First Lady Rosalynn Carter, rest in peace..
Fair disclosure: In 1976, Wonder Wife and I voted for James Earl Carter because Jimmy Carter was not a creature of the Deep State that had shoe-horned President Nixon into self-destruction. Also, we felt the Carters, Jimmy and Rosalynn were very decent people who might uplift the manners and morals of D.C.’s insiders.
The Carter Presidency had its triumphs and defeats. The defeats might be covered later; however, for now, it is De Mortis Nihil Nisi Bonum, as the Romans used to say.
Without doubt, the major triumph of the Carter Presidency was how he and Rosalynn managed to bring Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israeli’s Menachem Begin to Camp David and hold them there for 13 tumultuous days that resulted in a first-ever peace treaty between Egypt and Israel -- The Camp David Accords of 1978.
Candidate Carter came to office pledging to sell the presidential yacht (which he did) and to sell Camp David (which he had never seen.) Fortunately, an aide suggested the Carters spend a weekend at Camp David. Rosalynn and Jimmy fell in love with Camp David and that played a role in their joint idea to bring Sadat and Begin together in a quiet retreat in which some real shuttle-between-the-cabins diplomacy might be achieved.
In the midst of running for reelection, every Carter advisor told the President that bringing the two fire-brand leaders to D.C. for a few days would likely fail. But the Carters knew more about the Middle East than the average couple from Plains, Georgia. From his encyclopedic knowledge of the Holy Bible, The President knew the geography of the Holy Land almost as well as Menachem Begin. Moreover, he and Rosalynn had traveled all over Israel in May of 1976, meeting with then Prime Minister Golda Meir.
Sadat and Begin were natural-born sworn enemies. Like Hamas and Israel today. They had a long history of making war against each other and losing loved ones to the guns and bombs of the other. Getting them to meet face-to-face for one day in Washington, let alone 13 days at Camp David was beyond everyone’s imagination. Except that of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Begin told aides they did not want see each other. But back then, the U.S. was an economic and military colossus. Egypt and Israel depended greatly on U.S. aid. And neither Sadat nor Begin wanted another Six-Day War (1967) nor another Yom Kippur War (1973). And so, grudgingly, Sadat and Begin agreed to come to Camp David for a few days at most. Thirteen days? Impossible.
For an exciting blow-by-blow account of how the Carters made the impossible possible read: Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace. by Lawrence Wright, 2014. Lovers of high-drama, cliff-hanger geopolitical maneuvering will gain new respect for both of the Carters. Rosalynn Carter, Requiesce in Pace.
Additional reading: "Is the Biden administration about to put the Abraham Accords at risk? The Hill. October 16, 2022. "Biden trashes the Abraham Accords," by Tony Badran, Tablet Magazine, November 21, 2022.
-30-
NB: At www.central-view.com the updated Author tab has new photos of Wonder Wife.
|
