White House Watch: Carter loves Bush-H.W., that is
Maybe its because they're the same age. Or maybe it's because they both loved foreign policy. But former President Jimmy Carter, on a book tour touting his 20th, Our Endangered Values, America's Moral Crisis, has revealed that his best presidential buddy since leaving Washington is former President George H.W. Bush. "When George Bush senior came into office, I had the best relationship I have ever had since I left the White House," he told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor this morning. "George Bush senior and [Secretary of State] James Baker relied on the Carter Center to do some major things, so I had an intimate relationship with them."
Not so with the others who followed him: Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, or current President George W. Bush, whose policies are scorned in Carter's new book, his first devoted to politics. Reagan, for example, stopped the practice of providing ex-presidents with regular briefings on world affairs. "When I was there," recalled Carter, "I gave Presidents Nixon and Ford briefings until President Nixon finally said you're giving me too many briefings; shut it down. I would send Dr. [Zbigniew] Brzezinski [the national security adviser] to give them detailed briefings almost every month. That didn't happen when President Reagan went into office until I officially requested it."
Clinton didn't seem to want Carter's help. But Carter revealed today that he had a secret ally in former Vice President Al Gore when it came to intrusions into foreign policy. "One of them was in North Korea, where President Clinton turned me down a number of times to go to North Korea," said Carter. "I finally wrote him a letter, a private letter, and said I have decided to go to North Korea without your permission. ... Al Gore intercepted my letter and called me on the phone. This was the same time as the 50th anniversary of the Normandy landing. President Clinton was in Europe. Al Gore told me on the phone, he was very close to me, that if I would change the letter to say 'I'm strongly inclined to go to North Korea' instead of 'I'm going,' that he would call President Clinton and ask President Clinton to give me permission to go without telling the State Department." It worked, said Carter.
As for Bush, Carter said he has had only one briefing, but it was on an issue near and dear to his Atlanta-based Carter Center: Sudan. "I want to express my admiration and appreciation for this administration's effort in Sudan. Because President Clinton and his administration, particularly his national security adviser and State Department, were averse to any sort of peace talks in Sudan. So when President Bush was elected in 2000, I decided to go to his inauguration. I think Rosalynn and I were the only two voluntary Democrats there. The rest of them were obligated to go. And the only reason I went was to ask the president, George W. Bush, who really appreciated my coming I believe, to start a peace effort in Sudan ... and he agreed to do so and did," said Carter.
Jimmy Carter's library and center
Carter's new book from Simon & Schuster