When country music legend Willie Nelson smoked weed with President Jimmy Carter's son on the roof of the White House in Sept. 1980, their secret remained hidden for decades until President Carter himself eventually confirmed that the incident occurred.
The historic anecdote seems to be taking on renewed relevance, noted Insider, after the Secret Service recently found cocaine in the White House, which is becoming delicious GOP political fodder and a pain in the neck for the current residents of the White House.
What Happened Back Then? A More Pleasant Story
Nelson had initially written in his 1988 autobiography that he smoked weed on the rooftop with a White House employee.
The former president, in “Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President” - a documentary that explored Carter’s close connection to the music community during his four-year term - President Carter came clean about his son and Willy Nelson.
Nelson, “says that his companion that shared the pot with him was one of the servants at the White House,” Carter said in the film. “That is not exactly true. It actually was one of my sons.”
James “Chip” Carter added to his father’s account.
“In the break [of a White House concert] I said, ‘Let’s go upstairs.’ We just kept going up till we got to the roof, where we leaned against the flagpole at the top of the place and lit one up.’”
In 2020, Willie Nelson told CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the rooftop sesh. "Chip and I are buddies too. He was showing me around the White House, the basement, you know they have a bowling alley down there. We went into the Lincoln bedroom and all that good stuff. And then, we went up on the roof and looked around and that was pretty cool."
Got a few moments? Watch the trailer: Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President
Photo: Jimmy Carter on stage with Willie Nelson, courtesy of Carter Presidential Library
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