section_path: Personal life/Interests, friendships and hobbies
section_name: Interests, friendships and hobbies
paragraph_text: Interests, friendships and hobbies
  
  Carter's hobbies included painting, fly fishing, woodworking, cycling, tennis, and skiing. He also had an interest in poetry, particularly the works of Dylan Thomas. During a state visit to the UK in 1977, Carter suggested that Thomas should have a memorial in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey; this came to fruition in 1982. In 1994, Carter published a book of poetry, Always a Reckoning and Other Poems, illustrated by his granddaughter Sarah Chuldenko.
  
  Carter was a personal friend of Elvis Presley, whom he and Rosalynn met on June 30, 1973. They remained in contact by telephone two months before Presley's sudden death in August 1977. According to Carter, Presley was almost incoherent because of barbiturates; although he phoned the White House several more times, that was the last time they spoke. The day after Presley's death, Carter issued a statement and said Presley had "changed the face of American popular culture".
  
  Carter filed a report with both the International UFO Bureau and the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena saying that he saw an unidentified flying object in October 1969. Records showed that Carter got the date wrong, and it was in fact on January 6, 1969. In 2016, a former Air Force scientist found old government reports about a scientific project that on that date launched a barium cloud to examine the upper atmosphere. It would have appeared in the sky at an elevation of 33 degrees, which is almost exactly what Carter had speculated.
  
  Carter's hobbies included painting, fly fishing, woodworking, cycling, tennis, and skiing. He also had an interest in poetry, particularly the works of Dylan Thomas. During a state visit to the UK in 1977, Carter suggested that Thomas should have a memorial in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey; this came to fruition in 1982. In 1994, Carter published a book of poetry, Always a Reckoning and Other Poems, illustrated by his granddaughter Sarah Chuldenko.
  
  Carter was a personal friend of Elvis Presley, whom he and Rosalynn met on June 30, 1973. They remained in contact by telephone two months before Presley's sudden death in August 1977. According to Carter, Presley was almost incoherent because of barbiturates; although he phoned the White House several more times, that was the last time they spoke. The day after Presley's death, Carter issued a statement and said Presley had "changed the face of American popular culture".
  
  Carter filed a report with both the International UFO Bureau and the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena saying that he saw an unidentified flying object in October 1969. Records showed that Carter got the date wrong, and it was in fact on January 6, 1969. In 2016, a former Air Force scientist found old government reports about a scientific project that on that date launched a barium cloud to examine the upper atmosphere. It would have appeared in the sky at an elevation of 33 degrees, which is almost exactly what Carter had speculated.