By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Biden seems to be synonymous with blundering when it comes to politicos, though he is not in isolation. There does not seem to be a dearth of blundering politicos around the world! The latest to join that lot is the president of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol. His declaration of martial law on 03 December took not only the South Koreans but also the entire world by surprise. Though South Korea has a troubled past, being ruled by dictators for nearly four decades under martial law on countless occasions, transitioning to a democracy only in 1988, the world has come to regard it as a prosperous democracy. Giants of consumer electronics like Samsung and LG as well as car manufacturers like Hyundai and KIA raised the profile of South Korea which was recently enhanced by the worldwide popularity of K-Pop. In this scenario, President Yoon’s sudden declaration of martial law, on the false premise that the opposition is Communist, has tarnished the reputation of the country. Though the members of parliament circumvented many difficulties to assemble and unanimously oppose his declaration, when it came to his impeachment, members of his party walked out. Politicians are the same, wherever in the world, putting self-interest over that of the country! Europe seems to be in turmoil. The highest court in Romania has annulled the presidential election result. Germany was plunged into a political crisis in November, after the Chancellor Olaf Scholtz fired his finance minister, who was from a different party of his coalition, accusing him of putting party before the country. Scholtz has caused the government to face a vote of confidence on 16 December, which he is predicted to lose resulting in a fresh election in February. The other driving force in EU, France is in no better shape. President Emanuel Macron’s gamble of a snap election, shortly before the Paris Olympics, did not pay off and his party is now running a minority government. Michel Barnier, whom he appointed as PM in September, attempted to push through his radical budget utilising a legal loophole, resulting in a no-confidence vote. For the first time in over 60 years the French parliament voted down a government! Barnier lasted a little longer than UK’s Liz Truss and will remain as caretaker PM till Macron finds a replacement; no one knows when! Considering all this turmoil, one would have expected the UK to be stable as the Labour party swept the boards in the July election. However, the reality is just the opposite. A disastrous budget has thrown into question economic prosperity, private sector shying away from investment not only due to adverse budgetary proposals but also because of strengthening of trade union rights with no reciprocations from the unions. On 29 November, Louise Haigh, the Secretary of State for Transport, resigned when it was reported in the press that she had pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation relating to misleading the police in 2014. In 2013, she had reported to the police that on a night out, she was mugged and lost the mobile phone provided by her then employer, insurance giant Aviva. Aviva provided her with a better phone. She found the old phone and started using it without informing the police. It is alleged that the mugging incident was a ruse to get a better mobile! When police interviewed her, she opted for “no comment” on legal advice and when she was charged, she pleaded guilty, also on legal advice! She resigned from Aviva and entered parliament in 2015 and held many shadow ministerial posts before taking the transport portfolio of the Labour government. Though she maintains that the PM was aware of her spent conviction, at the time she was appointed to the Cabinet, PM’s office has stated that she had not made a full disclosure. There are rumours that she was ‘eased-off’ as she belongs to the Left of the party, having previously been a staunch supporter of Jeremy Corbyn! Probably, sensing the lack of success of his government, on 05 December, Keir Starmer had a relaunch in Pinewood studios, famous for filming Carry-On films and some Bond movies, where he presented seven pillars, six milestones, five missions and three foundations on which he wanted the voters to judge him at the end of term. His joke that he may be a James Bond fell flat and some journalists have branded this as a ‘parade of buzzwords’! Returning to Biden, his dementia seems to be getting worse as he seems to have forgotten what he said just two months ago, that he would not barter his principles even if it means that his son would end up in jail! His reversal is all the more surprising because his pardon extends much further than granting clemency to Hunter Biden’s federal tax and gun convictions, being a blanket grant of immunity for any federal offences he may have committed between 01 January 2014 to 01 December 2024. It is interesting that this period covers the period when Biden Hunter was a director of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma and had deals with China, which Trump wanted probed. The new dawn in Sri Lanka also seems to be getting further away as the new government seems to be increasingly realising that it is easier to be in opposition! It is interesting that there is no uproar though the price of a coconut is now based on half a coconut! Like previous governments, accusations are made of rice mafias but, in spite of the massive mandate, no action seems to be taken except an NPP MP alleging that one of them is in the national list of an opposition party! The government is just following the predecessors by deciding to import rice. President, it is reported, has fixed the price of various varieties of rice and it would be interesting to see what happens. The vociferous former election chief has challenged the Speaker of the Parliament to produce proof of his doctorate. Do hope he will do so, in the spirit of the promised transparency! PTA, which was much maligned by the NPP whilst in opposition, is being used to control social media posts! judges declare the police is shooting the messengers instead of prosecuting those who glorify terrorists. I do not have to go to details as the editorial, ‘From ‘traitors’ to ‘racists’ ( The Island , 7 December) bares it all and do hope the new government takes the editor’s warning seriously!Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Hanesbrands Inc. ( NYSE:HBI – Free Report ) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 33,677 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000. Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBI. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Hanesbrands by 8.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 163,147 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $947,000 after acquiring an additional 12,637 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Hanesbrands by 233.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 35,481 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 24,839 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Hanesbrands by 3.3% during the second quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 975,415 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $4,809,000 after acquiring an additional 30,800 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Hanesbrands by 25.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 34,283 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 6,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Hanesbrands during the second quarter worth about $57,000. 80.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several brokerages have commented on HBI. Barclays upped their price target on Hanesbrands from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group upgraded Hanesbrands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Hanesbrands from $4.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.90. Hanesbrands Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:HBI opened at $8.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 21.50, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.49. Hanesbrands Inc. has a one year low of $3.58 and a one year high of $9.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.25. Hanesbrands ( NYSE:HBI – Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $937.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $936.47 million. Hanesbrands had a positive return on equity of 44.72% and a negative net margin of 5.24%. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hanesbrands Inc. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Hanesbrands Profile ( Free Report ) Hanesbrands Inc, a consumer goods company, designs, manufactures, sources, and sells a range of range of innerwear apparels for men, women, and children in the Americas, Europe, the Asia pacific, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Innerwear, Activewear, and International. See Also Five stocks we like better than Hanesbrands Most active stocks: Dollar volume vs share volume The Latest 13F Filings Are In: See Where Big Money Is Flowing Which Wall Street Analysts are the Most Accurate? 3 Penny Stocks Ready to Break Out in 2025 Investing In Preferred Stock vs. Common Stock FMC, Mosaic, Nutrien: Top Agricultural Stocks With Big Potential Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HBI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Hanesbrands Inc. ( NYSE:HBI – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Hanesbrands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hanesbrands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .If you've checked your emails or scrolled through social media lately, you will likely have been bombarded with emails and ads about Black Friday sales. As the fictional Australian character Darryl Kerrigan once proved, it can be hard to resist a bargain. "If you get ‘em for half price, it’s a bargain,” he said in the film The Castle while considering the purchase of a secondhand pair of jousting sticks. But while Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales seem to start earlier every year, encouraging Australians to potentially make even more purchases than the last, more content creators are turning to social media to discourage consumption. When is Black Friday this year? Black Friday sales originated in the United States, where businesses offered sales on the day after Thanksgiving. Online retailers soon coined the term 'Cyber Monday' for sales offered on the following Monday. This year, Black Friday falls on 29 November. But some brands appear to have started early. Marketing and social media expert Meg Coffey, who lives in Perth but is originally from the US, said she finds it bizarre this sale has caught on in Australia. "It used to be because malls were the only things open on the Friday after Thanksgiving, you've been cooped up inside and the only place you could go was the movies or the mall," she said. "But Australia doesn’t even have Thanksgiving." Australians buy more new clothes than anyone else. Meet the people trying to change that Coffey said she had noticed more online adverts and emails about Black Friday sales this year. "They seem to have started at the beginning of November," she said. Financial educator Serina Bird said she had noticed the sales were happening "earlier and earlier every year". "It's quite phenomenal how this has really replaced the Boxing Day sales," she said. She said the timing of Black Friday sales was just far enough from Christmas to avoid "a mad rush the week before" and meant items could be shipped in time for the exchange of gifts. Increased retail activity as a result of Black Friday sales has previously been observed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which also noted in 2023 that retailers had begun their sales earlier and run them for longer, compared to previous years. Myer and David Jones are among the department stories that had dropped prices more than two weeks ahead of the official Black Friday. Source: Getty / Roni Bintang According to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), more Australians than ever are expected to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year, with many driven by a quest to purchase gifts at sales prices. "Shoppers are set to spend a record $6.7 billion during the four days, an increase of 5.5 per cent compared to the same time last year," the ARA said in a statement. It comes amidst a cost of living crunch , where Australians are having to spend more money on the basics of everyday life, which is putting financial pressure on some people's household budgets. While inflation may be slowing, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has acknowledged some Australians "are still under pressure", with cash strapped households having to cut back on non-essential items to pay for basics. Underconsumption core But some content creators on social media are pushing back. Accounts, such as those run by British woman Charlie Gill (@lifebeforeplastic on Instagram) and American Alyssa Barber (NewsLifestyleABB on Youtube) share anti-materialism content about reducing consumption. They're referred to by some as "de-influencers". These creators may post content using hashtags such as #unaesthetic or #nonaesthetic that feature everyday items deemed functional, but not desirable by others. They talk about reusing or repurposing items they own and resisting new ones, often labelling their content as "underconsumption core". As well as espousing environmental and financial benefits, such de-influencers also often share posts about appreciating what they already have and enjoying experiences rather than items. What is de-influencing? De-influencing emerged as a growing trend on social media at the beginning of 2023. It challenged the status quo on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, where influencers use the social capital they build with their followers to create desirability for certain products. Content creators began offering negative feedback on items, calling out over-hyped products and even suggesting cheaper alternatives to high-end makeup and skincare ranges. Shasha Wang, a senior lecturer in the school of advertising, marketing and public relations at the Queensland University of Technology, said there is a growing number of people on social media who are urging people to put greater consideration into their purchases. She said the de-influencer movement, which resulted in content creators providing more than just positive reviews of items, had "evolved" as more individuals sharing sustainability messages on social media grew their followers. When the term was first used, Wang argued it was "not actually talking about de-influencing". "They just wanted to say, 'don't buy that product, buy mine'. But now I think it's evolving in a way that people who are really interested in encouraging less consumption and environmental protection have started finding their voice on social media." What influence do de-influencers have? Wang believes the trend is a "positive" one, and could act as a reminder to consumers to put greater consideration into some of their purchases. However, she does not think the movement would make a huge difference on spending in the current and upcoming sales. "The impact won't be large enough that half the people stop buying [items] ... I don't think so," she said. Bird thinks the movement has potential to prompt change on an individual level. “[It is] really important because it forces people to think," she said. Coffey questioned the motivation of de-influencers, suggesting most influencers wanted to try to sell something. I'm a trad woman. I think other women secretly wish they were too Bird, who hosts the podcast The Joyful Frugalista and has previously sold her own financial course, said many de-influencers were not selling a product. "Some people really do need regular guidance and need those kinds of structures in place, and it can actually be really helpful for a lot of people.” Retailers saying no to Black Friday sales Meanwhile, some brands are not taking part in Black Friday sales — including Australian knitwear label Wah Wah, whose owner believes the practice "encourages over-consumption as well as unconsidered design". "I 100 per cent understand why you might buy essentials when on sale (especially during a cost of living crisis !!!). I just don't believe in having big mark-ups so you can afford to have big sales," Kaylene Milner wrote on Instagram. Speaking to SBS News, she said that as a small business, if she was to heavily discount her pieces, she would not make a profit. To keep her business profitable, Milner sells directly to the public. Source: Supplied There are a number of costs involved in running Wah Wah Australia the way that Milner wants to operate as a "slow fashion" label. She says her products are made from merino wool, artists she works with are paid royalties, her manufacturing supply chain is audited to ensure a certain standard of conditions for workers and her products are delivered in reusable, recycled and compostable packaging. Despite this, Milner said she was not tempted to do those things differently in order to increase profits. Echoing the sentiment of de-influencers who often post about the importance of quality over quantity, she said she was proud that each item she sold was valued and appreciated. Bird said she understood why small businesses may not run a Black Friday sale. “Small business owners are often not in the place where they can really compete with those kind of loss leaders to get people on their side, as they are quite different in terms of how they are set up,” she said. Why are we compelled to buy? Bird admits the discounts offered as part of Black Friday sales can be tempting. "Shiny object syndrome is a real thing and you might not think you needed that whizz bang thing, but it’s there and just because something’s cheap doesn’t mean that you need it," she said. Challenging the giants: The people leading Australia's 'unsupermarket revolution' Wang said brands often used the idea of "scarcity" to prompt people to buy products. "Basically it appeals to people's fear of missing out, they say this sale has a limited time and a limited quantity, so these kind of limited offerings make people feel like, 'Oh, if I don't make the decision quickly, I may lose this good deal.'”
After Hours: Sacramento Inno AwardsArk Invest chief Cathie Wood is known for scooping up shares of innovators early in their growth stories and holding on for the long term. The idea is to get in on these players for a bargain price, and then benefit as they launch products and revenue gains momentum. This takes time, but patient investors could score a major win by following Wood's strategy -- and by picking up a couple of her favorite stocks. Over the past several weeks, Wood has added to one of her key positions, a stock that's lost about 20% this year. This particular player is the second-biggest holding in Wood's healthcare fund and among the top 10 positions in her flagship Ark Innovation fund. The company late last year scored its first product approval and proved the efficacy of its potentially game-changing technology. Meet the beaten-down biotech that Wood loves and Wall Street says may soar more than 65% over the coming 12 months. Cathie Wood's strategy First, though, let's delve a little farther into Cathie Wood's strategy . As mentioned, this top investor looks for companies developing technologies today that could be transformational down the road. For example, Ark Innovation's biggest positions are in electric vehicle giant Tesla and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global . These companies already generate major revenue but have much room to run, considering potential growth to come in their industries. And when it comes to healthcare stocks, Wood goes for those that may revolutionize patients' lives, from her top holding Twist Bioscience -- a maker of DNA products -- to Recursion Pharmaceuticals -- a company that aims to "industrialize" drug discovery by leveraging hardware, software, and data. These and other healthcare companies, if they reach their goals, could deliver growth over time -- and investors who got in on the story early may benefit the most. Now, let's meet the biotech stock that both Wood and Wall Street think can soar: gene-editing company CRISPR Therapeutics ( CRSP 0.65% ) . This player proved the strength of its technology last year when it won approval for its blood disorders treatment, Casgevy. This was the world's first-ever regulatory nod for a therapy based on CRISPR gene editing . This technique involves the cutting of DNA at a certain location to allow a natural repair process to take over. The Casgevy launch CRISPR Therapeutics partnered with big biotech player Vertex Pharmaceuticals on Casgevy, and the companies started rolling out the therapy this year. So far, 45 treatment centers have been activated, and 40 patients have begun the treatment process. Rollout for this therapy to treat beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease is slower than the launch of a pill, for example, because treatment involves several steps -- from collecting stem cells to receiving Casgevy -- and the process takes months. All this means revenue growth will take time too. And in CRISPR Therapeutics' partnership, Vertex takes 60% of the profit. Still, this is an excellent agreement for the smaller biotech, as it allows the company to leverage Vertex's commercial infrastructure and experience -- a huge plus, especially considering the complexity of a gene-editing product versus a simple pill. And Vertex also is responsible for 60% of the program costs. But this amount of time to generate revenue, along with CRISPR Therapeutics' 54% gain last year, may be two elements that have made investors think twice before investing in the stock this year. Wood saw this as an opportunity to reinforce her position. And, as mentioned, Wall Street predicts the stock from today's levels will roar higher in the months to come. Upcoming catalysts for CRISPR Therapeutics Catalysts may include progress on the Casgevy launch and updates from the company's exciting pipeline -- based on its now-proven gene-editing therapy. The company has clinical trials ongoing for its CAR T candidates -- they involve transforming T cells -- in oncology and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and it's also studying a gene-editing candidate for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. CRISPR Therapeutics' eventual products could be game changers because the editing of genes results in functional cures for specific diseases. This is the case for Casgevy, which is a one-time treatment for patients. All this means Casgevy could be just the beginning of CRISPR Therapeutics' growth story, making now a great time to follow Cathie Wood into this exciting biotech stock.Q32 Bio Provides Bempikibart Program Update, Including Next Steps for Advancing Alopecia Areata Development Program
The New Orleans Pelicans aren't expected to take a "gap year" this season, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst . Given the team's horrid 4-16 start and the barrage of injuries on the roster, it wouldn't be shocking if the Pelicans essentially lined themselves up to get a high draft pick and repositioned as a potential contender when everyone is healthy next season. But Windhorst noted that, "Right now, that isn't a consideration in New Orleans, sources told ESPN, as the Pelicans want to see what their hopefully eventually healthy roster can do. But with Zion Williamson still out indefinitely with a hamstring injury, it is something to keep an eye on two months from now when the trade deadline approaches." This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok .
By BILL BARROW, Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter’s path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That’s a very narrow way of assessing them,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn’t suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he’d be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter’s tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter’s lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor’s race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama’s segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival’s endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King’s daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters’ early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Related Articles Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan’s presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan’s Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.
