Jimmy Carter Credits Presidential Win to Robert Redford

Posted on September 7, 2004

According to the Associated Press, at the Sundance ski resort owned by Robert Redford, former president and bestselling novelist Jimmy Carter revealed that it was Redford who coached Carter before his debates with Gerald Ford in the 1976 election. "I was probably president because of Bob Redford," said Carter, who confided that before the debate leading to his 1976 election he "didn't know what in the world I was going to do." Redford watched older debates over and over and taught Carter what worked and what didn't.

Redford didn't help Carter before his disastrous debate with Ronald Reagan, however. Carter, who has authored nineteen nonfiction books, is promoting his historical novel, The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War, which comes out in paperback in October.