Why Jimmy Carter is the father of the post-presidency and saw the power of his status
Fox News
Jimmy Carter has transformed the post-presidency into an institution with a power and purpose of its own, as Jared Cohen details in this exclusive excerpt from his new book, "Life After Power."
Carter became an author, writing 32 books after his presidency. Former presidents can be powerful allies for their successors, but they can also undermine them. "We have no way of knowing why [Carter] thought what he thought, or why he said what he said." Jared Cohen is a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book is "Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House" (Feb. 2024, S&S).
Two generations, the millennials and Generation Z, have come of age since he left the White House in 1981.
And James Earl Carter Jr. – a man who, when he told his mother in the 1970s, "Mama, I’m going to run for president," was met with the nonplussed response, "President of what?" – has transformed the post-presidency into an institution with a power and purpose of its own.