Jimmy Carter’s Integrity and Humility Shone in His Conversations with Oprah
The former president, who passed away at age 100, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Super Soul Sunday.By Cassie HurwitzPublished: Dec 29, 2024 4:26 PM EST
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Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, passed away on December 29, 2024, the Carter Center confirmed. He was 100 years old.
Carter will no doubt be remembered for his politics, from his success in foreign diplomacy to his expansion of educational programs. But he’ll also be remembered for his humility and dedication to human rights (for which he eventually won a Nobel Prize). In celebration of Carter’s life, we’re recalling a few of his best moments from conversations with Oprah through the years.
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Carter gives a fireside chat while president.
In 1987, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited The Oprah Winfrey Show just after the publication of their cowritten book, Everything to Gain. The former president and First Lady spoke with Oprah about their time at the White House, including how difficult it was to transition out of those roles. “Everybody grows in life,” Carter said. “You can build a good life upon your previous experiences, whatever they are. Sometimes it might even turn out to be as good or better than what you think you lost.” His wife echoed that sentiment: “You can come through a crisis and go on to have a full life,” she told Oprah.
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In 2015, Carter sat with Oprah for an episode of Super Soul Sunday and elaborated on those thoughts. Carter had just released another of his 30-some books, A Full Life, and was on the cusp of announcing that he had been diagnosed with melanoma. His conversation with Oprah mirrored his time of reflection. The two talked Carter’s faith plus his thoughts as he left the White House in 1981, what it was like to administer a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and his childhood growing up in a predominantly Black community. Listen to their full interview here, or read on for a few highlights.
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Carter sits at his desk in the Oval Office.
Oprah asked Carter some hard-hitting questions. When she posed the question “What do you think is our world’s greatest wound?,” Carter had a thoughtful response. “The inequity among people,” he said, elaborating that it’s often the “oppression that is exerted by the powerful and rich” that maintains this imbalance. And when Oprah asked him about healing this wound, Carter answered that we need to recommit to prioritizing human rights. “We have now abandoned that deep and penetrating and exalted commitment to have peace and equality of opportunity among all people.”
You can build a good life upon your previous experiences, whatever they are. —Jimmy Carter
Overall, that was the goal Carter had both as president and in life. When Oprah asked what the prayer in Carter’s heart is, he said: “That I can use the best of my talent and ability and influence to enhance the kingdom of God on Earth, which I believe comprises peace and freedom and the alleviation of suffering.”
Along the way, Carter managed to learn a few lessons that he imparted on Oprah. When she asked him what he thought the “essence of a full life” is, Carter responded, “I’ve been fortunate. My high school teacher Miss Julia Coleman said, ‘We must accommodate changing times but cling to principles that never change.’ And so I tried to accommodate changing times, and to take whatever talent or ability I had to expand my heart and expand my mind. And I learned quite early in life that when I do have a failure in life, to get over that and to try for something even greater.” Carter added one more lesson he learned from a pastor, Eloy Cruz: “You just have to love God and love the person in front of you at any particular time.”
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Carter building houses with Habitat for Humanity in 2017.
Of course, Carter’s life wouldn’t have been quite so full without his wife of 77 years. And he told Oprah quite a few tidbits about how they make their marriage work. “The secret to long marriage: She was the right person,” Carter began. “We decided fairly early in our life to give each other plenty of space. Rosalynn has her own ideas, her own ambitions, her own goals in life, which, in some ways, are different from mine,” he added. “I let her do her thing. She lets me do my thing.” And the Carters followed one other big rule of marriage: “We try to resolve our inevitable—and fairly frequent—differences before we go to bed at night,” Carter said.
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The Carters on Valentine’s Day, 1976.
But the sweetest thing about the marriage is that Carter still blushed when talking about his wife. “I’ve been lucky,” he said, sharing that he was basically smitten from the start. After going on one date with Rosalynn, Carter said this: “She’s the one I’m going to marry.” Although she turned him down at first—because she had promised her father she would finish college—Rosalynn eventually agreed to be his wife.
Decades later, his love for Rosalynn was as pure as if they had just met. “I can’t really quantify it or describe it in words,” he told Oprah. “She was quiet, she was extremely intelligent…there was just something about her that was irresistible.” And when Oprah called Carter out on his blushing, he had the simplest response: “I can’t help it.”
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But when Oprah asked how he truly felt about his time as president, Carter gave himself some grace. “I did the best I could,” he noted. “As my vice president said, we told the truth, we obeyed the law, and we kept the peace. And we promoted human rights.” And when Oprah asked how he’d rate himself, Carter said: “With gratitude, and I’d say, an adequate modicum of satisfaction.”
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Carter will be remembered for his legacy of leadership, generosity, and kindness. He set the standard for what it means to look out for your neighbor—a principle we should all certainly strive for every day.