News
Carter
continued from page 9
KW: Harriet Pakula Teweles asks: Is
there a personal moral tension between
being a good Christian and being a good
Commander of a nuclear submarine?
How can an officer—especially one of
great faith—reconcile being asked to lead
troops into battle with the Fifth Command-
ment: Thou Shalt Not Kill?
JC: The most important Bible teaching
that I remembered when I was in the Navy
and when I was Commander-in-Chief, was
that we worshipped The Prince of Peace.
Jesus Christ is The Prince of Peace. So, I
considered myself, as a submarine officer,
as helping to preserve the peace. And I felt
the same way when I was president. As a
matter of fact, although we had some terri-
ble challenges and temptations when I was
in office, we never dropped a bomb… we
never launched a missile… and we never
fired a bullet. I think that one of the main
requirements for a strong military, like a
strong submarine force, is to prevent war,
not to cause war.
KW: Larry Greenberg says: It seems like
we are at a point now where books are mov-
ing from bound paper to digital media. How
will this impact the study and reverence for
the Bible?
JC: You can already download any of the
religious texts onto electronic mechanisms
like a Kindle. But I think many people pre-
fer to hold a book in their hands. We
recently gave my daughter Amy a new elec-
tronic device, but since she used to work in
a library, she still insists on reading exclu-
sively from books. I take my Bible with me
to church every Sunday to teach the Bible
lesson. I do that whenever I’m in Plains, oh,
about 35 to 40 times a year. So, I think that
for many people, particularly when reading
Holy Scriptures, a Bible you can hold in
your hands is most appropriate.
KW: I still prefer the touch of paper. I still
haven’t made the jump to reading books
electronically.
JC: [Chuckles] I can understand that.
KW: Troy John asks: Do you see any par-
allels between the lead-up to the 1980
Presidential Election and the 2012 cam-
paign?
JC: Not really. Back in those days, we
didn’t have massive sums of money pouring
in. We never ran any negative advertise-
ments. I always referred to President Ford
during the 1976 campaign as “my distin-
guished opponent.” That was all. And I
behaved the same way as an incumbent,
when Ronald Reagan ran against me in
1980. And the amount of money we raised
against each other from special interest
groups and from lobbyists for the general
election was zero. Neither President Ford,
nor Governor Reagan nor I ever raised a
single dollar from them to run against each
other in the general election. Sadly, all of
that has changed. What this massive infu-
sion of more money into the political
campaign has caused is a mammoth
increase in negative ads. That’s a tragedy, in
my opinion, and a step backwards for the
political system of our country.
KW: Troy also says that he read in the
Wall Street Journal that not since Herbert
Hoover has a party out of power had such
an opportunity to run against everything
that troubles the American family—prices,
interest rates, unemployment, taxes, fear of
the future, etcetera. Do you think the
Republican Party will employ that strategy
against an Obama administration which
President Jimmy Carter in Ghana
seems vulnerable in terms of both foreign
and domestic policy?
JC: Well, I’m not a political strategist,
and I’m certainly not one for the Republican
Party. [Chuckles] I will say that any incum-
bent president has to run on his record, and
President Obama has had a very limited
number of accomplishments so far. But he’s
been handicapped by the lack of any coop-
eration on the part of the Republicans who
serve in the House and Senate. So, Congress
has been an obstacle to President Obama. I
think the American people will be able to
ascertain as the election approaches who is
to blame for the stalemate and
who deserves credit for the
best proposals for the future.
We could insist that political candidates tell
the truth about controversial issues. And
secondly, we should be sure to encourage
our political leaders, after they’re elected, to
preserve the peace. My latest book, of
course, is about the Bible. I worship as a
Christian. I worship The Prince of Peace,
Jesus Christ. He’s not The Prince of War.
That’s why it really aggrieves me when I
sometimes see fellow believers lobbying to
start a war over something minimal when
the peaceful approach might be the best. I
was lucky enough to get through four years
in office under very trying circumstances.
‘Just don’t pay any attention to
negative ads, if you can avoid
them, and try to focus on the
issues’
KW: Lisa Loving asks:
How should we as Americans
and as voters work to over-
come the sometimes hateful
tone of our politics today?
JC: Unfortunately, every
American citizen takes the
same position as you do, Lisa,
that we don’t like negative advertisements.
But they work! And, as you see, many a
candidate has prevailed by tearing down the
reputation of an opponent in a more advan-
tageous position. I think that the best
approach would be if the American people
ever insist that we cut down on the massive
amounts of money that moves into the cam-
paigns from special interest groups, and if
we resist publicly by saying “No more neg-
ative advertisements that destroy the
reputations of one’s opponents.” In the
meantime, just don’t pay any attention to
negative ads, if you can avoid them, and try
to focus on the issues.
KW: Tracy Ertl, Publisher of TitleTown
Publishing, says: I love Jimmy Carter! I was
barely a teen when you took office. You
were truly the first President that I recog-
nized as such with any true understanding.
Mr. President, what is something that every
God-believing American could do this year
to bring more stability and safety to the
youth of the country?
JC: I think all of us could insist on pre-
serving the truth and preserving the peace.
We never dropped a bomb, we never
launched a missile, and we never fired a
bullet in anger. And we not only resolved
our problems peacefully, but we promoted
peace between adversarial nations. For
instance, Egypt and Israel had been at war
four times in the quarter-century before I
became president, and I was able to negoti-
ate a peace treaty between them that has
held up for over 33 years. So, I think peace
and telling the truth are the keys.
KW: Reverend Florine Thompson asks:
Based on your Biblical worldview, should
the US support Israel, militarily, at any
cost?
JC: I tried to eliminate the need for Israel
to strike out, militarily, by removing its
major threat and attacker, and that was
Egypt. I’ve written a few books on the sub-
ject. There’s no doubt that the best way to
resolve Israel’s problems is to negotiate
peace between Israel and its immediate
neighbors, particularly the Palestinians.
And that’s something that’s not going to be
achieved, in my opinion, without the strong
involvement of the American president. I
hope that President Obama,
during his second term, will
insist upon a peaceful reso-
lution of the issues that
divide the Israelis from their
neighbors, and bring about a
two-state solution with the
’67 borders as modified by a
common agreement that
would let the Palestinians
and the Israelis and the Jor-
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