Brenau University will host Bob Maddox, a former speechwriter and religious liaison during the Carter Administration, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, to talk about his decades-long friendship with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Hosted by the Brenau University Learning & Leisure Institute, the discussion is free and open to the public. It will take place at 2 p.m. in the Thurmond-McRae Lecture Hall at Brenau’s historic Gainesville Campus. Advance registration is requested.
“We are honored to host Bob Maddox to share his remarkable and personal experiences with the Carters,” Tim Bryant, executive director of Brenau’s Center for Lifetime Study, said. “His journey from small-town Georgia to Washington, D.C., is an inspiration.”
The acquaintance began in the late 1960s, when Maddox’s father met Jimmy Carter through the Baptist Men’s Group where both men were members; Carter also preached at Maddox’s church on two occasions. The association expanded when Maddox became pastor of First Baptist Church in Calhoun, Georgia, where Jack, the Carters’ oldest son, and his wife were members. This resulted in a notable presidential event in Calhoun, when the President and First Lady attended the church with their family only months after his inauguration.
Despite the family association, Maddox’s journey from pastor to White House staffer didn’t come about until an unlikely, unsolicited speech.
After the announcement of the historic Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in September 1978, Maddox drew on his background as a writer for Baptist quarterlies to draft a speech. The theme was inspired by a poem from a friend and editor of Baptist publications, Walker Knight: “peace, like war, is waged.”
Email and fax machines were not available to the public yet, so Maddox mailed the full speech to Rosalyn Carter’s press secretary. Months passed and, on March 26, 1979, he received a call from Presidential Press Secretary Jody Powell. The pair had first met in 1964 when Maddox was a young pastor in Powell’s hometown of Vienna, Georgia.
“Three hours before the (signing of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty), Jody called and said, ‘You better get to a TV, the president’s using your speech,’” Maddox said.
The speech yielded one of the Carter administration’s most lasting and impactful phrases. The phrase “waging peace” has since become a cornerstone of President Carter’s identity, and the Carter Center incorporated it into its logo.
Maddox was surprised by the quick adoption of his writing, noting that presidential speeches, especially ones involving high-stakes foreign policy, typically undergo immense departmental vetting. The speech led to a staff job at the White House as a speechwriter; the role of religious liaison was added later. Maddox called the workload sobering and very hard work, but said he and his wife “would do it again in the morning if we needed to.”
Maddox returned to the life of a pastor and writer after Carter’s failed re-election bid, but remained in touch with the family; his wife, Linda, remained friends with Rosalynn Carter. Decades of contact and personal moments allowed Maddox a profound understanding of the Carters. He observed Rosalynn as a strong partner to her husband, but Jimmy’s identity had a distinct duality.
“He was widely read. He was at a level that he was a world intellectual,” Maddox said. “But he was always still the Baptist boy from Plains, Georgia.”
