This comes a little late. After all, Jimmy Carter's historic 100th birthday - he is the first and so far only president to have reached triple digits in age - came more than a week ago. But I was on a trip, and thus did not get to really write about him. True, I posted something on him nevertheless, but that was mostly a "copy and paste" job from an earlier post about him from prior birthdays. Once I was back home, it seemed like a good idea to write something fresh, to show how I hold this man (as well as his late wife Rosalyn) as something truly special and unique in modern American history.
Personally, I feel that Carter is not given enough credit for many of his accomplishments during his Oval Office tenure. He is not given credit for unwaveringly championing human rights. Nor is he given credit for his instrumental role in the first major breakthrough for peace in the Middle East (an opportunity that we could have built upon, but which feels laergely squandered since). Nobody seems to give him credit for coming up with a real solution which reflected well on the United States by finding a peaceful and manageable way of transferring the Panama Canal to Panama. And people seem to have ignored, and since subsequently largely forgotten, his ultimately successful efforts to free the hostages, although Iran displayed both pettiness and vindictiveness by making a point of waiting until Ronald Reagan had officially been sworn in before surrendering the hostages.
Let us not forget that those are not his only successes, although many of these have come to be appreciated only in retrospect, looking back. This man foresaw the energy crisis to come and urged Americans to conserve energy and to find new solutions for producing energy that would not rely on oil from the Middle East. Had we as a nation collectively listened to him enough to take him and his message seriously, we very likely would have a healthier and less polluted planet. Also, we would very likely have avoided the costly (in every sense of that word) wars related to oil in the Middle East in the decades since.
Also, his so-called "malaise speech" was ahead of it's time, although again that took a few decades before it became clear to many people. He warned that too many Americans were growing overly greedy, and that they were growing exclusively self-interested. This, he argued, was not good for the country. And he tried to warn us about this growing crisis and threat to the nation.
These are things that people recognized as both intelligent and prophetic only too late. Carter actually tried to prepare us for a better future beyond just his own chances at winning re-election (some might argue at the expense of chances of being re-elected). That, too, seems to be a rare quality these days, when politicians appear to be a lot less about substance and a lot more about shameless self-promotion and self-interest.
Finally, let us not forget that the Carter years were largely devoid of any major presidential scandals. He promised a transparent presidency, and it feels like he delivered that to the American people. Given how Nixon had just resigned two short years before Carter took office, and that Reagan and Bush were plagued by the Savings & Loan Scandal and the Iran-Contragate Scandal, that Clinton was rocked by major scandals like Whitewater and the Lewinsky scandal, that Bush Jr. was plagued by numerous corporate scandals (Enron, Blackwater, Halliburton), by the scandal of lying about his justifications for the war in Iraq, and then the scandal of him running the economy into the ground, and that Trump never seemed to tire or take a break from courting countless scandals during his years in office, this is no small feat on the part of Jimmy Carter. Looking back, it almost feels like a more innocent time in this nation's history.
Still, Carter's presidency is regarded by too many - particularly in a self-serving manner by self-identified conservatives - as a failure. They point to inflation, and claim that Carter was responsible for low morale and supposed weakness regarding his handling of the hostage situation. Personally, I believe that they have made too much of all of this, making a point of exaggerating his faults and stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his triumphs and positive points.
One thing that few people dispute is that Carter's post-presidency was one of the most active in history. The consensus for many people is that it also is the most successful post-presidency in history. He helped to set up the Carter Center, which has gotten involved all around the world in trying to improve lives. From overseeing fairness in elections to combatting diseases in remote regions of the world, to trying to fight poverty and educate people and provide clean and reliable drinking water, the Carter Center has become something that all Americans can be proud of. And Carter himself often was present for these things, including going to trouble spots in the world in order to help promote peace, as he did in Haiti in 1994.
Also, he and his wife Rosalyn were very active in Habitat for Humanity. They helped to build affordable housing for disadvantaged people. This feels like something which Carter did in the true spirit of his Christian faith, which is clearly important to him. In addition, Carter often was active in his local church in Plains, Georgia, and he was a fairly prolific author for years.
In the truest and most sincerest sense, his wife and he lived according to their principles, which were based on Christianity as they saw it. You do not have to agree or believe in their religion to accept and respect that they truly abided by what their religion taught them, how it guided them in life. It made them both do good works and deeds right to the end, right to old age.
Jimmy Carter is still here, of course. He was placed into hospice care over one year ago, but still managed to reach 100. That is an impressive accomplishment, and I for one am glad that he is still with us. This man is, to me, an inspiration. Truly someone we can all look up to, both for his accomplishments in life, as well as for the decency with which he lived that life. The tireless dedication that he and his wife showed in trying to help the lives of others, here and around the world. He became one of the Elders, and was one of the positive faces and voices from the United States at a time when our national reputation seemed to suffer greatly, from unjust wars being fought, to tiresome nationalist policies that often seemed to reflect a modern day imperial mindset, to the circus-like atmosphere of politics under Trump, when hatred and xenophobia seemed to run amok. Through it all, Carter remained the person he always was.
I, for one, am truly grateful for this man. Grateful that he was the elected face and voice of the country while he served in the White House. Grateful for his activism and intelligence and thoughtfulness (those two are not necessarily the same thing) before and after the years of his presidency. To me, his post-presidency is without doubt the greatest and most amazing post-presidency of them all. So successful, it seems to me, that Bill Clinton tried to copy his example, creating the Clinton Foundation, and recently having written a book called "Beyond the Oval Office," which felt like it so closely borrowed a very similar title of a book by Carter ("Beyond the White House") that it almost feels like plagiarism, frankly.
Personally, I prefer Carter over Clinton or, indeed, over any other recent president and presidency. In my lifetime, Carter feels like the most sincere, most honest, and most actively heroic in his endeavors, and in how he carried himself, regardless of his titles and achievements, or the years after his presidency ended.
I wanted to take this opportunity to honor Jimmy Carter with this post, and share my own words and thoughts about this true living inspiration. Personally, I believe that the United States became a better country as a result of Jimmy Carter, and that goes well beyond merely his four years serving as the president (which I admittedly do not even remember).
Here's to Jimmy Carter, a real American hero!
Below are some pictures from some of the times when I went to book signing events of President Jimmy Carter, including the one time when my son went with my to New York City for one of those book signings, as well as to meet a real former president. It was one of those special days, and I am still pleased for having made a point of doing that.
Here are the pictures.
Enjoy.
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