Guest Post: Jimmy Carter's Provocative Playboy Interview

This article first appeared on Today in Alternate History, co-authored with Robbie Taylor.

24 September, 1976 - Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter alienated conservative Christians by unwisely revealing his lascivious proclivities in an interview with Robert Scheer for the November issue of Playboy magazine.

Despite being a devout Southern Baptist, Carter went even further in hopes of humanizing his gentle persona, also mentioning that he did not mind if people uttered the word "f*ck." This led to a media feeding frenzy, and critics lamented the erosion of boundary between politicians and their private intimate lives. Had incumbent Gerry Ford seized the Republican nomination rather than narrowly losing it to Californian Governor Ronald Reagan, these misstatements might well have encouraged swing voters to view the mild-mannered president more favorably as a man of the people. Equally, Carter might have been less strikingly self-reflective had he been running against Ford. As it was, the president's seminarian son, Mike, commented, "Jimmy Carter wears his religion on his sleeve, but Gerry Ford wears it in his heart."

Of course, Carter was no Playboy; he was a single-term governor of Georgia, a relatively small and backwater state. With a thoroughly underwhelming physical presence, he possessed an unusually meek, entirely unremarkable if accented voice enhanced by his ever-present, cloying earnestness. During the summer, he had given a wide-ranging series of interviews with the political purpose of appealing to his many different classes of voters, some of them from constituencies traditionally opposed to one another. Whereas his conservative opponent Ronald Reagan was a known quantity as a former actor and gifted speaker who had served two terms as Governor of California. Nevertheless, DNC patriarch, the House Speaker Tip O'Neil had warned Reagan he was now in the "big leagues," a message that Carter would have greatly benefitted from hearing rather than trying to build himself up as a good ol' boy to rival Reagan's cowboy.

Reagan stepped up to the challenge of the national political stage, deftly subduing the loquacious Carter during the presidential debate with the statesman-like, masterful put-down, "There you go again." Meanwhile, Carter's campaign was torpedoed by this publication of the 8,000-word interview, which hit the news stands a couple of weeks before the election. His running mate, Senator Walter Mondale, expressed hope that this whole incident would prove quite helpful. His 78-year-old mother said, "In a way I was surprised but it didn't shock me. Do you know, I'm so broad-minded, and he just gave an honest answer." Conversely, Vice President Rockefeller told an audience in Cleveland, "I never thought I'd see the day when Christ's teachings were discussed in Playboy, and I'm a Baptist, ladies and gentlemen!"

The interview would have an asymmetric impact upon voting patterns. Perhaps the most accurate insight was given by the chairman of the Democratic party in Georgia, who cut through the well-disguised embarrassment of most Democratic politicians and said, "The general reaction? Bad. Bad, bad. I've been everywhere today and the reaction is uniformly negative." With the Republican Southern Strategy unexpectedly back on track, Reagan managed to win the electoral college even though he won less states and a lower share of the popular vote. This victory followed his earlier squeaker in which he had narrowly beaten Ford for the Republican nomination by promising a return to integrity that those tainted by the Nixon Administration were unable to give. The truth was that Ford was harshly judged for pardoning Nixon and making a few physical stumbles, but he was well regarded by his colleagues in Congress and was a member of the Select Committee which created NASA. Reagan was unable to adequately deliver on those promises and was defeated after one term in office. Running for president himself four years later, and seeking to build an even broader coalition, the Rev. Jesse Jackson famously said that Reagan had won in 1976 by a "margin of despair."

Author's Note:

In reality the "f*ck" was in a separate interview so in this ATL we imagine Carter takes even more risks. Gerald Ford did win the 1976 Republican presidential nomination narrowly over Ronald Reagan, who would later be elected in 1980.

Provine's Addendum:

Reagan would go down in American history as a loud but largely ineffectual president. His efforts to combat unions proved an overreach, especially in a time when many American families were struggling where factories were closing to create the "Rust Belt." His greatest economic impact was the policy to encourage expanded domestic oil to combat another energy crisis, though the delay on implementing drilling was not enough to save his re-election. The resulting "oil glut" made for low prices for transportation that helped grease the gears of globalization as manufactures were increasingly brought from East Asia. American workforces needed to pivot, which was a main driver of Walter Mondale's administration investing in infrastructure and education in what was called the "New New Deal." American students surged ahead on international STEM testing and technology as the Digital Age dawned. Mondale would of course be critiqued as weak on defense, "allowing" the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, though later commentators would suggest that the fatigue of the war led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which would finally bring Germany to reunify in 1994.