Return to Washington Examiner Homepage
May 25, 2013 | 03:36 PM
politics
Washington D.C. weather
Yeas and Nays

Jimmy Carter, chattiest diplomat ever

December 10, 2012 | 5:47 pm | Modified: December 10, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Leave a comment
Photo - Former President Jimmy Carter, left, speaks in the Rose Garden in 2001 with then-President George W. Bush. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Former President Jimmy Carter, left, speaks in the Rose Garden in 2001 with then-President George W. Bush. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Jimmy Carter was apparently quite the diplomat in the years after his presidency -- he has gone on secret missions for every U.S. president after him except Ronald Reagan -- but not much of a secret keeper.

According to Michael Duffy, Time editor and author of "The President's Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity," Carter traveled to some of the world's most dangerous places, producing "hair-raising" stories. But when President Obama decided to send Carter to North Korea, the administration made him sign a 10-point legal document issuing what he could and could not do in an effort to reel in the free-speaking Carter.

"Number 10 was you will never, ever speak to the press about it," Duffy told a crowd at the Woman's National Democratic Club last week. "Which was funny when Carter explained it to me. ..."

From WeeklyStandard.com

  • What the Data Didn’t Show

    Baltimore The presidential ambitions of Maryland governor Martin O’Malley have taken a hit after a federal investigation uncovered a sordid sex-drugs-and-racketeering ring festering right...

    Read More...

  • Do Not Disturb

    Harry Truman famously kept a sign on his desk in the Oval Office, “The Buck Stops Here.” Sixty years later, President Obama hangs a sign on the door to the Oval Office, “Do Not Disturb.”...

    Read More...

  • Citizens, Not Customers

    "We provided horrible customer service,” outgoing acting commissioner of the IRS Steven Miller told the House Ways and Means Committee on May 17, referring to evidence that his agency had...

    Read More...