The Carter Years | "Jimmy Who?" | 1

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1976, as America struggled to recover from the twin traumas of the Watergate scandal and the war in Vietnam, an unlikely figure emerged from the Georgia countryside promising to bring integrity back to the White House. Jimmy Carter was a drawling peanut farmer and former Navy man, whose plain-spoken message resonated with American voters. His election win marked a seismic shift in American politics.

Carter became the first Deep South president since the Civil War, and he quickly pursued controversial actions: granting amnesty to conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War and pushing to give the Panama Canal back to Panama. He then set his sights on bringing peace to the Middle East with a series of risky talks at Camp David. But a lingering energy crisis would shadow his first year in office.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, history buffs, if you can't get enough of the captivating stories we uncover on American
0:04.7	history tellers, you'll love the exclusive experience of Wondry Plus.
0:08.4	Dive even deeper into the past with ad-free episodes, early access to new seasons, and
0:13.0	bonus content that brings history to life like never before.
0:16.2	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcast and embark on an unparalleled journey through America's most pivotal moments.
0:36.8	Imagine it's 4.45 AM on Sunday, November 4th, 1979 in Washington, D.C.
0:43.7	Your President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, and you're sitting in your study at home,
0:49.4	nervously drinking a cup of coffee. It's your third. You're about to call the president of Camp David to
0:55.3	update him on a troubling report from Iran, and you need to be alert. You've just learned that
1:00.2	hundreds of Iranian students and protesters have marched from Tehran University to the U.S. Embassy.
1:06.0	There, they've seized more than 60 American staffers and taken them hostage. The situation in Iran has been deteriorating for months following the fall of the Shah,
1:15.8	the ruling monarch of the country.
1:17.9	Anti-American protests filled the streets of Tehran in recent weeks, and the president
1:22.4	ordered hundreds of embassy staffers to return home, but a small staff of about 70 remained.
1:28.6	And now your worst fears have been realized, and American lives are at risk.
1:33.0	You pick up the phone and your call gets patched through to Camp David, where the president
1:37.6	is staying with his family for the weekend.
1:39.9	The camp has become Carter's refuge from the pressures of the job in his upcoming re-election campaign.
1:45.3	You don't relish disturbing him, but this is an emergency.
1:49.1	Yes?
1:50.6	Sorry to wake you so early, sir.
1:52.7	Our embassy in Iran has been overrun.
	...

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