Kaczaraba: How President Jimmy Carter got the Mideast Peace Accords done

It has often been said that Jimmy Carter was the greatest ex-president the U.S. ever had.

I met Carter for the first time in Plains, Georgia, a rural town 170 miles outside of Atlanta. I was a local reporter for a TV station in Columbus, Georgia. On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan, then president of the U.S., was shot while returning to his limousine after giving a speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

For what seemed like an eternity, it was not known whether the president had been shot, but my news director wanted me to go to Plains to get comments from Carter either way. It was classic TV news: You are sent to interview a person without knowing what they are going to be willing to talk about or what they are going to say if they do.

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When I arrived in Plains, I was directed to “Miss Lillian’s” house, Carter’s mother. When I got there, I was amazed at how humble the home was. With wooden floors and basic furnishings, it was exactly the type of house you would expect in rural Georgia.

I was led to the living room, where three broadcast network correspondents were watching coverage of the shooting. The group insisted on watching ABC because anchor Frank Reynolds was frustrated with the misinformation being given to him by his team.

Miss Lillian, as everyone called her, was serving lemonade. She said “Jimmy” wouldn’t be talking until he knew Reagan’s condition was stable. Hours later, Carter came over to talk to the press. He had gracious comments about Reagan and said his family was praying for him.

I was only 22 years old and was nervous to meet a president. What I remember was how gentle and warm he was. Looking back, I also recall the lack of security around him.

Almost a decade later, I met him again. By then, I was a producer for CNN in Atlanta and was working on a documentary for the network. I was supposed to interview Carter at his library just a mile from CNN. The staff at the Carter Center took pride in the fact that they were a “working” facility. They were focused on bringing national representatives from countries engaged in or about to be engaged in civil war. At times, as many as four nations would be negotiating.

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Carter was the chief negotiator, trying to replicate his success in the Middle East with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.

Because the interview was with such a prestigious person, we arrived at the Carter Center two hours early to make sure we were all set when the president came to meet us. To my surprise, Carter came out 90 minutes early. I apologized for the fact that we weren’t ready. He told me that was OK because the group he was negotiating with was unwilling to budge, and he told them he had an interview with us just so he could get out of the room. He told me to “pretend” we were having an important conversation so he could give them, and himself, a breather.

I was surprised at how casual he was. Carter was dressed in jeans and a denim shirt. He showed the same warmth and charisma he had when I first met him. He introduced himself to every member of the crew, which I believe he did because he was so nice, not because he was taking into account that EVERYONE wanted to shake hands with a president.

When we were chatting, we started debating who had the better mother. I am a huge fan of my mom, and he was a huge fan of his. We agreed to disagree, but I told him his mother made great lemonade.

We got more serious, and I asked him how he was able to get the Mideast Peace Accords signed. Carter was very clear that it was because the two groups spent a few days at Camp David before talks began. He wanted the groups to get to know each other and their families on a personal level.

“You might kill your enemy,” he told me. “But you’re not going to kill people when you know their children.” That was something I will remember for a lifetime.

Years later, Carter was walking through the CNN newsroom, again with little or no security. I was going over to say hello. Before I got a chance to say anything, he said, “Hi, Bill.” A bit shocked that he remembered me, I said, “Hello, Mr. President.” He replied, “Call me, Jimmy.” Something he told me when I first met him, but I respectfully declined to do so.

His humility and kindness was an example for us all.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.