Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: Power and Human Rights, 1975–2000 by E. Stanly Godbold Jr (review)

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• Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: Power and Human Rights, 1975–2000 by E. Stanly Godbold Jr
• Kristin L. Ahlberg

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: Power and Human Rights, 1975–2000. By E. Stanly Godbold Jr. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. xii, 889. $39.99, ISBN 978-0-19-758156-8.)

The second part of a two-part biography of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, this volume begins with Jimmy’s departure from the Georgia governor’s office in January 1975 and continues up through 2020. In narrating the intervening forty-five years, E. Stanly Godbold Jr. balances the domestic and foreign policy accomplishments and crises of the Carter administration against Jimmy [End Page 660] and Rosalynn Carter’s professional and personal lives. The work’s exhaustive scope covers well-known successes and failures. But of more interest is Godbold’s characterization of the Carters’ shared southern background and their advocacy. Their experiences, beliefs, and trust in one another all influenced their political partnership and the issues that they chose to prioritize, both in the White House and after. Godbold notes that the Carters “raised their caring and nurturing of family and neighbors to the national and international levels” (p. 661). It is this interplay that reveals a more complete assessment of both Carters, consistent with recent scholarship and the increased availability of archival documentation from the Carter administration.

As befits the title, the Carters’ partnership and the identification of human rights within the Carter administration and beyond constitute two major themes knitted together throughout the narrative. Rosalynn Carter adapted to situations and environments necessitated by her husband’s naval service, his return to Georgia to run the Carter peanut warehouse, and his nascent political career. In all instances, she assumed greater responsibilities and felt empowered to share her views. Godbold suggests that these proved helpful in 1975 as Rosalynn campaigned for her husband. Jimmy Carter’s recognition and appreciation of his wife’s political acumen, tact, and interpersonal skills meant that he not only encouraged Rosalynn to pursue initiatives in the area of mental health but also selected her, in early 1977, as a presidential envoy to several South American countries, where she engaged in substantive discussions on human rights. While these activities sometimes subjected her to criticism concerning the “proper” role for a First Lady, Godbold concludes that Jimmy Carter’s willingness to ask his wife to assume these responsibilities “should not have surprised those who had come to know him” (p. 112).

Throughout the 1976 campaign, Jimmy Carter emphasized human rights and asserted that his administration would pursue a human rights–based foreign policy. As president, he corresponded with Soviet exile Andrei Sakharov, which “served notice to the Soviet Union in particular, and the world in general, that he was serious about his promotion of human rights” (p. 130). He also nominated Mississippi civil rights activist Patricia “Patt” Murphy Derian as the first assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs. Derian, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, and Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher worked to translate Carter’s commitment into a viable policy, acknowledging the difficulties inherent in applying such a policy consistently. Carter’s actions in limiting foreign assistance to human rights violators and his willingness to speak out against abuses “legitimized human rights as a tool in US foreign policy, a legitimacy that would last far beyond his administration” (p. 118).

Godbold’s research is comprehensive, drawing on a wealth of memoirs, published primary sources, secondary accounts, interviews, and archival collections. Levity is present, for example, in Godbold’s description of Willie Nelson’s 1977 visit to the White House: “Carter had moved from farming to politics and had found a way ‘to help out the average Joe,’ whereas Willie had learned how to entertain the average Joe” (p. 146). Unfortunately, errors are present. Incorrect and inconsistent titles are used for several administration [End Page 661] officials. In other places, dates are transposed or wrong, and names are misspelled. However, these should not detract from Godbold’s overall achievement in documenting the lives of the Carters, who “had set an example, risen above the din of politics and the many national and...