Let’s face it, practically no one ever thought he would be elected president in the first place. Or that he would forge a landmark treaty in the Middle East. Or that he would win the Nobel Peace Prize. Or that he would beat cancer. But Jimmy Carter has been confounding expectations throughout a life that […]
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Trump’s Carter Problems vs. Biden’s Reagan Possibilities
The low approval rating and various political headwinds for President Biden have invited comparisons with another first-term Democratic president, Jimmy Carter, and the challenges he faced running for re-election in 1980. Many Republicans are thinking about his defeat at the hands of Ronald Reagan, bullish that Donald Trump also has what it takes to oust […]
Read MoreJoseph Hendrie, 98, Dies; Key Figure in the Three Mile Island Crisis
Joseph M. Hendrie, a physicist who led the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the country’s worst nuclear power accident, at Three Mile Island — a mishap that chilled Americans’ trust in nuclear energy for decades — died on Dec. 26 at his home in Bellport, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 98. His daughter Barbara Hendrie […]
Read MoreThe Best Sentences of 2023
Over recent days, I took on a daunting task — but a delightful one. I reviewed all the passages of prose featured in the For the Love of Sentences section of my Times Opinion newsletter in 2023 and tried to determine the best of the best. And there’s no doing that, at least not objectively, […]
Read MoreHow Biden and Other Presidents Saw Kissinger: Adviser, Friend and Foil
Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state who died this week, was a go-to adviser for many American presidents over his decades in politics. Here are some thoughts and stories over the years from several of those presidents, expressing awe, exasperation and sharp criticism. President Biden “I’ll never forget the first time I met […]
Read MoreRosalynn Carter Funeral: Former First Lady Remembered and Buried in Plains, Georgia
To them, she was more than a first lady. Rosalynn Carter was the wife with strong opinions and few reservations about sharing them, the mother who had to intervene when her eldest son’s catastrophic attempt at baking a cake led to a kitchen fire, the grandmother who kept a stash of blueberries in the freezer […]
Read MoreRosalynn Carter’s Life in Photos
Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was a bridge — between generations, between the quiet simplicity of small-town life and the chaotic arenas of national and international politics, between competing notions of a woman’s place in the home and in the world. She was a humanitarian who confronted dictators […]
Read MoreJimmy Carter Emerges From Hospice Care for Rosalynn’s Memorial Service
His face was pale and gaunt, his legs were wrapped in a blanket, and his eyes never seemed to make contact with the family members huddled around him. But on Tuesday, Jimmy Carter was there, in the front row of a church in Atlanta, just a few feet from the coffin holding Rosalynn Carter, his […]
Read MoreRosalynn Carter to Be Honored by Presidents and Fellow First Ladies
Former President Jimmy Carter will emerge from hospice care to join some of his successors and every living presidential spouse on Tuesday to honor Rosalynn Carter, his wife and partner of more than three-quarters of a century and the nation’s first lady from 1977 to 1981, the Carter Center said. Mr. Carter, who turned 99 […]
Read MoreWhy Is Everyone So Grumpy?
Peter Coy: So, Binya, Americans seem very grumpy about the economy lately, despite what looks like some pretty good news. I bet a lot of people will be talking over Thanksgiving dinner about why that is. I think I have some ideas to chew on. Let me throw out one thing to start. One problem […]
Read MoreRosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s Hometown Mourns for the Love of a Lifetime
There was a time, Rosalynn Carter once confessed, when she dreaded going back to Plains, her tiny Georgia hometown. Actually, she was furious about it. She was enjoying her life as a young sailor’s wife, relishing the freedom and sense of adventure that came from being so far from home. But then, her husband, Jimmy, […]
Read MoreThe Carters’ Hometown Mourns for the Love of a Lifetime
There was a time, Rosalynn Carter once confessed, when she dreaded going back to Plains, her tiny Georgia hometown. Actually, she was furious about it. She was enjoying her life as a young sailor’s wife, relishing the freedom and sense of adventure that came from being so far from home. But then, her husband, Jimmy, […]
Read MoreThe Formidable Rosalynn Carter
Mr. Carter described their relationship as “like one person acting in concert.” Asked about his decision-making on foreign policy, he said that he confirmed his judgment with “Rosalynn, Cy” — Cyrus Vance, his secretary of state — “Zbig” — Zbigniew Brzezinski, his national security adviser — “and Ham” — Hamilton Jordan, his chief of staff. […]
Read MoreRosalynn Carter Lauded for Humanitarian Work, Mental Health Advocacy
Not long after Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady, died on Sunday, politicians from both sides of the aisle commended her work in that public role and the strides she made for women’s rights, mental health and many other causes. The Carter Center in Atlanta announced her death, calling her “a passionate champion of mental […]
Read MoreRosalynn Carter, Politically Active First Lady, Dies at 96
Rosalynn Carter, a true life partner to Jimmy Carter who helped propel him from rural Georgia to the White House in a single decade and became the most politically active first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, died on Sunday in Plains, Ga. She was 96. The Carter Center in Atlanta announced her death. It had disclosed […]
Read MoreHow Does Hospice Care Work?
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, have both transitioned into hospice care at home. Mr. Carter, 99, decided to forgo additional medical interventions in February after facing several health issues in recent years, including melanoma — a skin cancer that spread to his brain and his liver. The Carter Center announced that […]
Read MoreRosalynn Carter, 96, Enters Hospice Care at Home in Georgia
Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady, has entered hospice care at her home in Georgia alongside her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice since February, the family announced on Friday. Mrs. Carter, 96, revealed in May that she has dementia, but Friday’s statement offered no further details about her condition or […]
Read MoreJimmy Carter’s Birthday Party Was Rescheduled in Case of Shutdown
There was trivia, doll-making and a chocolate marble cake that was gone in minutes. Hundreds of admirers of Jimmy Carter celebrated his 99th birthday in Atlanta on Saturday at the presidential library and museum named for him, after organizers moved the festivities up one day earlier than his actual birthday because of the threat of […]
Read MoreJimmy Carter’s Final Chapter: Peanut Butter Ice Cream and His 99th Birthday
Maybe it’s the peanut butter ice cream he still enjoys. Or the fact that his first-place Atlanta Braves are cruising toward the playoffs and he wants to see another World Series. Or as many of his loved ones and former advisers suggest, maybe he is just too stubborn to follow anyone else’s timetable. Whatever the […]
Read MoreWhy Is Joe Biden So Unpopular?
Joe Biden is an unpopular president, and without some recovery, he could easily lose to Donald Trump in 2024. By itself, this is no great wonder: His two predecessors were also unpopular at this stage of their presidencies, also endangered in their re-election bids. But with Trump and Barack Obama, there were reasonably simple explanations. […]
Read MoreJimmy and Rosalynn Carter Reflect on 75 Years of Marriage
PLAINS, Ga. — Jimmy Carter, a midshipman in the U.S. Naval Academy, wanted to marry Rosalynn Smith, a girl he met on the day she was born and knew mostly as his sister Ruth’s best friend until they went on a double date, riding to the movies together squeezed in the rumble seat of an […]
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