The other influence, Carter said, was a great poet namedBob Dylan, whom he called a friend.
Out in the audience, the gonzo journalistHunter S. Thompsoncould scarcely believe his ears.
What the hell did I just hear?
Hunter S. Thompson, President Jimmy Carter, and Bob Dylan (from left)Michael Ochs Archives/GettyImages, 2; Bettmann Archive/Getty Images;
he asked a Kennedy aide, who, smirking, replied that Gov.
Carter had just announced that his two top advisers are Bob Dylan and Reinhold Niebuhr.
Those ambitions took shape, though, at a confusing moment.
The Democrats, however, remained badly divided from the battles over the Vietnam War and Civil Rights.
The results bore him out.
Black voters gave Carter pivotal victories over the arch-segregationist George Wallace in the Florida and North Carolina Democratic primaries.
Carters civil rights policies were of a piece with his larger reform agenda.
Soon, administration officials were speaking out against the brutal regime of Idi Amin in Uganda.
Carters turn to human rights generated criticism from across the political spectrum.
With the Helsinki agreement in force, Carter made his breakthrough.
EVENTS CONSPIRED TO defeat Carter in 1980.
He did not rest easy on his achievements or turn bitter at his defeats.
