Jimmy Carter reflected on a ‘full life’ during a 2015 interview with WHYY. The former U.S. president died Sunday at 100

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Editor’s note: The following transcription is an excerpt of a 2015 interview and has been edited for clarity. 

In the summer of 2015, I had the privilege of interviewing the late President Jimmy Carter. He had just written the book “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety,” and was about to make an appearance at the Free Library in Philadelphia. The book details his thoughts about his upbringing, marriage to Rosalynn Carter, political career and post-presidency. I spoke with Mr. Carter over the phone. Among other things, he said growing up in the tiny community of Archery, Georgia, was an impressionable time when this country was in the infancy of coming to grips with racial aggregation. I hope you enjoy this encore conversation.

President Jimmy Carter: Well, we had 200 African Americans living in Archery, Georgia, and off we had a family of five white people and so I grew up not knowing any distinction. You know, we didn’t have any superiority between me and my Black playmates, but I did see as I got older, the devastating negative effect on both white and Black people to discriminate against our neighbors, whom I loved very much, and who and who cared for me. And so it was not until later, when I was in battleships and submarines, that [President] Harry Truman ordained that the end of racial segregation take place in the military and also in the civil service — this was seven years before Martin Luther King Jr. became active or Rosa Parks sat in the front row of a bus. So I saw it as a naval officer, in the crew on the ship with me, the great benefits of doing away with racial discrimination.

WHYY’s Morning Edition host Jennifer Lynn: In your book there was one thing that you mentioned about the hostage standoff in Iran. American hostages were released by the Iranian government about 20 minutes after you left office, and you said to this day you can’t explain the timing of the release. Is this something that haunts you?

Carter: Not really. The happiest moment of my life, I believe — maybe except when I married Rosalynn  — was getting the word on the inauguration stand after I was no longer president. It was about five minutes later that the hostages had tried to take off on the airport in Iran, and they had been there in the airplane, ready to take off since 9:00 that morning. So they sat there for three hours. And then Ayatollah [Ruhollah Khomeini] held them there until I was no longer president. But it doesn’t haunt me, you know, it’s just one of those things I never have tried to find out what was the cause.

Lynn: Once leaving the office, you founded the Carter Center, an NGO advocating for human rights and economic and social development. Of course, you’ve won the Nobel Peace Prize. Do you feel your post-presidential accomplishments eclipse your achievements as president?

Carter: It’s different and more gratifying, more adventurous, more unpredictable, you know, more exciting. What we do now. We have programs in 80 countries on Earth. We are working with people who are destitute or who want to have their first breath of choosing their own leaders through an honest election, or who whom we are able to help sometimes find peace when they’ve been at war. So these things are very gratifying and intensely personal. And so we actually work side-by-side with hundreds of people in small villages in the desert and in the jungle areas of Africa, and I will be building 100 homes, for instance, later this year in the western part of Nepal. Getting out and working side-by-side with people who are in need is something that I could not do as president, so it is more personally gratifying.

Lynn: You love woodworking and painting, writing poetry. How do these personal pleasures that require a lot of private time help you sort things out, either personally or professionally?

Carter: Well, most of the time when I’m at home and have some time, I write books. This is my 29th book. But when I get tired of looking at the computer screen and have already visited my farms and so forth early that morning, then I go out into the woodshop, which is just 20 steps away. I either want to design and build a piece of furniture or paint a picture doing these ancillary things as a matter of challenge, and stretching my mind and heart. When I’m building a piece of furniture or painting a picture, I concentrate, pretty much on the project that I’ve just described to you, I’m not thinking about international affairs or what the Carter Center is going to do next or where we eliminate this disease or that disease and pretty well just biting time and enjoying doing things with my own hands.

Lynn: You mentioned you’ve attended presidential inaugurations, of course, since you left office. Whose inauguration would you like to attend next?

Carter: I hope we’ll have a Democratic president and I’m not going to make a choice. But among Democrats, I’m not going to name a person. But who gets a direct Democratic nominee that they’ll get. Pretty much full support in the Carter family.

Lynn: Pope Francis will visit Philadelphia in September. Your thoughts on the pope as a fan of the environment and his focus on caring for the poor?

Carter: He’s a great man. I knew about him when he was a champion of human rights in Argentina. You know, I think he’s been a very good champion of the environment. Well, I’m glad to see his sermon a few weeks ago about global warming, which I think is a real threat to the world. And also I’ve been very excited about his promises directly to me that women, for instance, are going to play a greater role in the church in the future.

Lynn: Feel like I got to know you from this book. I see you as certainly ambitious. Grateful. You remain very curious. Very active. Tell me about the pace of life now?

Carter: I think that as I get older, I’m 90 years old now. Soon I’ll be 91 in October. So I know that I’ll be more restricted in my travel and so forth in the future and we hope, Rosalynn and I, just have a more quiet place to live in our home where we’ve lived since 1961. And I’ll be able to find things to do with her. And to visit our own farm that we’ve had since 1833, as a matter of fact, the same land. And I’ll just stay with our friends and enjoy the final days of my life. But I’m looking forward to that.

Lynn: And teaching Bible school still at the local church?

Carter: Yes, I still, I taught last Sunday, I’ll teach this Sunday and we have a very small church. We only have about 30 members of our regular church congregation, but we have several hundred visitors who come every Sunday to hear, you know, see the curiosity of a politician teaching the Bible lesson. So I enjoy that. A lot of people that come to our church tell me they haven’t been to church in 20 years, or “I’ve never been to church before,” it’s a special ministry that that church has.

Lynn: President Carter, thank you for your time.

Carter: It’s been a pleasure talking to you. Thanks a lot.