It was a hot day in July 1985 when I met the former President of the USA – who – as he was leaving the Asteras Vouliagmenis. Despite the heat, the temperature I remember that day was 35 degrees, Carter wearing a light colored suit and his wife Rosalie impeccably dressed.
He had, you see, come from Corfu to Athens, for talks as said by the American embassy, with the then Prime Minister and the then Minister of Defense Yannis Charalambopoulos. But what kind of conversations? At the time the main reason for his visit to Greece was the cruise to the magical islands of the Aegean on a luxury yacht provided by a well-known shipping family.
He was taller than he looked on TV and younger, always smiling, just like we were used to seeing him on the news. It was indeed daring to find myself suddenly and unannounced in front of an ex-planetary, in a short-sleeved shirt, holding an old-fashioned tape recorder, while his “inflatables” looked at each other awkwardly.
Obviously it was the abysmal audacity of the young reporter, the ignorance of danger, call it what you will, however I managed to get in front of him, stop him and ask him to make and… statements.
The then young reporter Nikos Hasapopoulos (left) with Jimmy Carter
As if a Greek had entered the Oval Office
At first he wondered about the tape recorder, laughed, nodded to the “inflatables” that it was “ok” and waited with a smile for the question. The way I saw him in that light-colored suit with a split in the middle and holding his beautiful wife tenderly, someone probably made him a businessman, rather than a jerk and a terrible ex-planetary.
The questions of the Greeks about his term in the presidency of the USA were many. Because he ordered a lot to the Greeks and the Cypriots, during his pre-election campaign. Why did he promise them a just solution to the Cyprus problem and the removal of foreign troops? Why did he promise calm in the Aegean? And all this was said at the time to attract the vote of expatriates. Promises in return, but they turned out to be empty promises.
With his election to the Presidency of the USA, Archbishop Makarios (President of Cyprus) was so happy that he ordered the bells of all the churches to ring joyfully, granted by presidential decision a half-day for civil servants and a holiday for all the schools of Cyprus. It was, for us, as if a Greek had entered the Oval Office.
But another US President and another American governance. During his presidency, the arms embargo came to , military aid to Turkey continued, there was no calm in the Aegean and the Turkish Cypriots declared a pseudo-state without even an attempt by Washington and Carter to stop them.
The “bloated” and the question
On that warm July day at the Astera entrance, Jimmy Carter seemed happy to be in Greece, after all, he said, he had many Greek friends in the US. Not only friends but also financiers. I pressed the button on the tape recorder and asked him directly about the Greekness of the islands, about the continental shelf and about the pseudo-state.
It was a big question, almost a statement, but he answered in that weird Southern accent, saying something rounded about Greek-American friendship, about the two countries being on the same side of history, the world wars, and Korea. The second question was about , he went to answer, but the “inflatables” caught up with me. They stood in front of me, Carter and his wife walked towards the exit and an “inflatable”, maybe the leader (who knows?) told me to “stay here”, pointed to a point, as if to say do not follow.
He was knowledgeable about our national affairs, but probably didn’t want another conversation. He always kept an even distance, knowing very well the interest of Washington to be on good terms with both Athens and Ankara. So, as it was written then, it is no coincidence that every time he approved military aid for our country, he did the same for our neighbors at the same time, something that cost him on both sides of the Aegean. Something for which he was heavily criticized in both countries, but often criticized by the Congress itself.
The Nobel Peace Prize
However, he won it for successful peace efforts in the Middle East (between Israel and Egypt) and was popular in the US. He made a commitment to human rights and social justice the focus of his tenure as the 39th president of the United States. Carter represented a new generation of Southern men who were more tolerant and progressive on race issues.
He “held his hand”, not only because he managed the rural family peanut farm, he also knew carpentry. Until old age, he built houses and distributed them to the homeless. At the age of 100 he went to vote for Kamala Harris in the presidential election, judging that Donald Trump would not be a good President.
