President Carter on Miss Lillian, A Remarkable Mother

President Jimmy Carter on Miss Lillian, A Remarkable Mother




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2,446 views Feb 20, 2023President Jimmy Carter speaks to Rich Fahle of Borders about A Remarkable Mother, President Carter's loving, admiring, wry homage to Miss Lillian Carter, who championed the underdog always, even when her son was president. Jimmy Carter's mother emerges from this portrait as redoubtable, generous, and forward-looking. He ascribes to her the inspiration for his own life's work of commitment and fait


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Transcript




foreign
[Music]
Jimmy Carter who is the author of a
brand new book called The remarkable
mother thank you so much for joining us
today President Carter I'm delighted to
be with you and with borders
Miss Lillian was such an enigmatic
figure such an extraordinary woman in
the book on its face is definitely a
biography a story about an extraordinary
woman and her family
this is also a story about a woman who
redefined herself and who who found a
way to live adventurously all throughout
her life but especially in her in her
middle life well mama was an indomitable
character and she tried to devote every
day of her life to doing exciting and
interesting and adventurous and
unpredictable and gratifying things and
she was strong-willed enough not to
worry about public criticism
or even the loss of some friends and she
would tackle the most controversial and
important uh events of problems in
society
in in a incredible fashion uh for
instance she saw when I was a little
child
in an isolated community that we only
had black neighbors no white neighbors
that the ravages of racial segregation
that had been in place then for almost
100 years should be ended and so she
just set out on her own to disavow any
legal constraints
even though the Supreme Court of the
United States and the Congress and all
the churches and all the schools said
racial segregation is the law of a land
she said it doesn't apply to me and that
was especially difficult in the South oh
yeah we were in the deepest part of this
of a deep south and so she did that and
that was a characteristic of a life
all the way through until she was 70
years old she was in the Peace Corps in
India still dealing with disadvantaged
people who were Untouchables mostly
suffering from leprosy and so forth she
was over there once again giving
everything she had as a registered nurse
to try to help those people have a
better life yeah and the first part of
the book is really a story of a small
town life frankly it's your mother
Lillian who met Earl and and they're
coming together and they're starting a
family and your father Earl was a strong
character as well but but your mom
really found a really strong voice as a
wife and as a mother at a time when you
said that southern matriarch or that
strong female matrac was such an
integral part of that sort of post-civil
War era it was because so many of the
men were killed during the Civil War so
that meant that that widows survived and
they had to be head of the family so
there was a kind of a custom then even
much later when I came along not to
exalt women who were independent and and
strong-willed and in some ways dominant
so it was a special characteristic of
some southern women mother
continued that her her parents knew the
Reconstruction days and they remembered
what happened after the Civil War my
grandfather her father talked about it a
lot but mother inherited some of that
privilege I would guess for a southern
woman to be exceptionally strong
and she was
blessed in many ways to be a registered
nurse because being a part of the
medical profession gave her some degree
of ability to withstand to be impervious
to condemnation because she reached out
to blacks and treated them as equals all
her life
you're talking the book about the
storytelling that you'd have in front of
the fire and and how important books
were to your family and to your mother
especially she read constantly in fact
she started a habit which my wife and I
still haven't and I think all my Ken
folks have of reading it at the table
because she didn't want to waste those
precious hours just eating food so she
would read at the table and my data
didn't much approve but she would get
permission from my daddy for us children
also to read yeah at the table so my
wife and I do the same and our children
did which precipitated a lot of
arguments or debates while we're eating
meals so we would read some provocative
thing in a newspaper or a magazine or a
book and then we start an arguing about
it so we debated it with each other and
that's one thing that kind of introduced
us to the political world
you say too in the book that when you
were reading your mother said everything
was cool you didn't have to be working
or doing anything else so you all read a
lot you know we did that's true my daddy
was a very Stern disciplinarian when
Daddy gave a command or laid down a rule
uh we were expected to follow it and if
we didn't we were severely punished
which was a custom in those days I got
five
major whippings while I was growing up
and I remember all of them a mother
would would see me and all my sisters
commit some so-called crime
while during the day and so she would
hasten to give us a very mild punishment
so when my daddy came home later in the
day she would say Jimmy did so and so
but Earl I've already punished him she
did not punish himself she's trying to
protect us from my daddy absolutely well
in 1953 though your dad passed away
again and and that marked a changing
point in your mother's life and in mind
yes you came back to playing after my
daddy died and so from 50 1953 on and I
never knew but one parent I was and I
was 16 years old when I left home I was
in the Navy about 12 years so mother
when I was even an adult a young adult
an actionable officer she really helped
shape shape my life but she did Blossom
forth after your father died obviously
she's just starting to now feel her way
into this new life she decides to spend
eight years as this fraternity house
mother with a bunch of raucous college
kids that's true that's just uh an
unusual choice right there you must have
known right at that moment that your
mother was going to take A New Path well
I did but it was well off enough my dad
left the money enough so she could buy a
new automobile every two years and she
bought a Cadillac so she would take her
new Cadillac over and turn it over to
those boys 96 of them right to use any
way they wanted to and then when they
tore it up or wore it out she would get
a new one and so she really treated all
of those boys as her own children I used
to accuse her of hearing more about them
than she did her real children but if
they got in trouble of any kind instead
of going to their parents to confess
that their girlfriend was pregnant or
they had violated the university rules
or got caught cheating on an exam they
would come to my mother and she was
there
you know in real term she was not only
their house mother she was she acted as
their loving parent yeah and you say in
the book that for for to the end of her
life some of these Kappa Alpha brothers
would come seek out Miss Lillian and
find her just to say hello and exactly
reconnect that's a wonderful and I was
always surprised to say they were still
out of jail yeah but they did quite well
absolutely well she had a good effect
you know um your mother was uh was had a
fun Spirit too to her she was a huge
baseball fan was at the very first
baseball game of Jackie Robinson played
in yeah she and my father went on One
Vacation a year
it was after we laid by our crop that
means we we got Pastor Paul we had to
plow the crop and before harvest season
so they had time off and they would go
each year for two weeks to a baseball
town to St Louis or to Cincinnati or to
Chicago or to Boston New York or
Philadelphia somewhere wherever they had
major baseball and they would stay two
weeks and at that time the teams weren't
moving around the nation like I do now
with airplanes right so they stayed at
home for a good while and they didn't
have any night games so they could watch
maybe a doubleheader baseball game and
then be free that evening to go out on
the town so that was a very delightful
vacation and she knew about the upcoming
prowess of Jackie Robinson he was from
Georgia by the way not too far from my
hometown so she and my daddy were there
the first game he played for the
Brooklyn Dodgers and and so she adopted
the Brooklyn Dodgers as her fan as her
team the rest of her life so when uh Ted
Turner bought the Braves I would quite
often sit in Ted Turner's owner's box
and my mother would go with me right
when they played the Dodgers she would
scream for the Dodgers she had one of
the most raucous voices you could hear
all over the stadium and either before
the game or afterwards every every
Dodger player would come by and give my
mother a love and a hug and a kiss and
and then of course
Tony Lasorda would come by also right
and then when I got to be president
later
my mother had Tony Lasorda's telephone
number which I'm sure he regretted and
she watched all of the Dodger games on
even on the west coast to a television
antenna and she would call her sort of
after the games and give him a piece of
her mind if he did something that she
didn't like she had a lot of interesting
experience and later she was a great
admirer of Muhammad Ali and it's hard to
remember then but he was condemned in
this country very severely
during the second World War I turned to
Vietnam War because he he was a draft
Dodger and he was also a Muslim and so
now he's looked on almost universally as
a great favorite but then he was really
condemned by many people my mother
adopted him maybe because of that so she
she abandoned me and my campaign for
running for president one time to go to
New Orleans to see him fight for the uh
for the Heavyweight Championships all
through this book you tell these
wonderful stories of your mother these
these stories of her loving all my
children and her these pro wrestling and
the Dodgers along the way your career is
growing now as you're reading this book
it was hard to tell where you were in
your career you did make some minor
references to your career and and you
could draw some of those parallels this
really is a book about your mother it
was hard to sort of discern as you read
it where you are in this book well she
played a role when necessary when I
started running for president
we had Amy who was only five years old
and so we asked Mama to do her share by
keeping Amy and after a few months so
mother got impatient with that and
decided she wanted to go on a campaign
Trail also so then we turned Amy over to
rosen's Mother also in Plains All of Us
from Planes and so mother went on the
campaign Trail and she she campaigned
actively for me five days a week every
week right for months and months and she
was so provocative
uh and attractive in her speaking way
and her irrepressible spirit that she
got me a lot of support she and Roseland
were the two secret weapons so by the
time my opponents woke up
they had already lost the election yeah
your mother was always very much into
politics I mean you talk about you know
going back before these folks but Hubert
Humphrey and then Lyndon Johnson and
Bobby Kennedy and later Andrew Young
that she sent uh some some money to when
he was an up-and-coming politician
clearly she was an active person really
engaged in politics in fact in some
cases she said that she listened to
those politicians more than you finished
then the Young when she did me and maybe
he would Humphrey as well not many
people know it but but the founder of
the Peace Corps was actually Hubert
Humphrey
uh John Kennedy got credit for it
because he happened to be president when
the legislation passed so Mama admired
Hubert Humphrey for the Peace Corps and
uh and he uh singled Mama out for
special attention while she was in India
yeah what would your mother think of
this presidential election that we're
going through right now with with Barack
Obama and Hillary Clinton and John I
think he would be exhilarated
to see the possibility likelihood maybe
of a black man a white woman being
elected president
and I think she would look with favor on
John McCain because I was a Navy man he
was a Navy man he was in prison I admire
him too still peacekeeping here still
peacekeeping I think so yeah well you
I'm telling him well I tried everything
across the aisle you know Rose and I
decided when I left the White House that
we wouldn't publicly endorse
you know in any of the democratic
candidates we don't get involved
directly in the in the primary campaign
because we overseas and everything a lot
and so we we don't we won't make a a
public decision until after the primary
season's over
and we're approaching they can mention
and then we'll make a choice
well that that part about your mother
going to the Peace Corps is to me the
most inspiring part of this book mostly
because you can follow your mother
through the series of letters some of
which you put in here and Other Stories
that we heard from some of the other
participants how she evolves as a person
she had already taken steps to your
point to reach out and to give back to
the world but when she went she there
was a point where she wasn't sure she
was going to stay it was very difficult
for her she was quite disillusioned
because Mama asked to go to any place
that was poverty stricken and where the
people had dark skin
so they sent her to India and she began
to learn at the University of Chicago
right here as a matter of fact uh how to
speak Hindi she thought she was going to
New Delhi and be a nurse but Mrs Indira
Gandhi he was a prime minister of India
ordained at that time a very strict
Family Planning program so instead of
coming to New Delhi mother was sent down
near Bombay to a little village called
me Crowley and and instead of nursing
sick people she was put in charge of
imposing very strict Family Planning
regulations on those poverty-stricken
right Untouchable people but her roles
expanded while she was there and and
what's what's the most inspiring part I
think about the book is to see how your
mother began to understand that while
maybe she couldn't change the world that
those that she came in contact with she
could directly affect and she could
improve the lots of of everyone that she
touched and yeah
their stories of you sending gifts to
her and and and she passed them on other
people and she would say
this is a great I'm passing it on to
someone else and you should know that
you've made two people happy me and the
people he would literally give all of
her food away she was constantly hungry
and she would write us letters about how
hungry she was so we would send her
peanut butter you know and different
kind of can uh vegetables but she
gave it all away and and this and she
wasted away when she finally came home
uh from the Peace Corps and when we went
to meet her at the airport in Atlanta
she couldn't walk
they had to bring her out in a
wheelchair she had lost 35 pounds and
she was already thin when she went and
uh but Mama
became finally a spare time after her
normal working duties she began to help
a doctor in a local clinic and So
eventually she became so invaluable to
him that the owner of the village of Mrs
Goodrich let her transfer from family
planning to nursing so then mother took
care of lepers and others that had
terrible diseases and she was in her
glory she thought it was the most
wonderful thing that ever happened to
her well there's a picture there's a
there's a wonderful picture in this book
of your mother and a young girl a girl
that she helped teach while she was in
India this was a daughter of the
gardener in that Village who worked for
the rich folks and he would sneak
vegetables and give them to my mother so
she could cook them in her little
apartment and she didn't have any way to
repay the garden up and so uh she
decided she didn't have any money so she
decided that she would teach his little
girl six years old how to read and write
in English and get her started on an
education very few of those very poor
people had a chance to to get educated
there was a lot of illiteracy there so
she taught the little girl and and the
gardener took a photograph of my mother
sitting on a rock teaching his little
daughter two years ago we went back to
India my wife and I did to build habitat
houses we built a hundred homes and near
Bombay I picked out a place where my
mother had been in the Peace Corps and
we met the rich folks that owned the
city still the town and they brought
this little girl in to meet me in
Roseland and she was obviously now a
grown woman she had gone on to get a a
doctorate and she was a president of
University and it was the young girl
yeah same young girl and that was a kind
of impact my mother had on other people
and she probably had no idea of people
that she was touching along no she did
yeah she did
how has your mother and and all that she
did and and especially in her in her
second half of her life how has that
affected you and all the work that
you've done with the Carter Center
and with everything else Habitat for
Humanity well I don't think there's any
doubt that uh that my whole family
including me you know has been affected
by my mother including even my my
grandchildren one of whom went to the
Peace Corps because my mother had done
so
but but I think I'm not bragging about
it but you know I think I'd arrived from
my mother a sense of Human Rights
as she treated the Civil Rights Movement
when I was a child when I became
governor
and made my inaugural address she was
sitting on on the reviewing platform and
I made an announcement that I had
traveled throughout Georgia maybe more
than any other candidate and I say to
you quite frankly that the time for
racial discrimination is over
and that put me on the front cover of
Time Magazine a couple of weeks later
and when I became president she was on
the reviewing stand and I announced that
human rights would be the basic
foundation for our foreign policy and I
don't think there's any doubt that uh
those statements in my attitude were
shaped at least partially by the example
that my mother said yeah well not only
that she's now set an example through
this book uh for for women looking for
another adventure in their life I think
so anybody that that thinks that their
life is over when they get older or
anyone who's afraid of of criticism if
they do the right thing or anyone who's
searching for a way to put into
practical use their religious beliefs I
think we get a lot out of this book
because my mother set an example not
trying to set an example with just that
was the way she was
she was a Christian and uh
she didn't preach she tried to put into
practical terms her faith she worshiped
the Prince of Peace so she tried to
promote peace she believed in humility
and
and Justice and service and uh
helping people who were despised and
alienated from society reaching out to
them especially
she believed in compassion and love for
people that maybe don't even deserve to
be loved so I think in many ways she
exemplified not only what
religious Faith ought to bring into a
person's life but also what it means to
be a great American
no she did become famous when I was
president but but just on an isolated
form on a little tiny community in south
Georgia she tried to be a great American
she tried to to exemplify the moral
values that made our country great and
that's really why I wrote the book at
this late date after she has passed away
was because of some uncertainty now in
society what can I do as an individual
human being to correct the
the mistakes that Society is making and
can I do it just by myself if I'm going
to be criticized for for going contrary
to custom so I thought that my mother's
example might be helpful there was no
doubt about that I think that the people
who read this book are going to find a
role model and we're also happy here at
borders that you decided now so many
years later but still such a relevant
subject to write this book thanks so
much for joining us today President
Carter nice to meet you thank you very
much good to be with you good to be with
you too thanks
I'm from Atlanta Georgia and I am an
admirer of Jimmy Carter
um
I'm from Chicago and I'm also an admirer
of Carter I think he did great things
during his administration and it's just
great to be able to come out here and
see him and get the book signed today
I'm a big fan of his and all the things
that he has said about his mother is
pretty remarkable we have great
admiration from President Carter and
it's a it's again it's a wonderful
opportunity and this is for my mother
having a good time glad that President
Carter is here I'm very excited to be
here to meet President Carter former
President Carter to be the first
president I've ever met so this is
exciting I'm here just because my mom
really appreciates Jimmy Carter and I
thought it'd be a great Mother's Day
present and it's probably the closest
I'll ever get to a president I'm really
excited
having up to
mountains
[Music]
me to
up over the clouds
[Music]
I could see around
me
everywhere



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