In 1976, I graduated from high school and departed my small south Texas town for Colorado where I attended university. During my high school years, I witnessed the end of the tragic Vietnam war, the Watergate scandal that resulted in the resignation of President Nixon, and rising inflation that crushed the US economy. After Nixon resigned, his unelected Vice-President, Gerald Ford, took over the presidency and tried to calm a distrustful electorate. It was not the best of times.
Fueled by several high school teachers who involved me in local politics, I followed current events and enjoyed studying history. During the 1976 presidential campaign, I met one of the Democratic candidates, Sargent Shriver (1915–2011), at a small political gathering in Corpus Christi. I shook his hand and heard him speak. I later went to a nearby community college and heard Republican presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, speak. He lost the nomination to President Ford. Four years later, he became president.
I worked in Indiana that summer at a youth camp. It was there that I became aware of Jimmy Carter, the Georgia Governor who unexpectantly became the 1976 Democratic Presidential candidate. A parent of one of the campers talked to me about Carter and how refreshing it would be for a populist to win the presidency. I did not understand the historical significance of the Carter presidency, but I knew that Washington needed a change after Nixon violated the nation’s trust.
In 1970, President Nixon signed an expansion to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that gave citizens the right to vote at age 18. The following year, the 26th Amendment was ratified by state legislatures. I was 18 years old and therefore eligible to vote in the 1976 Presidential election. I was thrilled with this new responsibility and sat on a high school panel that discussed the political views of the various Presidential candidates. That fall, I resided in Colorado during the final months of the presidential campaign and requested a mail in Texas voting ballet. I spent time researching each candidate, voted, and mailed my ballet backed to Texas.
I noticed that most of the students from Colorado favored President Ford while my Texas high school friends favored the southern Democrat Carter. It was at this time that I learned about regional political preferences; Colorado leaned Republican while Texas was solidly Democratic blue, a political trend that flipped over the past 50 years. Carter won a narrow victory and governed our nation during my university and early work career. His presidency was the usual roller coaster: Mideast crisis, double-digit inflation, Panama Canal Treaty, and brother Billy beer. Carter was handily defeated in 1980 by Reagan and the day he departed the White House, Iran released the US State Department hostages as an insult to Carter’s presidency. However, nobody accused Carter of dishonesty or abuse of power; his time in office restored the faith of the American people in government.
President Carter died this past week after more than 100 years of life on earth. He was married to his wife, Rosalynn, for 77 years and it was a partnership founded upon love and mutual respect. What made Carter unique amongst US presidents is his post-presidency activities. He founded The Carter Center that works for peace and world health. Through their diligent funding, the Guinea Worm eradication program has almost eliminated this tropical disease. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize for his untiring peace advocacy around the world.
Jimmy Carter was a faithful man who practiced what he preached. He lived in the same modest Georgia house all his adult life and regularly attended his local Baptist Church where he taught. A man of modest means, his peanut farm was $1M in debt when he left the White House in 1981. His source of retirement income came from his 30 publications. He gave his time and energy to non-profit work. A reporter tried to interview him while he was working to build a Habitat for Humanity house and was told to grab a tool. He was a man of action with a Scripture foundation.
While we can find debates on his political decisions, few will debate the immense value of his life of service. He grew up poor in a racist community and worked to eliminate poverty and racism. He served his country as a naval officer during WWII, was elected to several Georgia state positions, and elected to the highest US office. He was a committed family man without immoral stains. He rose to world fame yet practiced humility while surrounded by inflated egos. He was not perfect and admitted it. He demanded to be called ‘just Jimmy, please’ and walked holding his wife’s hand during his presidential inauguration parade.
As I reflect on the 2024 Presidential election and the growing individuality within our culture, it is refreshing to remember the life of Jimmy Carter, a charismata life of vocation. In his famous (perhaps infamous) November 1976 interview with Playboy Magazine, he was asked: “We’ve heard that you pray 25 times a day. Is that true?” Governor Carter replied, “I’ve never counted. I’ve forgotten who asked me that, but I’d say that on an eventful day, you know, it’s something like that.”
Playboy followed by asking: “When you say an eventful day, do you mean you pray as a kind of pause, to control your blood pressure and relax?” Carter answered: “Well, yes. If something happens to me that is a little disconcerting, if I feel a trepidation, if a thought comes into my head of animosity or hatred toward someone, then I just kind of say a brief silent prayer. I don’t ask for myself but just to let me understand what another’s feelings might be. … It’s not something that’s conscious or formal. It’s just a part of my life.” Carter lived a life of faith. Now he joins Rosalynn in the Church Universal. Well done, good and faithful servant.
