The government’s anti-Lennon campaign eased off somewhat after Nixon was safely reëlected and ceased altogether once the affable Gerald Ford was President. The Lennons were honored guests at Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural ball. When Lennon was assassinated, on December 8, 1980, President Carter issued a statement of sorrow—written by me, as it happens. I can’t find it at the moment—it somehow got left out of the official Presidential papers—but, if I recall correctly, it made the point that Lennon had shown his love for this country by insisting on living here.
via Hendrik Hertzberg: John Would Be Seventy : The New Yorker.
