Stanly godbold is Professor Emeritus of history, Mississippi State university. Hes the author now of two volumes of history, jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. The first the georgia years. 1924 through 1974. And now jimmy and Rosalynn Carter power and human rights. As i say, he was professor of emeritus at Mississippi State. Hes the author of three other books. Alan gas, glasgow and the woman within and Christopher Gadsden and the American Revolution and confederate colonel and cherokee chief. The life of William Holland thomas. But its biographies of jimmy and rosalynn that brings us here tonight. And, you know, i think there is probably better person to be in congress with stan lee than steve. Steve has been to president carter since 81. He helped research and edit carters book, keeping faith, and has really had a hand in every book too. Carter has written or projects or classes at emory university, so sit back, enjoy its time to learn a lot about president and mrs. Carter. Steve stanley. Thank you, tony. Thank you, tony and it is really quite an honor for me to be invited to to come here. And i appreciate it. I especially appreciate it because i dont know what percentage of my life has been in the Research Room here but i would say pretty close to 30 now. Well, start out back. In 1987. Thats when Research Room opened at the jimmy Carter Library. You werent here for that. That occasion, but was the year, i believe, when you decided to work on the carters. What made you to take topic up . The summer of 1987, i was involved in a seminar on religion and politics in western society. I just finished a book and i was just looking around. Another topic writing a president ial biography course was beyond my imagination. But thats something i happened to pick up a newspaper and of jimmy carter. I had attended writers fair in nashville, tennessee and wondered jimmy carter would be doing attending a writers fair. So i looked him up and how much he had written. And so i thought, well while im trying to decide what to next with my life, i to write a little essay about jimmy carter as a writer. So my interest in carter initially was as a writer, not carter a president and fight for the whole 32 years i worked on it. My interest in him remained to a large degree. Carter as a writer. And he didnt disappoint because in 1987 he hadnt written very much. But eventually of, course, he wrote a lot of stuff. Well, publishing a book on jimmy carter so unusual today, but your decision, write a joint biography of jimmy carter and Rosalynn Carter was and is exceptional. When and why did make that decision . Well when i had a sabbatical beginning in about august 1990. And so thats when i came over to the library and because i was already interested, john carter as a writer. And so i just started looking to see what was available in the library. And of course i was a huge treasure trove of untouched primary materials. And i started reading little bit more about him and i didnt get very into it before. I really everything read rosalynn was involved in it. And so it occurred to me you could not write about jimmy carter without writing about rosalynn. And also now i know these years later you cant about rosalynn without writing about jimmy carter. But there was unique partner ship and almost everything we know today. All these years later, i would magnificent accomplishments. It is a result of that partnership that was just an unusual and people asked me when i was a newspaper recently that talks about the influence rosalynn had on jimmy and i dont like the word influence because its not strong enough. She had more than an influence, although was involved in everything. She really i saw and i realized that i thought that, you know, why not give it a chance . So thats what i did. Thats. Thats great. Well, as you say, started to come in here to the Carter Library in 1990. And i know came back many times. In fact, id like to see the statistics on this. I that he was in the Research Room more than any other researcher and ever. Could be. Well tell us how researched the the two books the two volumes not only at the Carter Center but in other president ial libraries and with interviews of other people too. Okay. First of all, ill talk about my experience at the Carter Library, because those were obviously of the happiest times in my life. I knew nothing about president ial library. I had written several books. I had been in university libraries. Ive been library, congress, other libraries where you just walked in as researcher and you said, i want to see what you have on alan glasgow, i want to see what you have on. And thomas but you cant walk into a president library. I specifically for jimmy carter and say i want to see what you have, jimmy carter. So there was something so theres an Orientation Program which ive never forgotten because there werent many People Research at the end. And so they pulled out their top gun. Well, second top gun, i guess martindales the interview because they teach you how to president ial library. So martin was explaining to me. He was explaining all different kinds of records, executive subject records, difficult auctions and records and. This just went on for about an hour. And they usually this in ten or 15 minutes. But i was pushed. It went out about an hour and then martin looks at that and and i must have a very blank look on my face. And he said you know, i have no idea what youre going to do when you walk through those doors. And, you know he was remarkably because i had no idea that those but i finished it. You know, i mentioned the name jody powell because i knew he was pretty close to a card. And i said, well, that start by looking at the at the jody pilot fact i did want to tell martin then that and i did want to say everything had that was available about jimmy carter and i did see a lot of it thats reason i was here so much. One one time i at the end of the year, i looking back on the year i had any statistic and i had spent 221 days out of the 365 in atlanta. And jeanie used to say, when i used the word home, i was referring to the house we, lived in stark, mississippi. I was about the Carter Library. The people were wonderful. Some few of them are still out there. So wonderful to. See old friends that friendly and they were helpful. They became friends then they became family and then they became support. I mean, this book probably wouldnt be here had it not been for some of Staff Members who were so kind and helpful and i have to another researcher that was one of researcher here on regular basis when i was it was carl vivian, who was a professor of economics at georgia tech. And so he and i became fast friends. We referred to the library as our library because somewhere times had been over upset. And of course, we bonded our families bonded. And it was just a good situation. And so i reached the point where when it was time for me to come back to the library it was at work, you know, i, i was excited about, i was i was ready to get to get back when the first volume was published. I giving a speech in starkville and somebody wanted to know what did i enjoy most about. The Carter Library. That was one of the easiest questions anybodys ever asked me. I said, lunch. The staff. We had some really good lunches and sometimes i would be invited to go a long time. She would be invited to go to. I was over on the Carter Center side, so i wasnt at the jimmy Carter Library every day. But im glad that got to know stan lee during those early years. Oh, we we had a mutual friend, i think, here in l. A. Linda macias yes. And, and then some other from my ph. D. And days. So i feel chastened that your colleague smith at the junior, we had lots of things in common right off the bat and you gave a lot of help to a little bit later he was was the one course he was carters assistant and when i reached a point wanted to get an interview with carter. Of course you have to go through the proper channels and youve got get secret Service Clearance and all of that. But steve was the one who really did all the legwork that made that interview, which. In october 1994, i can the question included interviews before that that was mentioned briefly at our other libraries, i learned how president ial libraries work the long hours here. So when i went to other president ial libraries was fairly easy. And since the other libraries were not specific about jimmy carter, i didnt have to spend lots of years. There they they best one of the most helpful going was the ford library in ann arbor, michigan. And because most of the records on the seven down to 1976 election were not open yet. Here. And they were open at the the ford library. So i saw in those folks were very good in and all of that. The Kennedy Library they were very friendly and fact the carters in the kennedy didnt get along very well they and virginia and i were downstairs i had to check in downstairs when went up an elevator to the to the Research Room. And i told him i was working on biography of jimmy carter and i really thought they were going to turn me away. But i finally decided now that i was a legitimate person or a researcher, so they let us go in and it was a terribly long and after Jackie Kennedy had died, Jackie Kennedy onassis and. So they finally decided they had a collection of a local newspaper on the occasion when carter as president , derek, raided the Kennedy Library. And so they let me say that the local newspaper. Yeah, they were they were it was a good source because local newspapers did have information. In and that was a no no that announced where the bush library area went. Several george h. W. Bush the first time they wouldnt let me see a good bit of stuff, but a lot of stuff closed because george bush was governor and then later most of the stuff i wanted to see in the bush library did not open until obama became president. And im sure there were political reasons. There were political reasons for that. The last time i went to, the bush library was as i wrapping up to research the socalled october surprise, the idea that the reagan camp had cut a deal with to hold the hostages until after the election and was told in no uncertain terms. I would not find anything about in the bush library. And they kept me under surveillance the whole time i was there. But found a lot of information i used anyway. But the last one i mentioned is the Reagan Library and the Reagan Library. When it first opened, it didnt much information about carter, but for some reason that i know not what someone convinced and nancy reagan to open the papers on the 1980 election the election where when carter was defeated by reagan and where the october surprise took place the time it took place. I dont think nancy reagan knew was in those papers. I think somebodys food, because that was a vast collection of papers and of them werent very complimentary of ronnie. And so it was he had there was a lot of have which had said that id like the reagan people not been i had not been totally honest about jeannie went with me as she often did but have friends in dallas that we were we had lived for a while. We had friends who wanted to go to we sometimes travel together. One of them was an attorney. The other one was i was a medical doctor. They were people who knew a lot research and i never forget it. The archivist on duty was a young woman named amanda. I dont remember the rest of her name, and when she saw all their help helpers, i brought some of them coming from texas and she teased for the rest of the time we were there for bringing a posse with me. But we had a it was a it was a good research. I didnt try to hide anything and a lot of papers related to casey and meese and the socalled truth squad of that election, you know, were available. And thats where i got a lot of the evidence that id like to use to to say as a professional historian, im ready to take a stand at that. A surprise did take place. Even though theres some theres still some things that wed like to know it. Yes. So had i had found out of the country a president , Library Staff file, lets lets talk about of the themes of the book and the most important is the relationship between jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and how did it change the years from your first five m into your second volume . And did see much change while you writing the second vi . Well, the first volume just goes his governorship and i grew they both grew up in plains well hes three miles away in archery three by three he has a part they as they said. And so they had very similar background except the car does were very family the smiths were not and they knew each other because jimmy was older he went to college. The naval and all of that and they got married when he had seen her before. But he he saw her on the church steps and his sister ruth set up a date and he announced that night to his mother that he was going to marry the mother. The carters didnt think she, of course, was good to marry to marry jimmy. But anyway they had the navy, they had the navy career. Interesting story. College, rosalynn and i manage the home front, the budget while he was out, while he was out at sea and then they come back. Rosalynn is very quiet. Shes shy, but shes very brilliant. And when they took her took over the peanut business, she was the business manager. And if you really analyzed how that business went from not much income to actually it was a multimillion dollar business by 1976 so much of it because of rumsfelds work as as a business and when he decided to run for the senate in 1962. Rosalynn pitched in as and became an expert. But in the first book through the governor, she time rosalynn was very much there but. She wasnt nearly as much in the limelight as when he ran for president. And actually when he went became president , she was aggressive. She intended to be the first lady. If was going to take her. Yeah. If joan mondale, for example was standing at the podium, rosalynn would stand beside her. But soon you would know who was the first lady and who was a very smart, very. And of course, the the media picked up on that the media couldnt believe rosalynn. They couldnt believe this petite, very pretty, very soft spoken. They couldnt believe that she was smart, that she was so tough, and she was aggressive. She she had to be aggressive at the first place because as miss lillian, because she had to stand to jim is mother. Because if you remember anything, miss lillian, shes shes a very powerful and jimmy, of course her do that but she stood up to jimmy turf and she didnt care if the tv cameras were going if she wanted to disagree with him. So she emerged as a very strong person, very important in the campaign. She had her own and she had her own issues, health. But there were other things as well. And carter always the press and others that she was an equal partner. I dont think many people believe that. But once i got into the research, i discovered very quickly that she really was an equal partner. And what surprised that she was over and established the Carter Center and made it their cochairs of the Carter Center. Hes that chairman. And she called che. Are they are they have equal in in the carter so she becomes she becomes more and more popular better now i think this is a place that id like to come at about carters relationship not resting in his heart, but in a positive way. And with the use of women and his governing and especially in diplomacy the erosion course, it happens at six months or less into the president s. I went on a solo trip. Latin america, and she had the authority of the president. She could anything said had the same authority as the president himself had said. But i had. So carter realized her value and her and her ability. But if you look at the camp david accords for example carter of color, rosalynn, is the reason the camp david accords ever even took place . It was her suggestion, her moment to do it. But when carter invited that monarch and began and anwar sadat come to camp david, he ordered them to bring their wives. He specifically wanted them to bring their wives. He wanted the wives to to be involved because would be a mirror of the way he did the way he did things. But also he knew how hard it was to go to get any kind agreement and he believed in personal diplomacy and he thought it would be much better if the wives were there to and everything is written been written about camp david. God only knows how much has been written about camp david and. That was one of the hardest parts of my research is how much of it to believe, how much to believe, and how much not to even look yet. Because i only had one one lifetime. But when i started looking at the involvement, the women and i stumbled across sadat its autobiography, a woman of egypt. And i promised, nobody can understand the camp david accords. They dont read her autobiography. So we know what went. Sadat was getting ready to leave one time he called. He said, im coming. How . And she said, now, you know has been very good to you wanted to stay awhile why dont you stay a while longer and another. And i think i was telling that talking another another point that i think is important the photographs as we were earlier and this huge burly 100 photographs then Chronological Order they were chosen very carefully to suit the theme of, the book and reason they are in there, too, is if you cant bear to think about read all those pages, you can always look at the pictures and get a pretty good idea of what the book is all about and the typical camp david. But theres one that has been published before, but it shows Rosalynn Carter and alisa begin at c