IN MEMORIAM: PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER
(Did You Sleep With the Models?)
Today, January 9, 2025, is the National Day of Mourning for President Carter, who died on December 29.
Because of his friendliness toward the gay community, I am re-posting part of a longer feature from Chapter Twenty-three of Did You Sleep With the Models?, which ran on June 9, 2023. That post included the backstories of interviews with several well-known persons — those that actually took place, and several that didn’t.
Writing the request letter to former President Carter, who lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan, was an act of misplaced optimism. I didn’t expect an answer, certainly not an invitation to visit him with my tape recorder.
He was the first American chief executive to give an official nod, although slight, to the gay rights movement. On February 8, 1977, Margaret “Midge” Costanza, Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, met with officers of the National Gay Task Force to discuss what the Carter Administration could do to further the cause of gay and lesbian civil rights. Six weeks later a second meeting took place, this one with two dozen gay activists. During the Carter years, 1977-1981, the White House received each issue of The Advocate, minus the pink sex-ad pages — a subscription that was summarily canceled when the Reagan Administration goose-stepped in.
Of course I didn’t expect the former president to respond to my letter. Even mainstream publications must stand in line for interviews with national leaders. If he knew of Mandate, I’m sure he realized that his appearance in its pages would raise a lot more dust than his infamous Playboy interview in November 1976. When that issue hit newsstands a month before the election, Carter’s appearance in it was widely regarded as both naive and unseemly.
But he did reply, via his press secretary, Jane Simpson, who wrote on December 20, 1982:
“Dear Mr. Staggs,
Thank you for offering President Carter the opportunity to meet with you.
At this time, it will not be possible for President Carter to grant a personal interview. However, I am keeping your request on file and will contact you if such a meeting can be arranged.”
I cherish the brush-off, which makes me nostalgic for times when presidents, and former presidents, behaved as gentlemen rather than swine.