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Symposium

The Leadership and Legacy of President Jimmy Carter

The Leadership and Legacy of President Jimmy Carter
Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Event date



Join us for two sessions examining President Jimmy Carter’s legacy, including his contributions to peace in the Middle East, his efforts to advance global human rights, and the impact of his presidency on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs.
 

Virtual Session One: Defining Leadership—President Carter’s Human Rights Legacy

Panelists discuss President Carter’s focus on human rights as a foundation of U.S. foreign policy, including his support for democracy, women’s rights, and global health.

Speakers

  • Stuart E. Eizenstat
    Senior Counsel, Covington & Burling; Former Chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor (Carter Administration); Former Undersecretary of State for Economic Business and Agricultural Affairs, and Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Clinton Administration); Author, President Carter: The White House Years; CFR Member
  • Daniel J. Sargent
    Associate Professor of History and Public Policy and Codirector, Institute of International Studies, University of California Berkeley; Author, A Superpower Transformed: The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s 

Presider

  • Mara Liasson
    Senior National Political Correspondent, NPR; CFR Member

Introductory Remarks

  • David M. Rubenstein
    Cofounder and Co-chairman, The Carlyle Group; Chairman, Board of Directors, Council on Foreign Relations

Transcript

FROMAN: Thanks very much. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome. My name is Mike Froman. I’m president of the Council. And I just want to thank you for being here. It’s an honor to welcome you to today’s virtual symposium, “The Leadership and Legacy of President Jimmy Carter.”

I’m joined this afternoon by our chairman, David Rubenstein. He’ll deliver remarks right after mine. David, as I’m sure many of you know, worked closely with President Carter as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, among other roles. He was among a group of about 135 Council members who served in the Carter administration—folks like Robert Hunter, Roger Altman, Michael Blumenthal, Ed Morse, Jane Harman, Jane Hartley, some guy named Richard Haass. It’s a long list of CFR-affiliated people who worked during the Carter administration.

And I’d say until recently the dominant narrative around President Carter was that he was a very successful ex-president, but not a particularly successful president. And I think one of the benefits of the last several months has been a look back into his history and the quite remarkable achievements, including in foreign policy. We’re going to focus on two areas of his foreign policy legacy...

Virtual Session Two: President Carter’s Legacy in the Middle East

Panelists discuss President Carter’s legacy in brokering peace in the Middle East, including the Camp David Accords and his management of the Iran hostage crisis.

Speakers

  • Jonathan H. Alter
    Analyst, MSNBC; Author, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life; CFR Member
  • Ray Takeyh
    Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies, Council on Foreign Relations

Presider

  • Judy Woodruff
    Senior Correspondent, Former Anchor and Managing Editor, PBS NewsHour; CFR Member

Introductory Remarks

  • Thomas E. Donilon
    Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Chairman, BlackRock Investment Institute; Former National Security Advisor (Obama Administration); CFR Member

Transcript

WOODRUFF: And welcome everybody to this session, this meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations. It is titled “President Carter’s Legacy in the Middle East.”

I’m Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. I’m delighted to be joining you.

I hope many of you were able to hear the session that preceded this discussion by about half an hour on President Carter’s human rights record. It was a rich discussion and one that I think in many ways relates to what we’re talking about with our panelists.

So let me get right to it. As you heard, the session is on the record. We are delighted to have a terrific group of three individuals joining us. They are:

William Quandt, Bill Quandt, Stettinius professor of politics emeritus at the University of Virginia. And most important for this conversation, he served on Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council staff during the Carter administration.

Ray Takeyh, who was—who is a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Has served in the State Department.

And finally, journalist Jonathan Alter. He’s an analyst for MSNBC, the author of the book, now bestselling book, His Very Best: Jimmy...