Jimmy Carter, Our Pop Culture President

When Brinkley asked Carter what the appeal of Georgia was for Hollywood, his response was swift. “We would do anything for them,” he said. “For instance, when [producers] wanted to make The Longest Yard, we turned over the Regional State Prison. And they wanted a football field. They wanted a fence put up, and we got Coca-Cola to put up old-fashioned advertisements around the football field. They wanted a 1932 gray pickup truck, a Ford, and we put an ad in the papers in Georgia and located a gray 1932 pickup truck. They wanted a place for Burt Reynolds to stay, so we talked to the prison warden, who said, ‘You can have my house,’ and the warden moved into a motel. They bought new furniture, and Burt Reynolds stayed in the warden’s house.”

Democratic Presidential Nominee Jimmy Carter explains to newsmen why the party hosted by actor Warren Beatty was closed to the press. Three reporters were finally allowed into the gathering on a “pool” basis but news photographers and TV cameramen were denied entry to the Beverly Hills mansion “because some of the guests were assured there would be no cameras.”

Bettmann