A United Nations staff member pays tribute to Kofi Annan during a ceremony at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland.
EPA-EFE/ Salvatore Di Nolfi
Kofi Annan and John McCain’s positive eulogies could be because both men seized moments of human dignity and decency.
Employees at a gas station in Los Angeles watch President Jimmy Carter giving his energy speech over national television on July 15, 1979.
AP Photo/Mao
At at time of rising hatred and nationalism, Jimmy Carter’s speech – a sermon that cautioned against excess, offers a counterexample.
Radical policy shifts are a hallmark of the Trump administration. On May 8, the president announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the international Iran nuclear deal.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Many presidents have radically changed US foreign policy. Truman created his own doctrine. Carter gave up the Panama Canal. But a presidential historian sees danger in Trump’s decision-making style.
Former President Jimmy Carter will give this year’s commencement address at Liberty University.
AP Photo/John Amis
Adam Laats, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Although the choice of liberal icon Jimmy Carter as commencement speaker at Liberty University might be surprising, an expert explains why this fits in with the dream of conservative schools.
Delegates entering the Geneva conference.
Wikimedia
Trump avoided many of the missteps his critics feared, but he failed to acknowledge the presence of America’s large Muslim population and its contribution to American society.
Sarah B. Snyder, American University School of International Service
In 1981, many criticized Ronald Reagan’s nominee to head human rights initiatives in the State Department. Here is how activists mobilized to ensure the nomination was rejected.
John Kerry will raise the flag over the American Embassy in Cuba on Friday. That moment is possible thanks to work Jimmy Carter began four decades ago.
Public opinion on the flag may have shifted with lightning speed, but how did it hold on as long as it did? The answer has to do with how it served both Democratic and Republican parties alike.
Who is the audience for the commencement address?
Penn State
American Presidents tend to use the commencement address to address the audience outside than within the graduation hall. This changes though if they go on to a second term.
Jimmy Carter meets with Senator Edward Kennedy in the Oval Office in 1977.
President (1977-1981 : Carter). White House Staff Photographers.
Ted Kennedy, long idolized as the Lion of the Senate, miscalculated badly when he challenged incumbent Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination. The results haunt liberals to this day.
Positive moves: The Elders at Chatham House last week (l-r: Maati Ahtisaari, Lakhdar Brahimi and Jimmy Carter.
Jeff Moore/The Elders
When US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that talks about talks to revive peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians would begin soon in Washington, veteran commentators greeted the…