Episode 79 — Jimmy Carter: Faith, Reform & the Longest Second Act

pplpod Episode 79 follows Jimmy Carter’s path from Plains peanut farmer and Georgia governor to a post-Watergate outsider promising competence and decency—and then to one of the most consequential post-presidencies in history. We track the 1976 win, cabinet-and-policy turbulence, and a reformer’s ledger at home: creating the Departments of Energy and Education, pushing ethics and environmental protections, and deregulating airlines, trucking, and finance to shake up a stagflating economy. Abroad, we unpack the Panama Canal Treaties, human-rights diplomacy, SALT II, and the high-wire triumph of the Camp David Accords—alongside the Iran hostage crisis, a failed rescue mission, oil shocks, and the political cost of hard choices (including appointing Paul Volcker to tame inflation). Then the second act: The Carter Center’s election monitoring and disease-eradication work, Habitat for Humanity builds, and a 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Resolve, humility, and the arc of a life spent turning values into work.