Jimmy Who?

 

What we forget about Jimmy Carter's legacy

Opinion by Julian Zelizer, CNN Political Analyst

 January 1, 2021

"Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President," an engaging documentary that airs on CNN on January 3, takes us back to when this largely unknown governor from Georgia -- mocked as "Jimmy Who?" -- ran for the highest office in the land and defeated incumbent Gerald Ford.

Opinion: What we forget about Jimmy Carter's legacy - CNN

Carter's friendship with Willie Nelson one that has endured through several decades. Nelson and singer Emmylou Harris visited Carter in the Oval Office in 1977.

Why would the rock-and-roll set flock to a man who, as president, is remembered today as being a micro-managing, straight-arrow engineer who failed to inspire or understand leadership?

The reason is that in his prime, Jimmy Carter was cool. He championed a kind of political populism that was extremely attractive to Americans disillusioned with Washington in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate.

What we forget about Jimmy Carter’s legacy | Shechaim's News of the Day (wordpress.com)

Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and author of the book, "Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party." Follow him on Twitter @julianzelizer. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Watch CNN Films' "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President" Sunday, January 3 at 9 p.m. ET. View more opinion at CNN.