Former President Jimmy Carter famously advocated for a “competent and compassionate” government.
However, just days after Carter died peacefully at his Georgia home at the age of 100, stories of Carter feuding with multiple presidents after he left office have come to light, including a longstanding rift with former President Bill Clinton.
This past Sunday, Clinton released the following statement on the passing of Carter, who was the oldest living president until his death.
Hillary's and my statement on the passing of President Jimmy Carter: pic.twitter.com/SOgqTZUdi6
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) December 29, 2024
“Hillary and I mourn the passing of President Jimmy Carter and give thanks for his long, good life. Guided by his faith, President Carter lived to serve others—until the very end.
From his commitment to civil rights as a state senator and governor of Georgia; to his efforts as President to protect our natural resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, make energy conservation a national priority, return the Panama Canal to Panama, and secure peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David; to his post-Presidential efforts at the Carter Center supporting honest elections, advancing peace, combating disease, and promoting democracy; to his and Rosalynn’s devotion and hard work at Habitat for Humanity—he worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.
Hillary and I met President Carter in 1975 and were proud, early supporters of his Presidential campaign. I will always be proud to have presented the Medal of Freedom to him and Rosalynn in 1999, and to have worked with him in the years after he left the White House.
Our prayers are with Jack, Chip, Jeff, Amy, and their families.”
Clinton’s statement reveals that he and Carter had a good personal and professional relationship.
However, leaked details of Clinton’s and Carter’s relationship years later can only be described as one of “meddling” and “disrespect” that created a major rift in Clinton’s administration.
According to details published by The National Review, back in 1994, there was a standoff between the U.S., its allies, and North Korea over the communist country’s nuclear program.
At the time, the U.S. was floating the idea of sanctions at the United Nations. Over the years, then-former President Carter had received multiple invitations to visit North Korea from Kim Il-sung and was eager to fly over and defuse the situation with an ultimate goal of convening a North–South peace summit and unifying the peninsula.
Reluctantly, the Clinton administration agreed to let Carter meet with Kim as long as Carter made clear that he was a private citizen and that he was merely gathering information on the North Korean perspective, which he would then report back to the Clinton administration.
However, according to the report, Carter pulled a bait-and-switch.
Without telling the Clinton administration, Carter flew to North Korea with a CNN film crew and proceeded to negotiate the framework of an agreement.
He then informed the Clinton team after the fact, with little warning, that he was about to go on CNN to announce the deal.
The report detailed that this infuriated the Clinton administration, and according to one cabinet member Clinton called the former president a “treasonous prick.”
Carter then accepted a dinner invitation from Kim, at which point Carter claimed on camera that the U.S. had stopped pursuing sanctions at the U.N., which was untrue. Nevertheless, once Carter went on television to announce all this, Clinton felt completely boxed in, and he was forced to accept the deal and abandon sanction efforts.
According to a Fox News report, this wasn’t the only time Carter celebrated a diplomatic achievement on CNN that left Clinton in the dark, including an international diplomacy trip to Haiti.
“Three months later, Mr. Clinton sent Mr. Carter to Haiti along with two other emissaries who together forced a military junta to surrender power and accept American troops,” according to The New York Times.
“But once again, when Mr. Carter returned to Washington he went on CNN before meeting Mr. Clinton for breakfast and a planned joint news conference. Mr. Clinton was furious and shouted. Mr. Carter shouted back.”
It sure seems like there was no love loss between the two.