Praise for
Journeys with Jimmy Carter and Other Adventures in Media
Journeys with Jimmy Carter is a heartfelt and beautifully written memoir about life in the fast lane of American journalism and politics. How to beat Trump! Barry Jagodas storytelling about his producer years at CBS and NBC News is fantastic. His delineation on how reporting has changed for the 20th to the 21st century is eye opening and prescient. Highly recommended!
Douglas Brinkley , Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, Author of Cronkite and The Unfinished Presidency , among others
Barry Jagodas memoir is timely: in the course of relating his insiders experiences working in the White House of President Jimmy Carter, it vividly reminds us that a position of high office does not have to preclude competence and principled behavior.
Elizabeth Blackburn , Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine; President Emerita, Salk Institute; Professor Emerita, Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco
Journalists, real journalists, are a special breed. They find facts hidden in lies. They tell us who our leaders really are. They risk character assassination and literal assassination to inform readers. Barry Jagodas life story, told here through personal memoire and riveting anecdote, is a stark warning. We had in Jimmy Carter an honest and intelligent president. We have the antithesis in the White House now. Jagoda tells us why and what we can do to fight back.
Frank Ochberg MD , Former Associate Director, the National Institute of Mental Health Editor, Post-traumatic Therapy and Victims of Violence
Presidencies all have their own unique stories. Working in the White House advising the worlds most powerful leader can be exhilarating, infuriating, addictive, troubling, useful, and harmful. There are few who have experienced those episodes as an insider. Barry Jagoda is both a scholar and practitioner of media and politics. His experience and insight offer a unique view into Jimmy Carters presidency told like no other.
Cyrus Krohn , Former Publisher of Slate Magazine , worked for Presidents George H. W. and George W. Bush
Barry Jagoda combines interesting insights into the news operations of Americas TV networks in the pre-cable days with a lively, personality-filled account of how his own ambition and experiences landed him a job as a key media adviser in President Carters White House. His description of the power struggle there shows how his support for spotlighting Carters agenda of multiple policy goals clashed with the effort by political advisers to present a more focused media message, a perennial conflict in many presidencies. In all, a fascinating picture of some enduring aspects of life in the White House.
Carl P. Leubsdorf , Former Washington Correspondent, Reporter for The Baltimore Sun , Writer for The Dallas Morning News
As we are living through a time when truth isnt truth anymore, with Barry Jagodas insider and brilliantly insightful analysis, we see the burdens and ultimate moral triumph of the Jimmy Carter presidency. An antidote for Trump-era ennui and a game plan for the 2020 election.
Paul Wilkes , Author of Six American Families ; In Due Season: A Catholic Life; Your Last Chapter: Creating a Meaningful Life on Your Own Terms , among others
Readers of a certain age will love Jagodas insightful walk down memory lane. He was present at many of the events that shaped our lives. His vivid recollections will help us remember who we are and where we were.
David Rosenbloom , Political Scientist at Boston University School of Public Health, Former Commissioner of Health and Hospitals in Boston
This book is essential reading for anyone who wants an inside view of journalism and politics. Barry Jagoda comes from the tradition of superb journalism that was developed by Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. We need journalists like Barry Jagoda more than ever.
Victor Emanuel , Ornithologist and Environmentalist, Founder of VENT, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours
Barry Jagoda has been active in just about every important part of the publics business, and tells about it superbly. Journeys with Jimmy Carter and Other Adventures in Media is a lively read, intelligent, insightfuland also funthroughout.
Robert E. Hunter, Former US Ambassador to NATO, Former Carter Administration National Security Council Director for West European Affairs and Middle East Affairs
Journeys with Jimmy Carter and Other Adventures in Media
by Barry Jagoda
Copyright 2020 Barry Jagoda
ISBN 978-1-64663-032-5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the author.
Cover Image Courtesy of Carter Library
Published by
210 60th Street
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
800-435-4811
www.koehlerbooks.com
To Karen A.B. Jagoda, partner and perennial inspiration:
If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
INTRODUCTION
I n 1975, as the lead television producer for CBS News (and for the group of reporters from all the other American TV networks), I was flying on Air Force One into Soviet East Asia, heading for Vladivostok to lay the news coverage groundwork for the summit meeting between President Gerald Ford and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.
The pilot was Colonel Ralph Albertazzie, whose many career highlights in the Cold War included flying President Richard Nixon to China in 1972 for his historic, groundbreaking visit in that country. After inviting me into the cockpit and giving a knowing look, the colonel said, This is the first time an American military plane has been in these parts without a real threat of being shot down.
Less than two years after that trip, I would give up my exciting job as a top news producer to become television advisor to Jimmy Carter. National exposure was brand new for the previously almost-unknown presidential candidate. In early 1976, Carter, then the former governor of Georgia, had just won the New Hampshire Democratic primary. He and I were about to head by car to the broadcast location of CBS News with Walter Cronkite, and then for interviews I had set up with the news anchors at NBC News and ABC News.
At the knock of James Wooten, principal politics reporter for The New York Times , I rolled down the back window of the sedan. Governor, exclaimed the normally calm Wooten to Carter, I think you have just won the Democratic nomination for president.
Carter looked up from his briefing papers and said, Thanks, Jim. Good deal.
With that, we were off to the first of many encounters over several months with the television networks, doing interviews that would help pave the way for the previously unknown Jimmy Who to become the 39th occupant of the White House.
As Carters television advisor, I was in for the adventure of a lifetime, which continued when I was named special assistant to the president in the White House. In Carter I saw a man of dignity, character and understatement, a man who put country before self, even at his own peril.
