DAVID GIBBS - University of Arizona Professor of History "Remembering Jimmy Carter" - Episode 221

This week on the Rick Flynn Presents podcast we remember our 39th President of the United States JIMMY CARTER. Our special guest is University of Arizona History Professor DAVID GIBBS. President Carter passed away, on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100. This interview was recorded the very next day at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. David Gibbs, who has studied the Carter presidency for the past 15 years, talks about this President's legacy and new evidence that shows America’s right turn in domestic and foreign policy really began during the Carter presidency, not — as is widely believed — during that of his successor, Ronald Reagan. “Evidence from newly opened archives show that Carter initiated the deregulation of U.S. industry and finance, reduced the power of organized labor, lowered taxes on business, and imposed austerity measures that intentionally raised unemployment among working people. Carter also augmented military spending for the first time in a decade, diverting resources from domestic programs, while increasing U.S. interventions overseas.” Gibbs says, “Carter should also be remembered for his support of racial justice and his many impressive achievements after he left the presidency. But we must not whitewash his central role in overturning FDR’s New Deal and concentrating wealth among the top 1 percent of the U.S. population.” Gibbs is a professor of history at the University of Arizona. He is the author of “Revolt of the Rich: How the Politics of the 1970s Widened America’s Class Divide.” Contact him at [email protected]