Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Carter Leaves Extraordinary Post-Presidential Legacy; The Life & Legacy of Former President Jimmy Carter; NTSB to Assist in Investigation into Deadly S. Korea Plane Crash. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 30, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:01:35]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Some key details of Jimmy Carter's funeral plans coming into focus this hour, as our nation prepares to honor and pay tribute to the former president who has died at the age of 100. We're now learning that he will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, and President Biden will deliver a eulogy at Carter's state funeral in Washington, D.C., on January 9th, a day that Biden has declared as a national day of mourning.

Today, Carter is being remembered for the arc of his extraordinary life, from peanut farmer to the 39th president of the United States. He served just one term in the White House, but went on to redefine what a post-presidency could look like. Today, many are honoring him for his humanitarian work, and also for the deep love that he shared with his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter. CNN's Eva McKend is in Carter's hometown of Plains, Georgia, for us.

Eva, tell us how people there are processing the loss and putting the focus on Jimmy Carter.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, there is a mixture of sadness and pride here today in Plains. President Carter post-presidency could have lived anywhere in the country or around the world, but he chose to return here to Plains, a town of just a few hundred people.

And over the coming weeks, we will hear about his lifetime of service, his character, his courage, but for the people here, he was their neighbor. Not long ago, he would be walking here in downtown Plains, right here on the main street, or teaching Sunday school at church here in this community.

We caught up with Bonita Hightower. She owns one of the few restaurants in town. And here's how she's thinking about President Carter's legacy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONITA HIGHTOWER, OWNER OF BONITA'S RESTAURANT: You know, I'm really - it's a happy sad, only because he left so much. You know, he had - he left a nice path for anybody that wants to do something great, you know, from Plains, Georgia or wherever, a small town, and he did it. He fulfilled and then he came back home to rest. I think that's what we're all supposed to do. So, I feel really great, because he impacted so many lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And Brianna, we know that the state funeral will take place next month in Washington, but in the coming days here in this community, in Plains, they are most focused on supporting the Carter family. Brianna?

KEILAR: I love Bonita's energy there and her words. Eva, thank you so much for that report from Plains, Georgia.

Let's talk more about Carter's life and legacy with Kai Bird. He is the author of the book, "Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter," which is such an interesting name, Kai.

He passed away - President Carter did, yesterday in South Georgia, where he was born and raised. As you heard Bonita Hightower there saying, he came back home to rest. How did growing up in, you know, in Georgia farmland shape Jimmy Carter?

KAI BIRD, AUTHOR, "OUTLIER: THE UNFINISHED PRESIDENCY OF JIMMY CARTER": Well, he had an extraordinary arc of a life, as you just mentioned. Yes, he was born in Plains, Georgia, but grew up in Archery, just down the road about a mile. And it was just a hamlet, and the only - he was the only white boy there.

[15:05:03]

And all his playmates were African American kids. And he grew up in very spartan circumstances, no running water, an outhouse. He, you know, but he had a privileged life, as his father owned several thousand acres of land eventually. And you know, he - Georgia formed him, and he was very much a South Georgian. And he was the first president elected from the former Confederate States. So, it was an extraordinary, improbable career for - to the White House.

KEILAR: He, you know, went on to be a state senator, later governor. How then - and then he also, though, we should note, was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He was on nuclear submarines. How did that shape him?

BIRD: Well, he excelled at everything he did. And again, he had an extraordinary career working under Admiral Rickover in the Navy. He was a submariner. He was on duty once in the Pacific, this is after World War II. And he was on lookout post, and was literally swept off the bridge of the submarine.

And then in a miracle, was swept back onto the bridge of the submarine. I mean, he was an extraordinary lucky seaman on that day. But his life was like that, just one extraordinary chapter after another, running for the presidency after one term as a governor. That was a pretty thin resume. But, you know, it was 1976 and the country was exhausted from the Vietnam War and morally exhausted by the Watergate crisis. And here comes the completely unknown, virtually unknown politician from the Deep South, who promised integrity and that was what he ran on. And he improbably won the White House from a sitting president, Jerry Ford.

KEILAR: Yes, it's always interesting to see what the American people want. They want what they want. And he was at the time selling what they did want. Of course ...

BIRD: They want authenticity.

KEILAR: Yes, authenticity.

BIRD: They want authenticity, exactly.

KEILAR: Character, clearly, at that point mattered so much to them. He did, though, he only served one term. And the subtitle of your biography says a lot of it, "The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter." How did he feel about losing re-election, and how did that shape what he did in his post-presidency?

BIRD: Oh, he felt terrible about winning that - losing that 1980 election to, you know, a B-rate Hollywood movie actor named Ronald Reagan. It was unbelievable to him. But you know, Carter was an unusual politician. He wasn't good on television. He was good in small circles of people at a dinner party, a small gathering of voters. He could give - he could really connect with people.

But he wasn't terribly good as a speaker on television. And Ronald Reagan, of course, was. But there's a more fundamental difference. I mean, Ronald Reagan was sunny about America, and Jimmy Carter was a truth teller. He was a Southern Baptist, born again, who, you know, had - was troubled with the notion of America's exceptionalism.

You know, as a young man growing up in the Deep South in the midst of segregation, he could see America with all its warts. And he, as a Southerner, came from a heritage of defeat and occupation. So, you know, he was a little - he was too smart to be taken in by an entirely sunny view. And he tried to tell America hard truth.

So, you know, he gave this famous "Malaise" speech in 1979, in the summer of '79, in which he sort of berated the American public for a tendency to worship self-indulgence and consumption.

Now, you know, that sounds like a sermon, not a political speech. But he was really concerned about sort of the culture of narcissism that was enveloping America in the '70s and '80s. And, you know, I think in many respects, he turns out to be a prophet of what ails America even today - narcissism, overconsumption.

[15:10:05]

The notion that we can do anything with the environment that we wish and get away with it. You know, Carter preached that we - there are limits - limits to American exceptionalism, limits to our American unilateralism. He urged caution, and he wanted us to approach every issue intellectually and morally. And that's why he put human rights at the center of our foreign policy. And it's been there ever since. He did succeed in that.

KEILAR: Yes, and it's so much of his legacy. Really fascinating to speak with you, Kai. Thank you so much for taking time to be with us today, Kai Bird.

BIRD: Thank you.

KEILAR: Jimmy Carter was, of course, married to Rosalynn, the love of his life, for more than 77 years. And she was not only his wife, but really his closest confidant. It was a powerful bond of enduring love that was on full display at Rosalynn's funeral a year ago last November, when their daughter, Amy, tearfully read a letter that the former president wrote to Rosalynn 76 years before, while he was serving in the Navy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY LYNN CARTER, JIMMY CARTER'S DAUGHTER: "My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I returned, to discover just how wonderful you are. While I'm away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn't to me. Goodbye darling, until tomorrow. Jimmy."

KEILAR: Joining me now is Kathryn Cade. She served as First Lady Rosalynn Carter's projects director in the White House. She's a Carter Center trustee. I don't know what you think about it, but that letter, I think, is a letter anyone would want to receive. And, you know, we see in there these two people who are really partners in every sense of the word. Can you give us a little window into their relationship?

KATHRYN CADE, THE CARTER CENTER TRUSTEE: You know, what's so amazing about that letter is that most people don't really understand or see Jimmy Carter as a romantic. And yet, his - he was very much a romantic, and his deep love for Rosalynn from the day they were married also was fundamentally embedded in his respect for her as a full partner and human being.

As I think about President and Mrs. Carter and the time that I have spent with them, it was such a huge privilege for me to serve in the administration and then to continue to work with them to help build the Carter Center into the human rights organization that it is today, and later to become good friends.

And as I think about some of the time that we spent together as good friends, I think it illustrates sort of the amazing nature of their relationship. I had the privilege of traveling with the Carters to Egypt to help observe the first presidential election there. And during that time, the week that we were there, I was deployed into the city of Cairo to monitor a number of individual polling sites, as were the Carters. And at the end of the week, we met - together or we were - it was planned that we would meet together for a dinner just for the staff. And we went to a restaurant that was on a hill overlooking Cairo, and we had a wonderful meal which included the three members of my observation team, who I had asked specifically to come, because I didn't want to leave them behind that night.

And at the end of the dinner, President and Mrs. Carter got up from the table, held hands, and walked to the edge of the patio terrace. And I watched them look out over the lights of the city of Cairo, and I was reminded that here was a couple who had been through such incredibly trying times to achieve the Camp David Accords.

And for those who don't know, Mrs. Carter was instrumental in serving as a scribe during those 13 days at Camp David and serving as a sounding board for President Carter. And they had continued that work to bring - together to help bring peace to the Middle East, that time being in Cairo. And I was just moved by what an amazing moment that was.

I'm also reminded of the time that President Carter responded to Mrs. Carter's concerns about mental health in the United States and the absence of adequate mental health services.

[15:15:02]

He appointed a presidential commission. Mrs. Carter served as the honorary chair. He viewed her as his trusted advisor on all things related to mental health. The work of that commission was extraordinary. It laid the groundwork for many changes that have been made in our mental health system over the last 40 years. And it's work that still continues at the Carter Center ...

KEILAR: Yes.

CADE: ... through our mental health program.

KEILAR: And that was - that's ...

CADE: So, it's just, you know, in every aspect ...

KEILAR: ... that's such a ...

CADE: ... of their lives, they were partners.

KEILAR: Completely, and that he took what she said and prioritized what she said should be a priority.

We were just speaking last hour with Kate Andersen Brower, who interviewed Rosalynn Carter, and she was talking about how ahead of her time Rosalynn Carter was on mental health. And that is really something that I think is such a part of her legacy. Can you talk a little bit about that, why that meant so much to her and why that was an area she wanted to make such a difference for people with?

CADE: I think for both Mrs. Carter and for President Carter, the notion that every human being has value, every human being has worth and has dignity, very much played out in the work of the President's Commission on Mental Health. It was groundbreaking in that one of the mental health commissioners was actually a woman who was in recovery, who had suffered from serious and persistent mental illness the first time ever that someone with lived experience had been asked to play a role in setting mental health policy.

And that reflected both President and Mrs. Carter's belief that even ordinary people have extraordinary experience and that they need to be engaged in public policy. I think that the commission also focused a great deal of attention on public attitudes about mental health and mental illness. And that it's hard to believe now, but 50 years ago, people were afraid to even talk about the subject.

And most people were afraid to admit if they had a mental health problem. People were afraid to seek help. And we were afraid to finance it in a way that gave people access to health. President Carter himself understood the importance of making mental - good mental health services available to folks. And he also, because of his great confidence in Mrs. Carter, was committed to making sure that the recommendations that the commission made were implemented.

And so, among other things, there were significant increases in the level of funding for research. There were significant increases in funding for the prevention of mental health. And there was even a national plan for providing services to the people with chronic mental illness who had been released from large state institutions without appropriate supports in their own communities.

So, I think that the mental health - the attention that we have to mental health today, the fact that stigma has begun to lift, and the engagement of folks in building strong community-based services are all a result of the work that the President's commission did.

KEILAR: Yes. Well, Kathryn, it's ...

CADE: But, you know, it's not just the mental health work that I'm reminded of. It's the fact that, you know, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were a husband and wife who were in some ways just ordinary citizens like the rest of us. And I remember being in Plains one Sunday, attending the church service with the two of them on - because I wanted to hear President Carter teach a Sunday school class.

And at the end of the service, Mrs. Carter asked me to go back to the house and have lunch with the two of them. She told me that Jimmy always made lunch after church. And so we went back to the house, and President Carter served me his two specialties. One was a peanut butter and banana sandwich. The other was - served on whole wheat, please (ph.). The other was a tomato, vidalia onion and mayonnaise sandwich served on whole wheat.

And when he gave it to me, I said, sir, I'll never eat that much. She looked at me and said, you can take the leftovers on the plane with you and eat it on your way back to Boston. So, I share that with you because President Carter was a remarkable human being. And his faith was truly at the core of who he was. But it was his commitment to human rights and his belief that there was dignity and worth to every person, that it's those beliefs that will continue to animate the work of the Carter Center.

Mrs. Carter and President Carter, as partners, have built the Carter Center into a strong and vibrant organization. And it will be an enduring legacy to the values that both of them held dear.

KEILAR: Yes. Kathryn, it's so special to talk to you. And I love that he - you weren't going to waste food on his watch, that was for sure.

[15:20:02]

Kathryn, thank you so much for taking time. I know this is a tough time for everyone close to the Carters. But also, as you're remembering him and Rosalynn as well with these rich memories and sharing them with us, I hope that is helpful as well. Thank you so much for being with us.

CADE: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:24:47]

KEILAR: We're waiting for a team of NTSB investigators to arrive on scene in South Korea as they are helping officials there try to piece together what caused a Boeing 737 to crash land at an airport and burst into flames.

[15:25:02]

Officials confirmed that the pilot of the Jeju Air flight reported a bird strike just minutes before careening across the runway and slamming into that embankment there on Sunday. And video appears to show the aircraft without its landing gear deployed, but it's unclear why. One-hundred seventy-nine people died in the disaster, two crew members sitting near the tail section, the only people to survive this.

Authorities are now calling for an inspection of all Boeing 737 planes operating in South Korea while the country's acting president has ordered investigators to check their entire airline operations system.

CNN Aviation Analyst and former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz is with us now.

Peter, you have the U.S. sending this team of federal investigators to help in your experience with the NTSB, what role could they play and what are they going to be looking for?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the team that comes from the United States comes under the auspices of an international treaty of which Korea is assignee and so is the United States. So, the NTSB is the official accredited representative to this accident. Boeing and others will be - the FAA and others will be assisting the NTSB. And the NTSB and the Korean counterparts in the Aviation and Railway investigative bureau have a very close working relationship. I don't anticipate any problems with their collaboration.

KEILAR: So, we are learning that the pilot reported a bird strike just minutes before this crash. It appears, based on the video we've seen, that the landing gear was not down, that the flaps were not - certainly not fully deployed. Is there a reason that that - that the pilot would have not deployed the landing gear, not deployed the flaps? Or do you think there was more likely something the matter with the airplane?

GOELZ: Well, that's - you know, those are both very perplexing facts. I looked at the video that apparently shows the engine ingesting the bird or whatever it ingested. And it appeared to me from that shot, it was directly underneath, that flaps had been extended and it would have been. They were in final approach. The flaps would have been set that, you know, halfway down. But when it hit the runway, the flaps did not appear to be extended and certainly the landing gear wasn't down.

There really is no explanation for that. Because the landing gear, if it does not go down automatically as instructed, you could manually release them. So, it's not clear why that occurred. And the other perplexing thing is the speed that the plane hit the runway. I mean, it was going far faster than any landing speed, which is about 140 knots for a 737. That was going far quicker. And it landed down the runway, which meant there wasn't much runway left to run out, so it's very perplexing.

I've heard one speculation that perhaps they were trying to do a go around and they didn't drop the landing gear. But we won't know until the voice recorder is downloaded and we hear the challenges that this crew was facing.

KEILAR: This embankment that they hit, talk to us a little bit about the design of this particular airport, how other airports don't have this feature, what this is for, the kinds of questions that are being raised about whether it should have been there.

GOELZ: Yes. That's a real - that is a real concern. This runway was 9,000 - a little over 9,000 feet long. And at its very end was a concrete structure protecting a navigational aid called a localizer. That did not have to be at the very end of the runway and shouldn't have been there. What they should have had was a runway overrun area.

There's a material called EMAS that is a collapsible cement. Over 100 airports in the United States have this runway overrun EMAS area. It stops a plane. The concrete collapses and it stops an overrun and saves lives. I think that's going to be one of the big issues. There are other airports in Korea that have the localizer placed at the end of the runway.

[15:30:00]

They're going to have to rethink that and probably change it.

KEILAR: Have you ever seen anything like this?

GOELZ: No. This is the ...