Jimmy Carter campaigned on a platform on honesty at a time when the nation sorely needed it. "The country had been through a horrible time, and Jimmy Carter represented honesty and decency," said journalist John Farrell.
Jimmy Carter (archival): I want to see us once again have a nation, that's as good and honest and decent and truthful, and competent, and compassionate, and as filled with love, as are the American people...
John Farrell, Journalist: At that time character was a monumental issue. The country had been through a horrible time and Jimmy Carter represented honesty and decency.
Carter Campaign Ad (archival): I will never tell a lie. I will never make a misleading statement. I will never betray the confidence any of you has in me...
Douglas Brinkley, Historian: Lyndon Johnson lied to us about Vietnam; Richard Nixon lied to us about Watergate. He's saying, "You know I'm not one of those turkeys who's messing things up, up there."
Jimmy Carter's story is one of the greatest dramas in American politics. In 1980, he was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a humiliating defeat. Over the subsequent two decades, he became one of the most admired statesmen and humanitarians in America and the world. Jimmy Carter, part of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s award-winning Presidents series, traces his rapid ascent in politics, dramatic fall from grace and unexpected resurrection.
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