Don Gagne

It seemed like he was always in the news for the wrong reasons, and the White House had to deal with it. Billy did create one major headache, though, when He became an agent of the government of Libya. And Muammar Gaddafi was in power then. And after multiple trips, he was paid hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And he became the center of this kind of swirling storm of allegations about influence peddling. And if all of that wasn't enough in the midst of all this, Billy Carter even kind of responded to all of that by using his Libya connections to sell ice cream.

And he became the center of this kind of swirling storm of allegations about influence peddling. And if all of that wasn't enough in the midst of all this, Billy Carter even kind of responded to all of that by using his Libya connections to sell ice cream.

And he became the center of this kind of swirling storm of allegations about influence peddling. And if all of that wasn't enough in the midst of all this, Billy Carter even kind of responded to all of that by using his Libya connections to sell ice cream.

Wait, what? And that kind of sums it up. He was stubborn, and the scandal did create some problems for President Carter, who at one point was in the midst of a difficult campaign, both for renomination and for re-election.

Wait, what? And that kind of sums it up. He was stubborn, and the scandal did create some problems for President Carter, who at one point was in the midst of a difficult campaign, both for renomination and for re-election.

Wait, what? And that kind of sums it up. He was stubborn, and the scandal did create some problems for President Carter, who at one point was in the midst of a difficult campaign, both for renomination and for re-election.

Yeah. And for the record here, Jimmy Carter never used the word malaise in this speech, but he was talking about kind of a malaise that the country was in, a funk that the country was in, right? And again, we keep coming back to the energy crisis. That's what this speech was meant to address. And it was... It was aimed at instilling some urgency on the issue.

Yeah. And for the record here, Jimmy Carter never used the word malaise in this speech, but he was talking about kind of a malaise that the country was in, a funk that the country was in, right? And again, we keep coming back to the energy crisis. That's what this speech was meant to address. And it was... It was aimed at instilling some urgency on the issue.

Yeah. And for the record here, Jimmy Carter never used the word malaise in this speech, but he was talking about kind of a malaise that the country was in, a funk that the country was in, right? And again, we keep coming back to the energy crisis. That's what this speech was meant to address. And it was... It was aimed at instilling some urgency on the issue.

But Carter ultimately said he got stuck on this question. He said, why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problems? So he's raising big things there.

But Carter ultimately said he got stuck on this question. He said, why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problems? So he's raising big things there.

But Carter ultimately said he got stuck on this question. He said, why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problems? So he's raising big things there.

Right, and the public, again, did not want to hear that, and they kind of saw a lack of confidence in him as well, as part of that.

Right, and the public, again, did not want to hear that, and they kind of saw a lack of confidence in him as well, as part of that.

Right, and the public, again, did not want to hear that, and they kind of saw a lack of confidence in him as well, as part of that.

This was probably the defining moment in the public's eyes, right, of the Carter presidency. Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and detained more than 50 Americans on staff there. The Iranians held the American diplomats and staff hostage for 444 days.

This was probably the defining moment in the public's eyes, right, of the Carter presidency. Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and detained more than 50 Americans on staff there. The Iranians held the American diplomats and staff hostage for 444 days.

This was probably the defining moment in the public's eyes, right, of the Carter presidency. Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and detained more than 50 Americans on staff there. The Iranians held the American diplomats and staff hostage for 444 days.

And again, this spilled over into an American election year, 1980. Diplomatic relations to end the standoff failed. So Carter tried something. He ordered the U.S. military to attempt a rescue mission. That mission failed. and it resulted in the accidental deaths of eight Americans, American service personnel, in the desert after one of the helicopters crashed into another transport aircraft.