”A scholarly assessment after I left office showed that I had the most unfavorable press coverage of the century; with a net of negative news stories every month except for my first one, after my family and I walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Despite frequent news conferences and a concerted effort to meet privately in the White House with all the key reporters and media executives, I was never able to turn them around. We finally decided to accept the situation and plow ahead

Since I was only a small kid when Jimmy Carter was president, I found the book very interesting. You're basically reading his daily diary, so you have his personal insights on Congress, particular lawmakers (he and Teddy Kennedy did not get along at all) and issues, like the Panama Canal Treaty and Iranian Hostage Crisis. While he was an evangelical Christian, he was careful to separate religion from politics, and he worked as closely with Republicans as he did Democrats...a skill that has unfor...

Fascinating. One of the most interesting books I've ever read. I've also read autobiographies of most recent presidents (bush, clinton, reagan, nixon).Absolutely fascinating to compare what each writes about. Regan writes mostly about who he's meeting for political benefit. Nixon writes almost exclusively about foreign policy. Yet Carter's writing (and the actions he documents) seem to have been almost entirely on a sustainable, responsible path for America and the planet. He was very diligent a...

Was interesting for me to go back and read about events that I was too busy to care about. Between having babies and starting a dairy farm there wasn't much time or energy to even read a newspaper.Not much has changed in 30 years. We still have a mid East disagreement between Israel and the PLO, energy crisis,terrorism, and general discord in government. Actually things have gone down hill since the 70's. Good history lesson.

On page 342, Carter writes . . ."it's not easy for me to accept criticism, and to reassess my way of doing things, to admit my mistakes." This insight came to him on July 9, 1979, which may have been the problem with his Presidency, and is certainly the problem with this book. There are very few occasions (before the Afterword) where Carter looks at the positions he is taking at the time and reconsiders them in the light of later events. Since he rarely presents the reasons that may have motivat...

A sensational view at four very interesting in US politics. I was born in the exact middle of the Carter time in the White House and while many of the events are but footnotes in the history books for me, Carter's White House Diaries bring the events to lifer again. I leave, having read this book, with a much greater understanding of January 20, 1977-January 20, 1981 and the events that helped build and destroy Carter's political pinnacle.I was pleasantly surprised that this book took names ansd...

This diary pretty much puts on display the reasons for Carter being a one-term president. The first 2-1/2 years, the entries are probably 95% related to foreign affairs. Then, when it's too late, there are some, but still not many, entries regarding the horrendous inflation, unemployment and interest rates. And even with his emphasis on foreign affairs, he still botches the Iran situation by allowing the Shah to come to the US for medical treatment, triggering the hostage crisis. He proves to be...

Book Twenty-Four of my presidential challenge.Alternate Title: Jimmy Carter Got a Raw DealI was born in the lame duck days of the Carter Presidency. I always had a vague sense that Jimmy Carter was a huge embarrassing failure without ever really knowing why. It was always Jimmy Carter...something, something...Iran...something, something...one term loser...something, something...thank God for Reagan. That's about as complicated as it went."White House Diary" was a slightly edited version of Carte...

President Carter has written prolifically since leaving office over 30 years ago, but most of this volume was written while he was in the White House. The introduction and afterward put things in perspective as he qualifies some of the judgments made at the time the diary entries were recorded, and especially as he looks back self-critically to consider how he might have handled some things differently. He admits to not being a "natural politician," to having shunned Washington's social life in

Exhaustive, shattering, exhilrating and sad, President Carter's diary of his years as president cover his excitement (and astonishment) at being the 39th president, his ambitious, wonky can-do attitude, his poor relations (and disgust toward) the press and the Congress, the Camp David Accords of 1978, (can anyone imagine Ronald Reagan spending eleven days in the woods with Begin and Sadat?) the problems with the economy, relations with the Soviet Union and China, (Carter recognized the People's

I will echo the view of other reviewers who found the writing a little thin. However, I still found this book very interesting and insightful. I was only coming of age when JC was POTUS, but I remember not liking him much. As one might expect when reading from his POV, I gained some sympathy for JC's intentions and gained some new found respect. I found it interesting that he was more fiscally conservative than many give him credit for. This explains why he had so much difficulty with a congress...

I have read biographies about 30 American presidents. Of the more than 50 books I have read about our presidents, this was the most thought provoking and by far the best.

A Book Inspired by Nixon!, January 9, 2011 This review is from: White House Diary (Kindle Edition) "I began keeping this diary in part due to an offhand comment by Richard Nixon," President Carter states prior to the first journal entry marked January 20, 1977. The President goes on to write: "Rosalynn and I first met Nixon when we attended the National Governors' Conference in 1971. The president walked up to us at a White House reception, turned to Rosalynn, and asked, "Young lady, do you keep...

The White House DiariesI am not normally interested in politics, but I wanted to read this personal account by Jimmy Carter to find out more the Camp David accord; his gas rationing “tightening-our-belts conservation; the Iranian hostage crisis; and why he had such a horrible rating in the media. It certainly explained all of that and much more.I listened to the audio version, about half of which was read by President Carter himself, often adding personal commentary to the diary entries, and com...

Though at times a slow read, this diary is an open and honest look into the daily challenges, conflicts, triumphs, and regrets of a political leader who cared deeply for peace, human rights, and the the natural world. At times, I smiled with nostalgia hearing names and circumstances from a time I can just barely remember. At other times, I despaired as I listened to President Carter describe his struggle to provide affordable health care for all and to stand against the deep-pocketed lobbying in...

This is a very frank and insightful book detailing what went on while Carter was president. There is a great deal of behind the scenes information and a sense of the challenges the president faces. It also gives some good background on the world affairs of that time.I enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in President Jimmy Carter or the life and duties of a chief executive.

Having somehow begun developing an interest in Jimmy Carter and his presidency in the last year or so, it was probably a matter of time before I got around to reading his diary excerpts. And these are excerpts, as the full diary ran over five thousand pages according to the former President at one point. But even in a condensed form at 570 pages, it's still full of fascinating insights.For history buffs, there's plenty to take in. It's an account of 1977-81, told almost day by day (some overseas...

Fascinating "behind-the-scenes" account of the Carter presidency. The contrast with Trump is very funny at times; Carter writes enthusiastically about the speed-reading course he and his family took early in his presidency. His desire to be the most prepared, most proficient, most deliberately "non-partisan" (i.e. centrist) is heartening, even though he often falls short.

This is Jimmy Carter’s 26th book, and as with all the others, he says “all the words are my own.” These words were culled from his hand-written notes and from transcriptions of things he told his Dictaphone, several times a day in some cases. The book is lengthy but still contains only a third of the material that exists. Some will wish that the denominator were higher and the numerator constant. The book requires patience (not quite as much as Sadat needed in dealing with Begin). The diary is f...

Carter's diaries reinforce my perception of him: self-righteous, unable to handle criticism well, and not able to figure out how to be an effective President. The diaries are interesting: anyone who was at the highest level like he was is going to have numerous fascinating people and events to write about. I did not like how he structured the format though; he only mentioned what day of the week it was when an entry happened to fall on a Monday. I prefer knowing what day it was for each entry, i...