Jimmy Carter's 1977 New Year's Trip to Poland Ended in Disaster When His Polite Speech Was Mistranslated as an NSFW Come-On

12/31/2024 12:38 PM

President Carter launched a high-stakes peace tour in the final days of 1977 that would bring him into the new year, but an interpreter's slip-up at the very first stop overshadowed his diplomatic efforts

When you live a life as long as Jimmy Carter, you're bound to have stories to tell. Add a term as president of the United States to the list of accomplishments and the stories grow exponentially.

The former president, who entered hospice care in February 2023, died at 100 years old on Sunday, Dec. 29 — the 47th anniversary of a global translation controversy that unfolded during his first international tour as president.

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On Dec. 29, 1977, President Carter arrived in Poland to kick off a nine-day, seven-nation peace tour nearly a year into his presidency. Before he could even leave the Warsaw airport, he'd made headlines for the wrong reasons — though by no fault of his own.

The State Department's Language Services Division had assigned part-time interpreter Steven Seymour to accompany Carter to the then-communist nation, believing he was the most qualified person to conduct a rare high-profile translation between English and Polish, according to The New York Times' debrief a day after the incident.

Seymour, who reportedly had a daily rate of $150 for his translation services, lasted less than a day on the job before he was replaced.

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During a freezing, 25-minute welcome ceremony for Carter, the Southern lawmaker spoke about his intent to improve East-West relations, saying in part that he was happy to have traveled from the United States to Poland because he wanted to learn about Polish people's desires for the future.

His remarks made the audience burst into laughter, according to the Times, and it was soon revealed by Polish journalists that Seymour hadn't quite gotten the message across, mixing up several words and in some cases accidentally translating phrases into Russian instead of Polish, which came across as insulting.

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When Carter said that he had left the U.S. just that morning, it was translated as something to the effect of, "I left the United States, never to return," according to The Washington Post.

When Carter said he wanted to learn about the country's desires, it was translated to say he desired Polish people in a carnal sense.

And — while it's been said that Polish journalists exaggerated on this part — it was widely reported that Seymour also mistranslated the innocuous statement that Carter was happy to be in Poland to the much less innocent claim that he was "happy to grasp at Poland's private parts."

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Seymour was replaced the following day, though he later told The New York Times that he had no idea it was due to his performance — or that he had quickly made America the butt of jokes in Poland — until an American journalist asked him about his inaccuracies two days later, on New Year's Eve.

"I was proud what I had done under such a difficult situation," he told the newspaper. "I was proud what I had done because my face was cold, my hands were numb, and I was soaked. What did me in was the lack of [previewing Carter's speech], and the absolutely dismal conditions."

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Seymour's replacement, Polish translator Jerzy Krycki, reportedly confided, "I'm really scared," before standing at the president's side at a press conference on Dec. 30, 1977, according to the Post.

Krycki's fears weren't quickly eased, either. As Carter began speaking, the translator remained silent, later admitting that he couldn't understand the president's Southern accent and decided that keeping quiet was better than mistranslating his words.

Despite the series of translation flubs that overshadowed Carter's diplomatic efforts in headlines, the world leaders involved were forgiving.

The Post reported at the time that Poland's communist party leader, Edward Gierek, told U.S. journalists that, although he found Seymour's translations uncomfortable, "No Pole would say a bad word about a lady or an interpreter even when we have to grit our teeth."

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And Carter, whose earnest speech was reported as a sexual come-on, made sure that Seymour didn't feel ashamed for the honest mistakes.

When the translator died in 2014, his colleagues found a letter in Seymour's archives, according to The Guardian. "Don't let the exaggerated criticisms disturb you," the letter read, signed, "Your friend Jimmy Carter."