And, I was sitting in Sam Donaldson’s office in Washington and Sam was an ABC correspondent for the White House and I think you’d probably recognize his name, he’s since retired, but Sam had a copy of Carter’s book on his desk and I said, “Sam, have you read…” Sam had written a book and he asked me if I had read his book, and I said, “Sam, every time I go to the grocery store, I pick up a copy of your book off the shelf and I read a little bit of it when I’m standing there in the grocery store.” (Laughs.)
And put it back. Yeah. And he said, “Well, when you get yours published, I’ll do the same, I’ll return the favor.” So anyway, I just had sort of a good time with that.
Sounds like it. I liked Donaldson quite a bit. (Laughs) Well, you know, we just liked himso much and in March of 1976, somebody poured a bottle of champagne over on top of his head. (Laughing)
There you go. I wanted to ask you, obvi- ously, you still have a relationship and a friendship with the Carters and I wanted to ask you if you know- you know he had a health scare recently – about Jimmy and how’s he doing now? He appears to be doing very well. I know they’re going to the Trump inauguration so I suppose you know, if you’re not in good health and pretty good shape you don’t get yourself mixed up with all that crowd of people – crowds of people, I’m saying. And the frenzy of inauguration, but the last time I saw him, physically and mentally, he is sharp as he can be mentally. And physically, he doesn’t just bounce up on the stage like he used to, he walks a little slower and is a little more careful, but you know, Jimmy Carter is an amaz- ing man to be 92 years old.
92, wow. And I think it was his constitution of his body that he was able to absorb this medication that they gave him. I haven’t heard him say and I
haven’t heard any doctors say. He appears to be doing very well.
Oh well, that’s good. Hey and I understand he still even teaches Sunday School class, is that right? He teaches Sunday School class, yeah.
That’s so cool. I don’t think he runs anymore. I don’t even think he rides a bicycle. (Laughs.)
He’s done enough running. Yeah, he’s – you used to see pictures of him all the time, jogging or running. Yeah.
Then he ran that big race that time for President. (Laughing) Bad joke. The last question Dot is what is the major thing that you hope that people would take away from reading your book about Jimmy Carter? I think I’ve stated to you before, I think he’s an extraordinary man in just the way that his mind functions. And he decided that he wanted to have the Carter Presidential Library where it is. They did that under a lot of obstacles and of course that will be a major physical mortar and brick, as they say, that will go on for him. Now, the thing of course, his legacy as the President of the United States, I will always go back to the 52 Americans that came home safe. And the other things are equally as important so that’s just my personal feeling and I frankly would like to know how other people feel about it, I really would. I may be off target with that, I don’t know. But thank you so much, you’ve asked some great questions. It’s kind of understood that anybody who ever lived through these years, they’ll never forget him. When somebody asked me one time, I was being interviewed or something and I had talked about Jimmy Carter because they were talking about politics and who was your favorite President and they said, “Well what was the first thing that pops in your mind when you think about Jimmy Carter?” And I said, “Million dollar smile.” •
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