Jimmy Carter's Secret Service detail reflects on the assignment of a lifetime

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Jimmy Carter celebrates 100th day

How Secret Service peculiar agents person protected Jimmy Carter for astir fractional a century 03:40

Plains, Georgia — When former President Jimmy Carter exited the White House successful 1981, fewer expected his no-frills hometown of Plains, Georgia — colonisation 557 — to go his motorboat pad to the satellite — including his U.S. Secret Service detail.

"We'd alert from the mediate of obscurity Africa each the mode backmost to adjacent Americus, Georgia," recalled Alex Parker, longtime Special Agent successful Charge of Carter's detail, who traveled to implicit 140 countries with the 39th president.

Carter, a peanut husbandman turned Navy submariner turned politician turned president turned humanitarian, earned yet different rubric as he turned 100 years old on Oct. 1. The longest protective ngo of the U.S. Secret Service.

A unsafe assignment

Special Agent successful Charge Bill Bush became 1 of the archetypal Americans to transverse into North Korea aft the Korean War ended erstwhile helium accompanied Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter to the DMZ.

"We were told by the State Department and a batch of different agencies that, 'hey, you can't transportation weapons into North Korea – you can't bash this, you can't bash that,'" said Bush arsenic helium recounted slicing done bureaucratic reddish tape. "My question ever to them, 'tell maine however galore times you've been to North Korea and what it's like?' And of people cipher had ever been."

Bush chuckled arsenic helium explained the U.S. Secret Service's amazingly pleasant coordination with North Korean information forces. "We ne'er had been treated immoderate nicer anywhere, successful immoderate country," Bush, who has been to 127 countries with the Carters, added.

The pb concealed work cause besides secured Carter's unsafe 1994 ngo to Haiti, commissioned by President Bill Clinton and aimed astatine averting a full-scale U.S. invasion.

"President Carter called maine astatine location and said, 'you request to battalion a bag, we're going to Haiti time morning,'" Bush said. Moments earlier taking disconnected from Andrews Air Force Base, helium discovered helium would besides beryllium charged with protecting 2 different precocious illustration envoys: president of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell and Sen. Sam Nunn.

Peace successful the Middle East

In his ngo arsenic peacemaker-in-chief, Carter routinely flouted warnings by quality officials, alternatively driving his protective bubble into warfare zones and humanitarian crises.

"Sometimes erstwhile we had immoderate atrocious intelligence, I would instrumentality it down to him and fto him work it," Parker said. "He'd beryllium determination and work it, past yet enactment his initials connected it — to motion disconnected connected it."

In 2008, Carter mapped retired an ambitious circuit of the Middle East that included sitting down with leaders of Hamas successful Gaza. The U.S. Secret Service had been warned to nix the travel aft threatening quality surfaced successful the region.

"He handed [the intelligence] to maine and said, 'Alex, we're inactive going.'"

On the formation location from Egypt, Parker said the erstwhile president's words stuck with him. "'Alex,' helium said, 'I'm going to walk the remainder of my beingness trying to bring bid to Israel and trying to bring bid to the Palestinians.'"

A prized detail

The unsafe duty of circumnavigating the globe with Carter was not without its perks.

On the nighttime Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize successful 2002, helium called Parker — his pb cause astatine the clip – with an unusual request.

"'Alex, let's person a small gathering truthful we tin instrumentality a picture,'" Parker said, recalling the erstwhile president's request. Carter wanted him to summon each of his Secret Service agents.

"We took a representation of each of america holding it, surrounding him and Ms. Carter connected the steps ... He said to maine — helium said, 'You guys are portion of this, too. I privation you to stock [the prize] with us, truthful let's instrumentality a picture."

Protecting Rosalynn Carter

Another reward for agents assigned to the Carter item was protecting the erstwhile archetypal lady, Rosalynn Carter.

"She was conscionable specified a gentle idiosyncratic – determination was thing astir her that did not marque you consciousness comfy oregon welcomed," said Nick Steen, who led Carter's item from 2017 to 2019.

And portion the erstwhile president's obsession with punctuality meant helium seldom waited connected his detail, existent and erstwhile agents described Rosalynn Carter arsenic diligent and understanding.

While agents recounted the occasional bickering, the much lasting content was of the couple's persistent affection. Agents mightiness drawback them holding hands successful the backseat.

Even successful their precocious 90s, the Carters participated successful the occasional joyousness ride. During their last quality astatine Plains' Annual Peanut Festival Parade, the 2 took a whirl successful a 1946 reddish convertible. Special Agent successful Charge Don Witham drove the four-wheeled acquisition from state singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, which marked the twelvemonth the Carters were married, portion the Carters beamed successful the backseat.

"It was a airy successful his eyes that reminded maine of days that we'd instrumentality him for peanut food crystal cream," Witham said.

A president's pastimes

Fly sportfishing was not the lone hobby supervised by Carter's detail. When Carter — past successful his precocious 50s — took up skiing, members of the Secret Service were dispatched to a skis schoolhouse successful Colorado.

"The president had ne'er been snowfall skiing before," Bill Bush explained. "And truthful helium and Ms. Carter took lessons retired successful Colorado. I selected a radical of agents and went to schoolhouse successful Colorado. It was a pugnacious schoolhouse ... but we became beauteous bully skiers."

Alex Parker ran alongside the erstwhile president for 21 years, often crisscrossing the backmost roads of the farmlands framing Carter's autochthonal Plains, Georgia oregon jogging successful overseas cities.

"He was competitory and utilized to effort and tyre maine out," Parker said. "I was overmuch younger, but helium kept up."

The peculiar cause occasionally ran backwards truthful helium could talk with the president look to face, mid-workout. "And it would marque President Carter angry," helium chuckled.

After a peculiarly grueling nine-mile tally successful Hawaii, Parker was warned not to propulsion the president, a connection relayed by the archetypal lady.

An businesslike traveler, Carter grew a estimation for powerfulness napping successful the car arsenic agents whisked him distant from Point A to Point B.

"He had a peculiar pillow for our drives, and you amended person had that pillow," joked Nick Steen, erstwhile Special Agent successful Charge from 2017 to 2019.

"It's 10 10 miles from Plains to Americus," Parker said of the commute to the nearest airport. "He'd beryllium snoring by the clip we got there."

"One day, I said, 'Mr. President, why, however tin you spell to slumber truthful fast?'" Parker continued. "He looked astatine maine and helium said, 'Alex, my conscious is clear.'"

An aging mission

As the Carters aged, truthful excessively did the mission, with agents consistently readying for worse-case scenarios: aesculapian evacuations. "'We ever had a doc with us," said Steen, "which for a erstwhile president, isn't ever the case."

EMT teams would question with the erstwhile president's item to distant places. Even successful his 90s nineties, Steen recalled Carter's precise progressive life. "I took him connected 2 Habitat for Humanity builds. We went sportfishing successful Mexico. That was strenuous connected me, truthful I ideate helium was worn retired by it arsenic well, but helium inactive did it."

Don Witham recalled that adjacent astatine 98, Carter often requested to thrust a car, though erstwhile presidents are not allowed to run vehicles connected an unfastened road.

"He decidedly knew what helium wanted and helium would marque it wide to you," Witham said. "I tried to spell astir it successful a sensical mode to explicate helium doesn't person a driver's license. And helium said, 'Where's the closest driver's licence agency?'" azygous adjacent quote

This past Fourth of July, agents whisked the erstwhile president away, briefly, to adjacent Americus truthful helium could ticker the fireworks. The erstwhile navy veteran, who has been in hospice attraction since February 2023, sat for 45 minutes astatine a hidden location, savoring the show alongside a fewer agents.

"At 99 and 9 months, helium wanted to spell spot the fireworks. That's however patriotic helium is," Witham said.

Sunday schoolhouse and beingness lessons

Codenamed "Deacon" by his agents for his penchant for scripture and devotion to his faith, Carter seldom missed an accidental to thatch Sunday schoolhouse astatine his section church. The erstwhile president made near-weekly appearances astatine Maranatha Baptist Church – a modest, azygous storied spot of worship filled with woody pews and encased by mint greenish walls and olive carpeting.

"No substance wherever we were oregon what we were doing, helium was gonna beryllium location by Saturday nighttime truthful helium could get his acquisition prepared for Sunday morning," said Nick Steen.

Even aft helium was nary longer acceptable to teach, Carter regularly attended services, his wheelchair positioned adjacent to the beforehand pew arsenic his pb cause sat down him successful a folding chair.

"One Sunday successful particular, the sermon was talking astir making the satellite a amended place," Don Witham recalled. "And [the erstwhile president] precise quietly, enactment down his caput and said, 'I've tried,' to himself. And I reached guardant with some my hands and enactment them connected his shoulders, and I said, 'And sir, you've succeeded.'"

"That infinitesimal was peculiar for me, due to the fact that arsenic a 98-year-old man, he's inactive questioning whether he's done enough," Witham continued. "Even though he's been to Africa and eradicated diseases. He's built homes for radical that didn't person them. He's fed those that are successful request of food. He did each of this — yet he's inactive questioning astatine 98 years old, whether he's done enough."

"He was truthful convicted," Steen said. "In his religion and successful his tendency to marque the satellite a amended place."

Together, Bush, Parker, Steen and Witham correspond 46 years of work to erstwhile President Jimmy Carter, but conscionable a fraction of the hours spent protecting the 39th president, astir the timepiece since 1976.

"He'll beryllium remembered arsenic a humanitarian that tried to assistance the world," Bush said with a smile.

"I've got to say," Parker added of his erstwhile boss, "mission accomplished."