It was nearly four years to the day when I took my son to see Jimmy Carter in New York City on a school day.
I offered this time, but my son did not want to miss any work from his school, which I could understand. So, he unfortunately did not come with me this time around, although it would have been wonderful to have had him around for it.
Still, I was determined to go, and for two major reasons. Firstly, I have tremendous respect and even admiration for President Jimmy Carter, and think he is not just a fine and decent man, but indeed, in a very real sense, he is a modern American hero, someone who the world looks up to, and who best exemplifies the best, most positive values and abilities that this country is capable of. The second reason was because going to see Jimmy Carter during his book tours has become a bit of a habit. A little more on that later.
Again, though, Carter is a man to be admired and appreciated for being such a positive role model, and truly an American hero. This is not something that I say lightly, either. As such, he serves as a counterweight to the current sitting president, who more closely embodies the very worst that America has to offer, and who the world judges harshly, yet accurately, as a result.
Indeed, Carter was a better President than most people give him credit for being. Most people seem to judge harshly because of the hostage situation, although I think personally think that he handled it well and, despite the fact that the Iran regime waited until Carter was out of office officially, specifically, to release them, Reagan accurately credited Carter with achieving this through tireless, overnight negotiations. There was also inflation, which ran rampant, although that situation certainly has not gotten much better in the years since, which means that we cannot at least solely fault Carter for this. However, Carter does not get enough credit for signing the Panama Canal treaty, which was a major landmark and helped end an unfair, de facto colonialism on the part of Americans. Also, he was instrumental in helping to create the first major breakthrough towards achieving peace in the Middle East. Carter is also known for two major speeches - the Energy speech, and the so-called "Malaise" speech. In the first, Carter showed that modern day politicians can not only envision, but work towards a brighter future beyond the next election cycle. He felt it was imperative for the United States to achieve energy independence and develop alternative energy, to become a leader in that regard. In the "Malaise" speech, Carter accurately diagnosed that a spirit of selfishness was beginning to pervade in the country, and that this was at least as big of a threat, if not more of a threat, than any other single problem that the nation was facing. In the ensuing decades, it seems safe to suggest that Carter was right on point in both of these speeches. But again, he does not receive the recognition that he deserves for them. In short, though, he was right, both times. It was not what Americans wanted to hear, and they made him pay come election day in 1980. However, it was what Americans needed to hear, and if they had indeed listened to him at that time, taken it seriously and tried to remedy these situations that threatened the country every bit as much as Carter warned, the United States would probably be in far better shape today.
If Americans judged him a little too harshly while he was in the Oval Office, Carter repaired his public image with the good works that he has tirelessly done ever since. This is a man who is now 93 years old, yet he still engages in some incredible works, and his active schedule would put many people not even half his age, or even a quarter of his age, to shame. This is a man who travels all around the world frequently, and who uses his vacation time helping to build houses for people in need.
After his presidency, the Carter Center opened, with Jimmy Carter heading it and being the face and the voice of that organization that has done such good works around the world. Through this organization of his own making, Carter has gone all over the world, building wells and other infrastructure to isolated villages in third world countries, also bringing medicine and education. He has also gotten involved in peace negotiations in other parts of the world, such as Haiti and North Korea. He and the Carter Center have helped to monitor elections and try to ensure that they are fair in all parts of the world. And here at home, he has used his free time helping to build homes for disadvantaged people through Habitat for Humanity. Also, he has become a prolific author, not just writing about his time in the White House through his memoirs, but also writing a poetry book, a novel, and several other books of varying subject matter, including faith and family and his past.
Through it all, he has also continued to voice his opinion, often times courting controversy along the way. This seemed especially true during the years of President George W. Bush, when Carter criticized the Iraq war and the seemingly threatened status of American democracy. One of the books that he wrote also generated considerable controversy. In 2006, he wrote "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," a book that warned that a de facto system of apartheid, not based on race but on religious affiliation, existed in the occupied territories of what had been Palestinian land. There was even a movie about it that came out called "Man From Plains," which also delves a bit into a biography about the man, including his childhood. But it explored the controversy surrounding that book, with demonstrations both in support and vehemently against the views that Carter expressed in it.
Carter has shown tremendous courage in being so willing to take a stand on public issues, like he did with the situation regarding a de facto apartheid state which exists in the occupied territories, and he has not shied from it. If anything, he seems to thrive in provoking people to at least debate controversial topics, and to get a conversation going. That in and of itself is saying something, and he deserves credit for waking people up to these issues which, otherwise, they might not even think about. The added gravitas that he lends to these arguments because of his status as the former President of the United States has added legitimacy in the public eye.
As I mentioned earlier, I have a kind of history of attending booksignings by Jimmy Carter. This is because I take pleasure in seeing this man and, to the degree possible, in showing my support by being present. Very rarely do I ever say anything that feels worth saying, although for today's signing, I said something appropriately brief, yet all-encompassing. I said to him, "Thank you very much, Mr. President. For everything."
Hopefully, this more or less covered it, although since everyone wants to talk to him (the guy ahead of me actually shared a brief story, which Carter appreciated. Not being particularly outgoing, and usually getting nervous around people like that, it is a bit of an achievement for me to have said anything at all, frankly.
The first Carter booksigning came in October of 2007, for “Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease and Building Hope,” published by Simon & Schuster. My brother met me in the city for that one. A few months later, in April, Carter came to New York City again, and this time, I went with my father to see him. The next year, on January, I went again, this time with my then girlfriend, on her birthday. She seemed pleased (seriously!) to do that on the occasion of her birthday.
It would be a few years before I would go back to another Carter booksigning, but when I did, it was with my son. That one was very special to me as a result, and it came on March of 2014, also in New York City. Later that year, I attended another booksigning of Carter's on the campus of Yale University in Connecticut on a snowy day. A couple of days later, I went to the campus of Princeton University and watched President Carter's speech there about the book he was then promoting on women's issues, even though I myself was not actually physically in the building where he was speaking, although it was right across the window from me, and being broadcast in that building where I found myself, and presumably in other parts of the campus. That was for an assignment with the Guardian Liberty Voice, and I added the link to that article down below, just in case anyone is interested in reading it.
Then, in 2015, Carter had several booksignings in my area, from New York City to suburban New Jersey to the Philadelphia Free Library, and so I saw him three times in a span of roughly four or so days. That was a lot of fun, especially the one in Philadelphia.
This time around, I learned about this particular booksigning just by chance. It had been a long while - too long - since I had checked on him to see if he was going to do any signings, and just by chance, I checked just before this weekend, and found out that he would be coming around on the other side of the weekend! That was good luck, and so I gathered some of the extra Carter books that I had hanging around but had not yet gotten him to sign. Then, I decided to give myself Monday off, and prepared to go into the city for another booksigning with Jimmy Carter - my ninth such event with the 39th President of the United States!
What a day it was, too!
It's early spring, although this year thus far, it feels a lot more like winter. It grew cold in a hurry once we were standing outside, not moving. It's one thing when you are walking, and perhaps walking fast like I was, to get there. You do not feel the cold so much at that point. But once you are out there and not moving, you start to really feel the cold. After about an hour of reading, I had to stop, because my fingers hurt from the cold.
Yet, it was worth it. I was so glad to see him again, and am so grateful to have gotten this opportunity several times now, obviously.
He is 93 years old, and so you never know if or when a booksigning might be the last opportunity to see him. But it is a pleasure, and really an honor, to get to meet such a man - no, such a hero and role mode - in person, if even for the briefest of exchanges. God willing, maybe someday the opportunity will present itself again!
They allowed no pictures with or of President Carter this time around. On past occasions, there were no selfies allowed, understandably. That would take way too much time, as everyone would then want a selfie. This time around, however, there were no pictures of President Carter allowed, period. You could not even have your camera out and take a couple of pictures as you approached. Since I have been to quite a few of these with President Carter, it was not that big of a deal for me, as I do have pictures of him from prior signings, although I felt bad for the people who were there to see him for the first, and possibly, only time! Here are the pictures that I did get from yesterday's signing:
Here is the link to my article:
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