This morning, former President Jimmy
Carter is receiving Hospice care
at his home in Plains, GA that is,
according to the Carter Center,
the Atlanta based nonprofit
founded by the former president,
just one of several humanitarian
projects through the years.
Joining me now is Chuck Todd,
Moderator of Meet the Press.
Good morning, Chuck.
Good morning.
So we are monitoring former President
Jimmy Carter and his health now
that it has been announced that
he has entered home Hospice care.
So this morning,
I want to talk to you about his
legacy after his presidency.
You know, for so many presidents,
that's a big question.
You know, you've reached the top.
What do you do next to make a difference?
Through the Carter Center and his
work with Habitat for Humanity,
President Carter arguably created a
legacy as lasting as his Presidency
once he left the Oval Office.
How do you think people will
look upon those years?
Look, I think it's it's universal praise.
I mean that's the the other thing.
He did something that's pretty difficult
in our our divisive political times as I
think he had a post presidency that was.
That was you know certainly almost
a unifying themes you know building
homes for people that need it,
trying to help negotiate peace,
oversee elections,
promote democracy as the Carter Center
and the and the role it played throughout
the country throughout the years.
So I think in many ways what Jimmy
Carter did and has done with his post
presidency is create a blueprint for how
what our former presidents should use their.
You know you have a moment
you have a platform.
And how do you use that platform effectively?
And I think there's no doubt Jimmy
Carter has figured out how to use that
platform of the ex presidencies in a
way and in a more effective way than
anybody who's ever held that office
and has truly become one of the
great humanitarians of our time.
Let's take a quick dip back in history
and see if we can draw a parallel
here as I ask you this next question.
You have Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken on your show this morning.
We were in the Cold War during
Carter's Presidency, among others.
Now, some would say we're
in a Cold War with China.
How do you think we handle this one?
It's a great question.
I mean, in some ways we're,
I think doing similar things that we did
in the Cold War with the Soviets, right.
With the Soviets,
it was about making sure we knew who
our friends were and who they were.
We tried to bring them closer.
Sometimes that meant military aid,
sometimes that meant military support.
And what did we also want to do?
We wanted to bog down our adversary.
You know, Jimmy Carter,
one of, you know, we talked,
there's a lot of things about his presidency
get brought up in a negative light.
You have the Iran hostages,
you have the inflation.
You know, but he greenlit, uh uh,
the decision to covertly arm
the insurgency in Afghanistan,
that was a huge decision.
It had.
It's had lots of consequences to it,
obviously, that when it comes to Afghanistan,
the country, but it also.
Arguably turned the tide in the Cold War,
right,
helping to essentially bankrupt
the Soviet Union both on the
world stage on ideas but also
financially and the cost that the
that the war in Afghanistan made it.
And really that was that.
That was the arguably one of the biggest
decisions to help weaken and defeat
the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
So now how we left Afghanistan as
a whole other issue and may have
created the conditions that ended up.
And ended up paying a price
in 9/11 and beyond.
But I do think we shouldn't overlook
what happened in the late 70s and
the decisions that President Carter
made that did help end the Cold War.
Always interesting to take
a look back in history.
You see how we can apply it to
today's issues. They always seem
to somehow repeat themselves.
Chuck, thanks so much.
Meet the Press airs at 10 right
after 11 alive Weekend Morning News.