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Jimmy Carter
Nobel Prize for Peace
Jimmy Carter: What people forget is that the original treaty with Panama was written and signed without any Panamanian ever seeing it. It was never fair to the Panamanians, and most people recognize that. President Johnson gave his word of honor to the Panamanians, "We will have a new treaty." So did President Nixon and President Ford. But it was only when I got into office that I was foolish enough to push it to a conclusion. The treaty is very fair to our country and to the Panamanians. It gives us first priority in using the Canal. It gives us the right to defend the Canal against external threats, not only in this century but even in the next century. And it forms a sharing partnership in operating the Canal. When I was there during the Panamanian elections, which we helped to conduct, I visited the Canal and the American leaders there, and they told me that the Canal was in better shape than it had been in many, many years. Because the Panamanians, knowing that they now have a share in the future of the Canal, were much more enthusiastic in upkeep and maintenance and learning how to be the leaders in ways that they hadn't been before. This was the worst political battle I ever got into. It was more difficult to get the Panama Canal Treaties ratified by two-thirds of the Senate of the United States than it was for me to get elected President in the first place. It was a very deep and bitter political battle, and many people still haven't gotten over it. I never go through a week of my life now that I don't get letters from people condemning the Panama Canal Treaties. Still, and this is I don't know how many years later. 1978? Thirteen years later. But it was a good thing to do.
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Steve Case
Co-Founder, America Online
We had just lived through -- earlier, in the 1980s -- the costs and the tragedy really of kind of going out on your own, but the Apple alliance blowing up kind of forced us, and that's actually when we renamed that service. Instead of AppleLink we called it America Online. We said, "We have to create our own name. We have to create our own brand. Even though it's hard, even though it's expensive, even though it's risky, we've got to figure out a way to be successful on our own two feet. We can no longer just piggy back on other people's efforts." So, again that was a crisis. Everybody, myself included, was very nervous about walking away from the strategy of private label partnerships that was working and setting out on our own and taking more risks, but we felt like we had to do it, and it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to us. Because then it really propelled us, because we had the flexibility to do exactly what we wanted without getting permission, and we were able to really drive AOL into a position of great prominence.
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Johnnetta Cole
Past President of Spelman College
Professionally, of course, I've had disappointments. And I would say that the most painful for me was recently when, coming out of my work with President Clinton on the Transition Team, I served as the Cluster Coordinator for Education, and for Labor, and for the Arts. I was literally attacked. Attacked in the media, called names that I knew didn't belong to me. Accused of things that I knew that I had not done. It's a very painful experience to be attacked. It's not pleasant to look at a newspaper and to see people saying untruths. But it's in moments like that that I think one really comes to grips with the absolute core of who you are as a person. And it's also in moments like that, that you really discover the extraordinary power of friendships, of collegial relationships.
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Johnnetta Cole
Past President of Spelman College
The charges that were leveled against me, I found it important to say very little. The folk who spoke were amazingly effective in saying how they perceive me. The Atlanta Jewish community, responding to some unbelievable charge that I was practicing anti-Semitism. The Atlanta business community, responding to a charge that I was a communist. And so, others spoke up. And I think the lesson to be learned there is that when we are connected to folk who are being charged unfairly, it is our responsibility to speak up.
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