Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President
by Jimmy Carter, 1982

Immediately after returning home from the White House on January 20, 1981, I unpacked eighteen large black volumes of diary notes which I had accumulated during my four years as President. Generally, several times a day during my term, I had picked up a miniature tape recorder and dictated my impressions of the people I met and the interesting or disconcerting events that filled my life. No one but the secretary who transcribed it had access to my diary while I was in office. These highly personal papers – some 5000 pages of them – have been the primary source for this book, augmented by my own memory and the official records of my administration.

In Plains, I began to read through the diary for the first time, marking for use in this book those passages which seemed to describe most accurately my reaction to the challenges I faced, the conflicting advice I received, and the people who were involved with me in my private life and in the making of history. The quotations from my diary are as I recorded them at the time. Where my dictation was so rushed that the result was not English, I have added a word or two to make it clear.

This book is my own work, typed by me at home on my trusty word processor. There were times when I had other responsibilities or when I yielded to the temptations of my nearby woodworking shop or a convenient fishing place, but I have spent most days and nights of the past year on this project. It has been much more difficult than I had originally anticipated – both the actual research and writing and the necessity for me to reassess my own actions as President in the light of subsequent events. Although my overriding impression of the four years is one of gratitude and pleasure, a few of the memories were downright painful for me.

This is not a history of my administration but a highly personal report of my own experiences. Others who are better qualified and more objective will write comprehensive studies of my Presidency, using the private and public records that will be made available to them as soon as possible. I have emphasized those matters which meant the most to me, and particularly those events in which I played a unique part, such as the search for peace in the Middle East and the Camp David negotiations.

I have had to leave a lot unsaid. In fact, what concerns me most are the omissions – stories about many others whose contributions have not been described as deserved, who helped to shape my thoughts and actions, who deserve more credit for the successes we enjoyed, and who took too much blame for the failures and mistakes.

Nessa Rapoport, my editor, has not only made certain that I wrote this manuscript in English, but has, through her constant probing questions, forced me to face facts and to describe in adequate detail even those experiences which I would rather not have remembered so clearly. My research assistant, Steve Hochman, has joined in the editorial work, and has done his best to assure the accuracy of my words, checking documents, records, and the memory of others who were involved in the same events. Several other people have read the manuscript and have given me good advice and criticism, much of which I have used. Any remaining defects in the book are my own, and may even be helpful to the reader in giving a more accurate picture of the kind of person I am.

PLAINS, GEORGIA JUNE 1, 1982

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