Jimmy's Killer Rabbit

For no particular reason that I can think of, the story of Jimmy Carter and the Killer Rabbit popped into my head this morning. It seems, somehow, like a condensed version of this most incompetent President – and downright dangerous ex-President.

A quick search on the Internet turned up both the photo I remembered and a nice write-up of the incident and a Wikipedia entry. Here's the gist:

Dubbed the "killer rabbit" attack by the media, the Jimmy Carter rabbit incident involved a swamp rabbit that caught press imagination after trying furiously to board then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat on April 20, 1979.

Carter had gone on a solo fishing expedition in his hometown of Plains, Georgia when the rabbit approached his boat, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared and making straight for the president"^[1], trying desperately to enter the boat, causing Carter to flail at the swimming creature with the oars from his boat.

I was paying very little attention to politics at the time, being busy starting a business – but this incident was just too funny to ignore!

Photo is courtesy the Jimmy Carter Library.