White House Diary

By: Jimmy Carter

Narrated by: Jimmy Carter, Boyd Gaines

The edited, annotated diary of President Jimmy Carter - filled with insights into his presidency, his relationships with friends and foes, and his lasting impact on issues that still preoccupy America and the world.

Each day during his presidency, Jimmy Carter made several entries in a private diary, recording his thoughts, impressions, delights, and frustrations. He offered unvarnished assessments of cabinet members, congressmen, and foreign leaders; he narrated the progress of secret negotiations such as those that led to the Camp David Accords. When his four-year term came to an end in early 1981, the diary amounted to more than 5,000 pages. But this extraordinary document has never been made public - until now. By carefully selecting the most illuminating and relevant entries, Carter has provided us with an astonishingly intimate view of his presidency. Day by day, we see his forceful advocacy for nuclear containment, sustainable energy, human rights, and peace in the Middle East. We witness his interactions with such complex personalities as Ted Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Joe Biden, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin. We get the inside story of his so-called “malaise speech”, his bruising battle for the 1980 Democratic nomination, and the Iranian hostage crisis. Remarkably, we also get Carter’s retrospective comments on these topics and more: 30 years after the fact, he has annotated the diary with his candid reflections on the people and events that shaped his presidency, and on the many lessons learned. Carter is now widely seen as one of the truly wise men of our time.

Offering an unprecedented look at both the man and his tenure, this fascinating audiobook will stand as a unique contribution to the history of the American presidency.

©2010 Jimmy Carter (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

An Annotated Diary

Essentially, this is an annotated edition of President Jimmy Carter’s diary which he kept while in Washington. He has very brief comments related to each portion which refer to specific circumstances, explain circumstances, or comment on current, present outcomes. I am not a particular fan of Jimmy Carter, but I did find the book interesting though not exciting. It allows a glimpse into the President’s daily life and routine and reads in a routine sort of way. It is revealing in a few places, but there are not real surprises if you are familiar with the territory. If you are a fan of Carter you will be rewarded. If you are not a fan, you will find the diary self serving. However, diaries and memoirs are written to support one’s own point of view. If readers will simply suspend judgment and let Carter explain himself, they will be rewarded. For me, a far more exciting and rewarding glimpse into how a president’s life in office is revealed in “Reading for Glory” the White House tapes of Lyndon Johnson. These are also annotated and edited, but it is LBJ unguarded. This record is also available from Audible and a wonderful listen. The annotations are read by the President and the diary portions are aptly interpreted by Boyd Gaines.

A great book

A wonderful book that outlines the fantastic presidential administration that Jimmy Carter held. I highly recommend this book!

Carter's religion overrides

This book is well written and well performed and helps the listener to understand Carter's failures that resulted from his placing his personal religion before the needs of the country. Carter did not understand that is necessary for the president to engage with the press and support their legitimacy in our democracy. He continually dismisses the press and thinks he could do better without them. Like Trump he has no sense of humor nor the courage to do the White House correspondents dinner. Carter seems to interpret form policy through the lens of his personal religion.

An inside look at the demands of the Presidency

Carter's WHITE HOUSE DIARY pulls back the curtain on the day-to-day activities of the President in a way that I have not seen in other presidential memoirs. It is an honest assessment of the daily successes and failures, as well as the very human frustrations and frills of the job. The book contains chronological excerpts from Carter's diary. What I liked most about the book was that Carter (in his voice) provided a modern (c.a. 2010) analysis of many of the entries, casting them in a historical light, admitting mistakes, celebrating successes, making this a kind of annotated diary.

Lots of detail

great detailed introspection of the details and daily life of the President Jimmy Carter years.

Honest, Undoctored, Fascinating, Comprehensive

The diaries are remarkable in the way they reveal the nature of the Presidency. Histories reveal the issues that we look back on in retrospect as important. Memoirs are filled with justifications. This diary gives a sense of what was important to President Carter on a daily basis. This is a remarkable view of the Presidency.

Moreover, Jimmy Carter is a weirdly honest person. Whatever you might think of his politics, his unwillingness to doctor the diaries allows for a fair assessment of his time in office.

This was a remarkable time in American history that we seem to forget. The Camp David Accords brought a measure of peace between Israel and her neighbors even as Lebanon slid into civil war and the Iranian Revolution brought Islamic radicals to power for the first time. In his tenure in office, Carter pressed negotiated a new Panama Canal treaty that transformed the American relationship with Latin America. When he entered office, most of the leaders there were military dictators; when he left almost all of the nations were holding
elections.

There are quirky elements to the book as well. When the somewhat puritanical Carter meets women, he will freely say, "she was very attractive." Scoop Jackson is regularly irritating him.
Carter teaches Sunday school each week to about 250 people. He is a hardcore evangelical, pressuring Deng Xiao Ping to allow for the free distribution of Bibles.

This is a remarkable man by any standards: successful farmer, business person, nuclear engineer, Navy Admiral, State Senator, Governor, President, founder of two major international non-profits, mediator, religious leader, professor, and author of 26 books.

The book is kept lively by switching between a reader and updates on the issues in the Diary from Carter. If you love Carter as I do, then this is an easy five stars. If you don't like his politics, it is a four star. If you hate him, and you aren't tight on cash, this is a useful corrective worth hearing.

Carter better understood

I was too young to appreciate Carter when he was President. I understand better now

A little bitter

Would you try another book from Jimmy Carter and/or Jimmy Carter and Boyd Gaines ?

Most likely not.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting part of the story is that Carter seems bitter about his loses in his different elections. He seems to to present that he thinks his administration did nothing wrong and it was all the other presidents (before and after) made all the mistakes. Very classless the way he projects that.

What about Jimmy Carter and Boyd Gaines ’s performance did you like?

Straight from the horse's mouth

Do you think White House Diary needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, we got the point

A fantastic look back at the Carter years

At first I didn't like how it jumps between the narrator and Carter himself, but soon I found that Carter's voice really helps. He adds insight and comment 30 years after his diary entries. With all he achieved in life, his poor PR during the presidency is sometimes hard to understand.

A account that will save him from prosecution

for there are many who are guilty in both the Democrat and Republican political party organizations.