Jefferson Cowie

Carter runs just when George Wallace, who is this kind of, you know, this segregationist, snarling governor of Alabama, getting tremendous traction in 68 and 72. And so the South becomes really important. There's this sort of political churn there, and Carter emerges as somebody who could win the South as a racial progressive.

That's a really important dimension of who he was, because a lot of people were really worried about the direction of the South, which was a core part of the Democratic Party at that time. And we forget that. You know, it's lost to the Democratic Party now. But at the time, the Democratic Party completely depended upon the South and was losing it after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

That's a really important dimension of who he was, because a lot of people were really worried about the direction of the South, which was a core part of the Democratic Party at that time. And we forget that. You know, it's lost to the Democratic Party now. But at the time, the Democratic Party completely depended upon the South and was losing it after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

That's a really important dimension of who he was, because a lot of people were really worried about the direction of the South, which was a core part of the Democratic Party at that time. And we forget that. You know, it's lost to the Democratic Party now. But at the time, the Democratic Party completely depended upon the South and was losing it after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

To say he's an insider, I think, I mean, we're talking about who he is as a candidate, right? He shows up in Iowa. Nobody really knows. You know, the famous line is Jimmy who? The Atlanta paper, I think, said, Jimmy who is running for president of what? He's not Muskie. He's not Humphrey. He's not any of these people who had absolute complete name recognition.

To say he's an insider, I think, I mean, we're talking about who he is as a candidate, right? He shows up in Iowa. Nobody really knows. You know, the famous line is Jimmy who? The Atlanta paper, I think, said, Jimmy who is running for president of what? He's not Muskie. He's not Humphrey. He's not any of these people who had absolute complete name recognition.

To say he's an insider, I think, I mean, we're talking about who he is as a candidate, right? He shows up in Iowa. Nobody really knows. You know, the famous line is Jimmy who? The Atlanta paper, I think, said, Jimmy who is running for president of what? He's not Muskie. He's not Humphrey. He's not any of these people who had absolute complete name recognition.

He was doing full-on retail politics in the primaries. So he was just out there at the plant gates and in the neighborhoods.

He was doing full-on retail politics in the primaries. So he was just out there at the plant gates and in the neighborhoods.

He was doing full-on retail politics in the primaries. So he was just out there at the plant gates and in the neighborhoods.

Right, and he was facing off an attack from the right from Ronald Reagan, and a lot of people at the 76th Republican Convention kind of felt the wrong guy won the convention. Like, Reagan's star was rising, but Ford inherited the mantle. So they're in a transition from a sort of traditional liberal Republican position to a much more conservative politics.

Right, and he was facing off an attack from the right from Ronald Reagan, and a lot of people at the 76th Republican Convention kind of felt the wrong guy won the convention. Like, Reagan's star was rising, but Ford inherited the mantle. So they're in a transition from a sort of traditional liberal Republican position to a much more conservative politics.

Right, and he was facing off an attack from the right from Ronald Reagan, and a lot of people at the 76th Republican Convention kind of felt the wrong guy won the convention. Like, Reagan's star was rising, but Ford inherited the mantle. So they're in a transition from a sort of traditional liberal Republican position to a much more conservative politics.

Yeah. And Borden Bernstein, after the stories on Watergate and All the President's Men, kind of create a template for a lot of hungry journalists. If you want to make it, those are the guys to emulate. Find the nasty, dark secret in the American state and reveal it. That's really central to sort of that kind of investigation. There's a lot of hope. You know, we see it as a dark decade.

Yeah. And Borden Bernstein, after the stories on Watergate and All the President's Men, kind of create a template for a lot of hungry journalists. If you want to make it, those are the guys to emulate. Find the nasty, dark secret in the American state and reveal it. That's really central to sort of that kind of investigation. There's a lot of hope. You know, we see it as a dark decade.

Yeah. And Borden Bernstein, after the stories on Watergate and All the President's Men, kind of create a template for a lot of hungry journalists. If you want to make it, those are the guys to emulate. Find the nasty, dark secret in the American state and reveal it. That's really central to sort of that kind of investigation. There's a lot of hope. You know, we see it as a dark decade.

But the first half, it's cynical about the federal government, but I think there's a lot of political hope for what might come next, that the whole idealism of the 60s might find some sort of institutional presence in the 70s. You're talking about the Bee Gees, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

But the first half, it's cynical about the federal government, but I think there's a lot of political hope for what might come next, that the whole idealism of the 60s might find some sort of institutional presence in the 70s. You're talking about the Bee Gees, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

But the first half, it's cynical about the federal government, but I think there's a lot of political hope for what might come next, that the whole idealism of the 60s might find some sort of institutional presence in the 70s. You're talking about the Bee Gees, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Right. So I presume you're leading us up to the crisis of confidence speech, which was supposed to be an energy speech. The energy crisis is defining the decade. We're literally running out of gas, right, which is a great metaphor and a reality. And it's causing stagflation, both high unemployment and high inflation, which are not supposed to go up at the same time. So nothing's working right.