Nation: Jimmy's Journey: Mostly Pluses

Despite gaffes, he cemented ties with India and soothed Sadat

Inevitably, it is the glitches that will be remembered. The fumbles in Warsaw by two interpreters who seemed unable to convert Jimmy Carter's English into accurate Polish. The live TV mike in New Delhi that enabled pool reporters to hear the President undiplomatically instructing Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to send a "cold and very blunt" note to Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai about his nuclear policy. The dinner in the same capital dominated by a singleminded flycatcher who hovered behind Carter until —swat!—he...