A 1979 cartoon caricatures President Jimmy Carter fending off a "killer rabbit." Image via wnyc.org.
Of all the anniversaries we observe in 2014 - the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the 40th anniversary of President Nixon's resignation - one odd anniversary should not be overlooked. Thirty-five years ago this summer, President Jimmy Carter - armed with the oar of a rowboat - fended off a so-called "killer rabbit" while vacationing in Georgia.
The 1979 incident, captured by a White House photographer in April of that year but not made public until August, "changed the presidency," claims this audio retrospective. While Watergate showed a chief executive losing control of his narrative in a constitutional crisis, "Rabbitgate" demonstrated the same could happen when the incident was trivial but symbolic. "[It] crystallized an emerging sense that Carter was a man in over his head." Courtesy WNYC News.