven fifteen down in the Atlanta Bravesed Ballpark. I forget what it was even called at
the time. It's a ballpark that has now long been consigned to the dust bin of history. So finally, finally, after about an hour, almost finished talking and running out of things to talk about with Jimmy Carter, and asked him about the campaign. He was about one percent of the polls at the time, to be very honest with you, and there are a whole bunch of Democrats who are running for that nomination, and this was about a year after Watergate, and he didn't have much of he was
not considered a favorite. So all of a sudden, I noticed, as I'm looking at Carter out at the corner of my eye that I see on the other side of the room. The door's opening, and it's the State Treasurer, Bob Crane walking in the door. He sees the back of Carter. He knows exactly that that's the guy that he wants not doesn't want to talk to him. He looks at me, points at me, and has a look of you know, no way, and he put a couple
of other words as he's basically indicating no way. If you get my drift, he starts the back out of the office. Well, I had no choice. I mean, I'm not going to sit there for six hours, so I said, Governor, Luca's here, And of course Bob Crane's countenance went from waving his arms off no way into a big wave of Hello, Hi, Governor. Nice, nice to meet you. I introduced him. I think he knows who he was, but I'm not sure. He sat inside. I'll leave you two alone.
He emerged from the office with his arm around Carter's shoulder about two minutes later and a big smile on his face, A bigger smile on Carter's face. I'm with you, Governor all the way. You have my endorsement, and Carter is just thrilled. He's looking at him and he's smiling. I can't tell you how much this means to me. Treasure of Crane and call me Bob and all of that. And he's shuffling, pushing him out the door. And that was the last I saw Jimmy Carter for a long time.
The next day, Jimmy Carter dropped a very personalized note to the Treasurer, saying, oh, for so much, appreciate your endorsement. I presented it to the treasure and he said, I don't want that thing. He says, you can keep that note, but that's not worth anything. When Jimmy Carter was inaugurated on January twentieth, nineteen seventy seven, or shortly before then. At that point, I was working in television and was actually on my way to Wiesbaden, West Germany for the
release of the hostages. I was assigned to cover the inauguration, but I got devoted to Washington. I had given Bob Crane the note, and I said, maybe this will turn be a little bit more valuable. And he accepted note freak gracefully. And we laughed about that many times. But I mean, he could have said to Jimmy Carter at that point, if you ever get elected president, from my endorsement, I want to become the ambassador to Ireland. And I'm sure that Jimmy Carter would have said, you have that
job if you want it. Anyway, that's my first meeting with Carter. When we get back for the break, I could share a couple of more stories, but in the meantime I happened to believe that many of you might have met him or might have had an impression of him. I will tell you that I voted for Jimmy Carter in nineteen seventy six because I felt Gerald Ford should
not have pardoned Richard Nixon. I think in retrospect Ford was right and I was wrong that Ford in pardoning Nixon probably cost himself the election, but did the right thing for the nation, and that was finally kind of healed the wounds of Watergate and moved on. Now, some of my friends will still disagree with me on that, but I did vote for Jimmy Carter, and I liked him a lot, and I had some very interesting meetings
with him on the campaign trail. We can talk about those, but i'd love you to join the conversation six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty, six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. If you watched the funeral, the funeral today at the National Cathedral or any of the follow on coverage, let to know what your reaction is that the legacy of
Jimmy Carter. His legacy is his post presidential career as a statesman, as a humanitarian, as someone who made the most of the time that he had uh after his presidency. I don't think there will be another president in our lifetimes who will have that amount of time and who will do so much good. I mean, I think that all of them, in their own right maintain a status, whether it's Bill Clinton, George Bush, or President former President Obama. But I don't see any of them doing the type
of work that Jimmy Carter did. There's just no way that anyone could ever do all the work, the post presidential work that Jimmy Carter did. And we will talk about that, and I think it's significant. We'll be back on Night Side. You have the numbers. Feel free to join the conversation back right after this.
If you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
All right, we will continue here. I guess some phone calls I want to hear people say, I'm gonna I will work my stories in along with callers. But let me go next to Noe L in New Hampshire. No, Well, welcome back.
How are you good, Dan?
How are you good? I would not be a bit surprised if you, at some point had had across paths with Jimmy Carter.
I will give President Carter full credit for everything he accomplished in his life after his presidency, but I'd like to know what your opinion is of him. I know that you interviewed him many many times. Yes, what your feelings are about him being such a massive anti semi?
I never detected that, To be really honest with you, I find that difficult to believe. I listened to Stuart Eisenstadt, who was his chief economic advisor today, who delivered a tribute at the National Cathedral. Since that happened to be Jewish, happens to be Jewish, and he talked.
I was very surprised by that because and I'm not Jewish, I'm not a Roman Catholic, but I absolutely support the state of Israel. But I mean the fact that he wanted to forbid you from living outside. You know, the pre sixty seven borders, the fact that when he planned the US Holocaust Museum, which quite frankly most of the people that planned that were survivors of the Holocaust, he probably stated there were too many Jews involved.
I mean, ye, Joel, I know. Well, let me just say, I know you are a very close observer, and I would never dispute anything that you would present to me. And I say that I hope you know. I say that you're honestly, but I have never seen any of that or heard any of that. I don't know what your sources are on that, but I just, honest to God, this is all news to me. He's a Southern Baptan. Yes, yes,
I never have I never have heard any of this. Again, not trying to challenge you, but are these in books of biographies that you've read, or are these absolutely?
Absolutely? I mean, he didn't want Jews who wanted to leave the USSR to emigrate. I mean there's books and books and articles and articles other than I mean, I don't know.
I can tell you, yes, I'll tell you this. I spent the better part of an evening interviewing Natan Sharansky, who was one of the best known Soviet dissidents who emigrated from the Soviet Union to Israel and actually ended up serving at Knesset. I interviewed him, Oh, it's got to be five or six years ago at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate, and I can only there's no reason he would have brought anything like that up.
But I know that he emigrated. I believe he immigrated shortly after I believe he immigrated in nineteen eighty one, once some of the Refuseniks were allowed to leave. I know that that Carter was born again I think Southern Baptist. I've never heard any of this. I really haven't. Then, as they say again.
I mean his Middle East advisor, who was there until christ I think his name is Professor Steine, basically said that Carter blamed the Jews for losing the presidency to Reagan. You really need to I know that you're very well informed on pretty much everything, and I respect you immantally. Yeah, I would love for you to research that.
Well, here's the thing. If you want to send me a couple of things to look at, I would be happy. But I got to tell you my my my visceral instinct, and if I was sitting with you having dinner, I would I would be as honest with you as I am being right now. Normally some of the stuff you hear and you say, oh yeah, I heard that, but it came from someone I've never heard this, Okay, I really have never heard this stuff. It is astonishing to me.
This was a guy who negotiated the peace between Saddat and Monoca.
Began exactly and that's the only thing he did that was good in his prelacy.
In mind, well, putting aside that saying is I kind of imagined that Monoca began you know who who was a Zionist would have allowed uh want to be the same rule with somebody who who you characterize as an anti semi. I just you know, again, send me some stuff on it and I'll be happy to look at it. But I I've got nothing on that.
I really don't I would love to send you an email if you could have your producer give me your email offline and.
Give me some sites or whatever. I mean, is there anybody that any author that you want to cite for me? That that wrote a book that said Jimmy Carter was an anti semi.
I would look at god. What's his name? Battling for Peace by Shimon Correz was one of them.
So Shimon Perez thought Jimmy Carter was an anti semi. Yeah, okay, first I've.
Heard of that, well, Professor Kenneth Stein.
Okay, an article on it.
I don't know who he is, A professor, Yeah, do me a favorite. Rob will give you my direct email address. Rob, give Noel my phone number, my email he'll addressing. I'm be happy to look at it.
Okay, okay, great.
Thanks, thanks Noell. Hang on there, Okay, let me keep rolling here. Steve is up in Maine. Steve, Welcome to Nightside.
How are you, hey, Dan, I'm not in Nane right now. I am in New Jersey.
Okay. I don't know who this is long hauled riber. Okay, I know that, Steve. Yeah, absolutely well.
I told you in postgame early this morning that we don't like to see you disappointed. You know, not every show is a plus plus in your opinion, and you were a little disappointed, and I don't like to see you get down like that. So I said Dan, I'm gonna call in.
Yeah, I remember that. We'd love to hear a lot of a lot of the listeners. I want to hear from you because some of you have have things to contribute. That that's you know, As I say, I could sit here and tell Jimmy Cards stories all night, but it'll be a pretty boring show. So uh. Even though even Noel's call, which kind of caught me by surprise because I've I've never known that to be true, But gohead, what's on your mind? You ever bump into Jimmy Carter?
Well, you know, I was a freshman in high school and he was inaugurated, so I can't tell you why I had to have to go back and look at his policies and everything, but.
I considered him a weak president, and when President Reagan came in after him, it was like night and day. He saw a strong leader in Reagan, and I saw a lot of weakness in Jimmy Cotta. With that said, what nic Cole said about him being anti Semitic, I would think that would be out of President Carter's character because he was a Southern Baptist, born again Christian and that just you know, that's like who we worshiped God. That God's the lover of the Jews, that's his chosen people.
And why would a Christian be against that? You know, I can't see that. So what she sends you, I would be very interested in myself to google it and find out, because I find that hot to swallow myself too.
So I just it's it's it's out of the blue, okay, yeah, uh, And I just you know, I I wish I had the ability right now to to to scrub the Internet. I just don't. You don't know.
Your time is pressure.
So now let me ask you you did you grow up in Maine or did you grow up in New Hampshire.
I grew up in a small town. I told you, next town from Tangley, Gary Tangley from Mexico, and I'm from Dicksfield. That two towns side by side, and the third town is Rumford.
Familiar with that area. Again, I think that a lot of people in New England. You know, Jimmy Carter uh broke through in the Iowa caucus in January of two thousand of nineteen seventy seven, seventy six, excuse me, and then he doubled up and did very well in the New Hampshire primary, and that became the new way to
win the nomination. He came from out of nowhere. I mean, his ratings were, you know, in the single digits, and all of a sudden, this guy wins the Iowa caucus brilliant strategy and then goes to New Hampshire with that momentum wins the New Hampshire primary. I got probably the next time that I interviewed him was after he was
the nominee. I was in New Hampshire in Manchester on Elm Street and they had a big rally for Jimmy Carter in New Hampshire in nineteen seventy six, and his press secretary's guy named Jody Powell, who I got to know a little bit, and I said, look, you got five minutes for an interview. He said, sure, I'll bring him over. So, I mean, this is a different time. So I'm standing there with my camera crew and the rallies over and then Governor Carter, candidate Carter had shaken
a few hands and came right over. Hey, how you doing. How are you nice to meet you? I reminded him previous meeting, Oh I remember that. And we had a lovely interview, and I did my story for WBZ that night, and at that point I had become a television reporter with WBZ and it was the first Carter was the first nominated presidential candidate that I had a chance to interview,
and it was pretty cool. And we had many interviews over the years, and I'll go through some of them as the evening goes on, including including interviewing him Massachusetts. I don't know if you remember when he came to Clinton, Massachusetts in March of nineteen seventy seven and he stayed at the home of Gunner Thompson. I got a eat story about that that night up there. But go ahead, I interrupted you, so do you.
Keep no, no, no, no no. I just you know, I know you love to talk like me, but I I wanted you to get to some other calls. But your stories about Jimmy Carter will be fascinating and I will enjoy listening to him.
Where are you driving? Are you working tonight?
Yeah?
I'm in New Jersey right now and I will be going to chick or Pea and then I'll be heading back to Lewister, Maine. So I still got another six hours ahead of me.
So you you arrived back back in Maine by dawn's early light, and hopefully you're going to have to work tomorrow. Do you got to turn around and work again tomorrow.
Actually I go in Friday night, so it's my three trip week. I go on Monday, Wednesday, Friday night, stay in Pennsylvania at the hotel, go out that night, come back home to Maine, sleep and head back out next week would be my two trip week. I head out Tuesday Thursday, so it rotates. It's a great schedule anyway. So one last thing, Dan, I just I want to know, please what you liked about Jimmy Cotter and his presidency, because, like I said, I was young, you were much more mature.
So I would love to hear your stories of him being a president that you liked and some more Jimmy Cotter stories. And I'll get off the phone and let some other calls come out to thank you for your time.
Appreciate it. You'd be safe tonight. And for those who don't know, Steve as a long hauled truck driver and they are the backbone of the country. Everything that we go and buy in a store, whether it's a pharmacy, or rug a drug store, a pharmacy, a supermarket, clothing store, record store, whatever, sports store. All that stuff has been brought in by a trucker like Steve. So these are they are the backbone of this country.
In my opinion, America runs on truck driving.
All right, Hey, thanks d B. Well talked right, good night. We're gonna take quick break here back with more phone calls. The only lines that are open at the six one seven nine. I'm going to keep inter weaving phone calls with my stories about Jimmy Carter.
Uh.
What I liked about Carter was I think that he was a breath of fresh air. I don't think that he had a successful presidency. I think it was the victim of circumstances when he took office. Watergate had ended, Vietnam War had ended, we were down as a nation. All of a sudden, there was the oil embargo. OPEC nations felt they could now basically hold the United States hostage,
which they did. I remember long gas lines. I remember his so called malaise speech in the summer of nineteen seventy eight, when I think I really thought at that point he would become a one term president. But I think he tried his best. He had that hostage rescue probably which failed. His great success was the peace treaty, which is to this day held in the Middle East. And you have no idea if that peace treaty had not been signed, if this world might have ended up
in a nuclear war as a result. So that would be what I would consider to be his greatest achievement. Back on Nightside, more phone calls right after this.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Just quickly to back up some of the things that Noel said. Apparently, Jimmy Carter did write a book in two thousand and six entitled Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, And in the books some believed that he compared Israel's treatment of Arabs in the West Bank to a South Africa system of racial apartheid, which of course ended in nineteen ninety four, and that there were some who felt that
his criticism was the equivalent of anti Semitism. I think that as his status as a former president, as a diplomat, he had a right to make comments like that. I would disagree with that comment, to be honest with you, but I don't would can I do not consider it to be anti Semitic, But I then am also not Jewish. However, my friend Jack and Newton is Jack you and next on NIGHTSID welcome?
Yeah, and Jack Porter. I'll call it in response to Noel, And it was regarding that book, which was a poor probably poor choice, you know, for a word apartheid. But I think what he will trying to do is get a conversation and a discussion going about Palestinian rights or Tallestinian state, which has this common discussion today now anyway, Yes, nothing, but I would say to Noel, you know he was no anti Semite, and in fact he brought peace with
between Israel and Egypt lasted years. Yep, you know he was, and he was a very good, a good evangelical Christian. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm Jewish, I fat, there's nothing wrong with him being a religious Christian. I don't know why that bothers some people.
Well, I don't think that bothered Noel. I think Noel felt genuinely that that he had made make comments that she or others felt had been anti Semitic. But what what happens is when you're as you know, Jack, when when you write a lot, and you write a lot when you write books, there there can be people who characterize what you write in different ways. I tend to agree with you, but there may be other things that Noel is going to direct me to. I'm just trying to I'm a at this time of the night, I'm
broadcasting alone. Uh, and so I don't have a producer who can pull, you know, quotes for me. But that that's one that I did find where there was some criticism directed at him because of the comments that he made. And again I think that he was a East broker in the Middle East, and obviously he could not say that a La saidat you, Egyptians are totally wrong and the Israelis are a thousand percent right, Saddad would have
walked away. He had to somehow broke a deal between the two of them where there was something on the table. I assume for both sides.
Oh, I think Noel should creed up on that, just real quickly. Were you at in nineteen seventy six in New York at the Democratic Convention where it was I was there and it was my first time. I was a journalist for the Jewish advocate on the Derney Hyad and it was my first one and it was fantastic. I met a lot of famous people from Hollywood. Even Paul Newman was there, Warren Batty, Lauren Prikal, the famous football players. It was really quite an exciting thing for the journalist.
Did you ever gets to meet Carter?
No, I just saw him from the Yeah. It was just different Dan. Security wise and other things.
It was very different. It was very very different back then. Jack, There's no doubt about that. Hey Jack, I'm flat up against my time. I owe you sometimes more than the next time you call. But thank you for your carl tonight is very important. I appreciate it. Okay, thank you talk so well, take a break. If you want to join the conversation, you have the number. We're going to talk about Jimmy Carter. I have some more Jimmy Carter stories to tell. All points of view. Welcome here on Nightside.