June 8, 1977

'Ha'way Tha Lads!

Just as John F.  Kennedy wowed the Germans with his ringing declaration, "I am a Berliner," President Jimmy Carter captured the hearts of the English people recently with his emphatic "  'Ha'way tha lads!"

This is the "war cry" of the Newcastle football fans for their "Geordies."  It translates roughly into "up their kilts."

I watched the performance on British television along with a half dozen Britons while toasting our feet before a smoky peat fire and our gullets with pints of bitter.

Reaction from my hosts was that of delight.  The folks in Newcastle roared their approval for five minutes.  The image on the tube apparently reflected the image sought.

An hour later Carter was in nearby Washington, ancestral home of America's first president, to plant a Georgia tulip tree on the village green.  He charmed the crowd with a "walk about" - shaking hands and flashing his famous smile.

I visited the town a few days later to attend the weekly Rotary meeting and gawk at Old Hall where the Washington coat of arms featuring stars and stripes is set in stained glass.  Local residents were still bubbling about the Carter visit, showing me the tree he had planted, the guest book he had signed, and even the public toilet where our president's historic presence there was noted in inelegant graffiti.

The Rotarians gave me a beautiful first-day philatelic cover issued July 4, 1976, in honor of' the American Bicentennial and then re-cancelled May 6, 1977, in honor of the "Visit Of President Carter.

It was interesting to observe the attitude of the British toward our new president.  British newspapers carry a great deal of American news and constantly refer to our "power" and our "prestige."  Frankly, it is slightly ego inflating to discover that people abroad study us and accord us respect Americans are not accustomed to granting each other.

The British appear to be greatly concerned about the U.S. attitude toward world events.  They admire our space feats and are awed by our nuclear capability.  They look to us for economic leadership.  As the representative of these national abilities, Carter was an object of intense curiosity.

President Carter came off well with the average Britisher as a confident, sincere American leader.  The British press, however, gave him mixed reviews.  Journalists generally acknowledged Carter's charisma while reserving judgments about his potential accomplishments.

The London Times put down the Carter visit with a touch of cynicism; but, then, that is a common affectation of British journalists.  After reporting that Carter wore a suit with pin stripes consisting of a string of initials JC - a gift from Prime Minister James Callaghan - the Times described Carter's arrival:

"The car was a black Daimler, not an armour-plated Cadillac.  That much was conceded to the Carter-Callaghan entente.  All its doors opened at once, and secret service men rolled out like parachutists in close order.  The president, by contrast, emerged upright, with a noticeable little jump, landing on both feet triumphant, as if he had leaped from some greater height.  To Newcastle, this gesture seemed symbolic.  It symbolised terra firma: reality.

"What of the man who has successfully defied description these many months: He is shortish, cat-footed, boyish down to the waist.  His hair seems to have been sprinkled with pepper and salt.  Even the back of his head is televisual, being cut in three precisely-symmetrical layers.  His shoes have no heels whatever.

"He smiles a lot.  His countenance, unsmiling, resembles that of an intelligent gun dog.  And, for the moment, his presence gives delight and excitement.  We have learned to look for much less in a world leader."

The London Daily Express took a more sober view of Carter in an editorial titled "Piety Strikes Again."

"The United States is peculiarly vulnerable to sudden flushes of compulsive morality, and it elects once in a generation, often on behalf of disparate causes, a politician with an over-developed disposition to public virtue.

"Basically Mr. Carter wants his foreign policy no longer to be governed by an 'inordinate fear of Communism.'  He wants us to treat other forms of non-democratic government - which he bundles together unreflectively as 'totalitarian' - as being unacceptable.

Mr. Carter's world from which he proposes to keep out the dictatorships will be free all right, but it will be exceedingly small.  The world, for heaven's sake, is made up of unjust and inequitable forms of government; and both Thomas Jefferson and John Stuart Mill would have deplored them all.  However, it should be the first requirement of Western foreign policy to distinguish between those whose guns are pointed at us, and those whose guns are not!

"When Jimmy Carter first ran for President, the most usual reaction in Europe to the jarring emphasis upon the candidate's piety and sincerity was hopeful assumption that neither need be taken too seriously.  The terrible truth may have to be faced that Mr. Carter has been entirely honest."

As an American traveler, I was pleased that my president made a good impression.  But I was glad my British friends did not ask me to substantiate appearance with deeds.

Author: Lindsey Williams