Trivia: Jimmy Carter Took Richard Nixon's Advice

While out shopping I ran into a fantastic price for a brand new copy of Jimmy Carter’s White House Diary, and will place it on the list of things to read as it gets colder this winter.  But I did skim over some pages, and the first paragraph caught my attention, and makes for a nice piece of trivia.

The book is parts of the diary that Carter kept while in the White House.  But why did he ever start such a diary?

Because of an off-hand remark by then President Richard Nixon when Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, attended a National Governor’s Conference in 1971.

Nixon walked up to the Rosalyn and asked “Young lady, do you keep a diary?”  (It has often been said small talk was difficult for RN.)

Rosalyn responded, “No sir.”

Nixon added, “You’ll be sorry.”

As Carter writes since this was the first conversation ever with a president it made an impact.

The diary then, in some way, can be linked back to Richard Nixon.