William Hodding Carter III (born April 7, 1935) is an American
journalist and
politician. He was
Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the
Jimmy Carter administration.
Life and career
Carter was born in
New Orleans to journalist and
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
William Hodding Carter, II (1907–1972), and the former
Betty Werlein (1910–2000). He grew up in
Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.
H ...
, a
Mississippi River delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
city which is the seat of
Washington County,
Mississippi. Carter attended Greenville High School before transferring to
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
in
New Hampshire. He ultimately returned to Greenville and graduated in 1953. He then attended
Princeton University, from which he graduated ''summa cum laude'' in 1957. That same year, he married the former Margaret Ainsworth. They had a son, Hodding Carter IV (born 1962), and three daughters, Catherine Carter, Margaret Carter, and actress
Finn Carter
Elizabeth Fearn "Finn" Carter is an American former actress. She is best known for her role in the 1990 film '' Tremors'', starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward.
Early life
Carter was born in Greenville, Mississippi (U.S.). She is the daughter of ...
(born 1960). The couple divorced in 1978, and Carter that same year married
Patricia M. Derian, a
human rights official in the Carter administration and an author on topics relating to foreign policy,
civil rights, and the "New South".
Carter has a brother, Philip Dutartre Carter (born 1939), former publisher of the ''Delta Democrat-Times'', of Greenville, the newspaper started by their father and later publisher of the ''Vieux Carré Courier'' and financier of the weekly paper ''Gambit,'' both of
New Orleans. Another brother, Thomas Hennen Carter (1945–1964), killed himself while playing
Russian roulette.
After Princeton, Carter served in the
United States Marine Corps for two years. In 1959, he began working for the ''
Delta Democrat-Times'' as a reporter. He was thereafter the paper's
managing editor and associate
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
. He covered, among many topics, the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...
and the rise of the
Mississippi Republican Party, particularly under its chairman,
Clarke Reed
Clarke Thomas Reed (born 1928) is an American businessman and politician from Greenville, Mississippi, who was from 1966 to 1976 the state chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party. Reed was instrumental in the nomination of U.S. President Ge ...
, a Greenville businessman and personal friend of Carter's despite their political differences.
Carter wrote the book ''The South Strikes Back''. He won the
Sigma Delta Chi National Profession Journalism Society Award for Editorial Writing in 1961.
In the 1960s, Carter was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, both editorially and in political action. In 1968, he co-chaired the "Loyal Democrats of Mississippi" that replaced Mississippi's previously all- white delegation to the
Democratic National Convention, but later criticized the
Delta Ministry
The Delta Ministry played a crucial role in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. It was begun in September 1964, by the National Council of Churches as a civil rights project operating in Mississippi to support the southern black freedom strug ...
(part of the biracial coalition) in his editorials.
In 1964, he worked on
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
's presidential campaign, but Johnson and his vice-presidential choice,
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and power ...
Hubert H. Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
of
Minnesota, received only 13 percent of the vote in Mississippi in the last election held prior to passage of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights moveme ...
. Carter also worked on Jimmy Carter's campaign in 1976. President Carter appointed him
Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and
State Department spokesman.
Because of the
Iran Hostage Crisis, Carter came into the public eye much more frequently than most of his predecessors and successors.
When
Ronald W. Reagan was elected in 1980, Carter left his post in the government and moved into television as a major critic of Reagan’s policies. Up until 1994, he held various positions for
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
,
CBC,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by t ...
,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
, and
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...
, including anchor,
political commentator
A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport).
Origins
The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...
, panelist, and reporter. His most notable television work was as the host of the media criticism show ''Inside Story'' on PBS. Throughout the 1980s, he was one of the rotating guest panelists for the roundtable segment of
This Week with David Brinkley, while he also regularly wrote op-ed columns for various newspapers including ''
The Wall Street Journal''.
He gave the 1986 commencement speech at
George Washington University.
Beginning in 1994, he served as the Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the
University of Maryland at
College Park,
Maryland.
He resigned the post in 1998 to become the president of the
Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts.
The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...
. He serves on a commission funded by the foundation, the
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, often referred to simply as the Knight Commission, is a panel of American academic, athletic and sports leaders, with an eye toward reform of college athletics, particularly in regard to emphasizi ...
.
Since then, Carter has lectured at universities all over the country and continued to do freelance work for the television and print media. His most recent position is University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Carter contributed to ''After Snowden: Privacy, Secrecy, and Security in the Information Age'', published in May 2015.
References
External links
*
*
Oral History Interview with Hodding Carterfro
Oral Histories of the American SouthInterviewfrom
The State of Things (radio show)
''The State of Things'' was a radio talk show produced by North Carolina Public Radio. The show aired live at 12 noon Eastern time Monday through Friday, and was rebroadcast Monday through Thursday at 8 PM. Linda Belans founded and hosted the prog ...
on February 28, 2011
Hodding Carter IIITangled Nicaragua: An Exchange , by Tony Jenkins , The New York Review of Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Hodding III
1935 births
American male journalists
American newspaper editors
American newspaper publishers (people)
United States Assistant Secretaries of State
Living people
Politicians from Greenville, Mississippi
Writers from New Orleans
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
Princeton University alumni
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Mississippi Democrats
Journalists from Mississippi
United States Department of State spokespeople