Jimmy Carter Practiced What He Preached

The passing of former President Jimmy Carter at the age of 100 brings to an end the extraordinary life of a man who ascended from the small town of Plains, Georgia (population 552) to the highest office in the world.

Carter’s life-story is the political equivalent of a rags-to-riches Horatio Alger novel. He never gave up on anything he attempted, despite long odds and failure. As a boy he aspired to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, which he eventually did (after initially attending the Georgia Technology Institute) and from which he graduated in the top 10 percent of his class.

After completing his military service, he went into peanut-farming (something he had done as a youngster) and almost went bankrupt. However, thanks to hard work and determination, he and his wife Rosalynn eventually turned the farm into a successful enterprise.

Carter served as a state senator in Georgia before running for governor. He lost his first campaign, but won the second, serving from 1971-75 before launching his long-shot bid for president despite being a virtual unknown on the national scene.

Jimmy Carter first came to our attention in an interview in a national magazine just as he was launching his bid for the presidency. Carter’s straight talk (in a press conference he described his ideology as, “Conservative, moderate, liberal, and middle-of-the-road”) impressed us as being just what the country needed in the immediate aftermath of the  Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War, two events in which our nation’s leaders had lied to us about everything.

Carter was an unconventional president in almost everything he did right from the start. On his second day in office, Carter pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders. He immediately jump-started peace negotiations in the Mideast that culminated in 1978 when he invited Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, the president of Israel, to Camp David and personally shuttled between their compounds for 13 days to work out a peace plan.

He created a national energy policy that included conservation and renewable energy in an effort to wean the U.S. off our dependence on foreign oil. He also undertook the second round of strategic arms limitation talks with the Soviet Union.

However, Jimmy Carter had the misfortune of beginning his presidency during a period of perceived decline in our nation. Our major cities were crime-ridden. New York City was bankrupt. Things went from bad to worse in the second half of his term with the disaster at Three Mile Island, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Nicaraguan Revolution in which avowed Communists took control of the country, and the Iranian Revolution, which not only saw our embassy workers be taken hostage,  but which also resulted in another oil price shock, leading to long lines at gas stations all across the country.

Jimmy Carter’s greatest strengths, his dogged determination and belief in his own ability, proved to be his greatest weaknesses. He failed to understand that politics is the art iof compromise. When he spoke to the American people about gasoline shortages and the high price of energy, he urged personal sacrifice, such as driving less, turning down thermostats, and wearing extra sweaters. Carter lacked the ability of many great leaders, such as Churchill, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, to provide inspiration and hope.

Even though we were young and enjoying ourselves immensely in the prime of our lives during his presidency, whenever we think back to the ‘70s, we think of a gloomy and depressing era — ugh, what a mess it was. Jimmy Carter didn’t cause any of those problems, but he didn’t have any solutions either.

But as much as Jimmy Carter may not have been a successful president, his five decades post-presidency should serve as an inspiration to every American. There is no person in our lifetime who has been the exemplification of the ideals (and we’re not getting religious here) expressed by Jesus Christ: Love thy neighbor as thyself; do unto other as you would have them do unto you; let he who is without sin cast the first stone; and especially, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.”

For almost 50 years, Jimmy Carter practiced the ideals that he preached from the pulpit in his small Baptist Church. His work with Habitat for Humanity, his efforts to eradicate the Guinea worm disease through the Carter Center, and his many diplomatic efforts around the world earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Jimmy Carter served as the conscience of our nation — and the world.

His presence will be missed. May he rest in peace.