A WHYY reporter recalls the day Jimmy Carter visited her family at her childhood home in Lansdowne

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Imagine being approached by a sitting president’s re-election campaign and asked to host a backyard gathering for you, family members and some neighbors during which you could ask the POTUS pretty much anything.

In October 1980, Jimmy Carter answered the questions of everyday residents in the suburban Philadelphia borough of Lansdowne.

The Q&A was set up at the home of Joe and Bertha Phillips, two Catholic Democrats who voted for Carter in 1976.

Joe, a Philadelphia public school English teacher, and Bertha, a Democratic committee woman and volunteer campaigner for a Democratic congressman, were the parents of nine children, ages 9 to 24.

The president spent about an hour with the Phillips family and their guests.

WHYY News senior reporter and Climate Desk editor Susan Phillips remembers it all too well, as Joe and Bertha were her parents.

In the wake of Carter’s recent passing, Susan shares her memories of that day:

Jennifer Lynn: This was an hour of your family’s life.

Susan Phillips: It was amazing that it was actually less than an hour because there was so much preparation ahead of time. So we found out Sunday, and he came Thursday afternoon, and in that period of time — like four days — there was a mad rush, right? It wasn’t a rush to clean our house or anything like that. There was this Inquirer columnist who thought that was the case, and it’s like, no, you have no idea who my mother was. She was not rushing to clean the house. But there was this rush of what they called the advance team.

JL: Alright, so the advance team — I imagine they’re going to make sure everything’s secure, right and tight for the president. I mean, he’s got to come in and leave intact.

SP: These people spent four days at our house. I’m actually not sure what they did. Secret Service folks. They were really serious. And my older sisters, who were teenagers at the time, all had crushes on them. All these people were there installing phone lines — this is pre-cell phones. There were half a dozen phone lines around a tree in my backyard. There were phones in my sister’s bedroom. There was a red phone, literally.

JL: Red, like a Commissioner Gordon Batman phone?

SP: It was so funny. And one of my siblings picked it up one day, and it started ringing, and then everyone kind of screamed and ran and hid. There was a lot of prep, yes, and a lot of attention — a lot of press attention.

JL: And the press was fascinated with the laundry line in the backyard.

SP: They seemed to be fascinated with the laundry line, and we just thought that was hysterical.

JL: People use laundry lines.

SP: Yeah! And listen, my parents were ahead of their time. They were like, if it’s sunny out, we don’t need to use the dryer. So we had a huge laundry line. We had 11 people in our house.

JL: So, Susan, I found through some archives the daily diary of President Jimmy Carter on that day — Thursday, Oct. 2. And at 4:10, the presidential party motored from Philadelphia International Airport to the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Phillips in Lansdowne. The president was greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Phillips and the nine children: Rachel, Susan, Angela, Aloysius, Patricia, Monica, Mary Ellen, Frank and Joe. Were you all lined up in age?

SP: We were all lined up from youngest to oldest, yeah.

JL: It says the president went to the backyard area of the Phillips residence. He had discussions with residents of Lansdowne, and members of the press were there.

SP: You know, one thing that shocked me was there were so many gifts that people sent. There was so much food. There was a case of Tab because, I guess, he drank Tab. And he just ran through our house — he didn’t care about any of that food. And I remember, I’m 13 and I’m thinking, he’s not eating any of our food, look at all this food. So he runs out to the backyard, sits on a stool — mind you, he had this big $1,000-plate event fundraiser in the city to get to — and he just starts taking questions from our neighbors.

JL: And your brother got to ask a question — your older brother. You had several college-age siblings.

SP: Five of them were in college.

JL: Five were in college. Who asked the question?

SP: My oldest brother, Joe. He was a grad student at Notre Dame, and he was getting his Ph.D. in economics. So he asked a question about the Federal Reserve, about interest rates, and it made national news because Carter’s answer completely changed what he had said about it before. The fact that he had an opinion about interest rates — and he thought they shouldn’t be raised — was big. He said, “I know the Federal Reserve is supposed to be independent, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t give my opinion.” And so he answered that question. I think my parents were very proud of my brother for asking that question.

JL: Some of this turned into a campaign ad of sorts.

SP: The scene of him greeting my little sister Rachel, who was 9 at the time and very cute, I’m sure, made it into a campaign ad. I looked for that ad recently, but I haven’t been able to find it.

JL: OK. And why your family? Why Lansdowne?

SP: If you read back in the newspaper articles, my mother’s like, “I don’t know why we were chosen.” But then when they talked to the campaign people, there were a number of reasons. One was purely logistical. And then they wanted a family with a priest — but we had a nun, so I guess that worked. My mother was very much active with getting elected to Congress — Congressman Bob Edgar, who was a Democrat in a very, very red county. It’s not red anymore. People don’t remember — 1980, it was very red. They wanted an Irish Catholic family. They wanted a big family, a family with a big yard, and somebody like my mother, who had a lot of connections to the community.

JL: Was it good for your family, this experience?

SP: Absolutely. I mean, I think it’s something that everyone remembers. If I look back at the pictures, I don’t know if they would be able to do that now. I mean, the amount of security was not as intense as it is now. And at one point, he jumps on top of a [limo] and starts waving to the crowd.

JL: Well, Bertha and Joe are not with us any longer — they have passed. Was this a moment they referred to often?

SP: Yeah, I definitely think it was a highlight of their life. They were in their mid-40s at the time. My father had taught for years in the Philadelphia public school system. My mother, she had raised nine kids while at the same time doing a lot of community work. This was somewhat of a reward for her, in a way, when I look back on it.

JL: And looking through some articles, you just recently learned something about your father and how he was feeling leading up to the president’s visit.

SP: Yeah. I guess a reporter had asked him, “Do you have any criticisms or critiques of the Carter administration?” And my father was really polite about it. He said, “I don’t feel comfortable critiquing someone I’m about to welcome into my home as a guest.”

JL: Susan Phillips, thanks so much. What a unique experience.

SP: Thank you.