Billy Carter, the beer-guzzling brother of President Jimmy Carter, became a serious headache for the White House when he was required to register as a foreign agent on 15th July, 1980, due to his dealings in Libya.
Taking two large ‘loans’ from Gadaffi’s regime, viewed by the USA as a terrorist state, was perhaps Billy’s most controversial moment while his brother was in office - but not necessarily the most embarrassing…
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate the ‘wit and wisdom’ Billy published for his fanbase; reveal the hard alcoholism that lurked behind much of his behaviour; and recall the appalling advertising campaign with which he attempted to turn around this very bad publicity…
Further Reading:
• ‘Billy Carter Files as Foreign Agent’ (The Washington Post, 1980): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/07/15/billy-carter-files-as-foreign-agent/3c9afef6-10cc-4832-881a-94117d111533/
• ‘Embarrassing Relatives Plague Presidents’ (ABC News, 2003):
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=90138&page=1w
• ‘Mo Rocca on why Jimmy Carter's brother Billy Carter was misunderstood’ (Salon, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzoGPJNRa1E
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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
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