The One Thing Jimmy Carter Taught Me

If Jimmy Carter hadn’t lived a hundred years, I would have missed the obvious.

When he started his presidency, I wasn’t even born.

By the time his term ended, I was still (shockingly) in diapers.

As I entered adolescence, my knowledge of the man was limited to what I was told in school.

• Jimmy Carter was born in 1924 in Plains, Georgia, the son of a peanut farmer and a nurse.
• After high school, he attended the US Naval Academy and later took over the family business.
• He eventually entered politics in Georgia, first as a state senator and then as governor of the whole place.
• He was considered a political outsider when he ran for president but managed to pull off the victory in 1976.
• His presidency was marred by a shortage in the supply of overseas oil, leading to a spike in prices, resultant inflation, and long lines at the gas pump.
• Even worse, Iranian militants took over 60 hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran. A botched attempt to free them was met with the death of eight American service members.
• As American prestige spiraled downward, the Soviets took the opportunity to invade Afghanistan.
• Carter gave a speech that his critics entitled “malaise,” with those critics claiming the president was blaming Americans for their own problems.
• Carter’s failed first term was met in 1980 by a fierce primary challenge from Ted Kennedy and a resounding defeat in the general election courtesy Ronald Reagan.

 

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After entering adulthood—at least in age—I forgot about the man. Sadly, my reintroduction to him came with the 2023 announcement that he had opted for hospice care. Well into middle age by that time, I was far more likely to crack a book and learn a few things for myself. They were common knowledge—just not to me.

Carter, as a Southern man, stood staunchly against segregation. He was proficient in Spanish and an amateur music historian, inviting musicians of all stripes to the White House to use the art form as a tool for unity. He was married to the same woman for 77 years—together, they opted to walk at his inauguration parade. Blue jeans were his preferred garb, and exercise was his drug of choice.

As president, he prided himself on always telling the truth, often at his own expense. The hostage crisis in Iran was partly triggered by humanitarianism, i.e. allowing the fallen shah into the US for cancer treatment. The “malaise” speech was actually a cautionary tale regarding the pitfalls of materialism.

Among the shortcomings were obvious successes, like brokering a peace deal between Egypt and Israel that lasts to this day. Although an unpopular decision at the time, he rightfully handed over control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanians. He was a proponent of deregulation (if you like craft beer, thank Carter) and expanded the national park system. In attempting to deal with the oil crisis, his policies paved the way for domestic energy—including clean energy—production. As he left office, all of the hostages in Iran were released alive.

Upon exiting the presidency, Carter eschewed overpriced speaking fees and spent most of his time back in Plains, where he would lead a Bible study class. He opened the Carter Presidential Center and devoted himself to altruistic work, including Habitat for Humanity and the containment of tropical diseases. In 2002, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

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There was a lot to glean from this additional information.

• Carter may have been dealt a brutal hand from which victory was all but impossible.
• Good men might not make great presidents.
• History cannot be judged in the moment.
• And so on.

 

But the one thing I truly learned was that failure, even on the grandest stage with the world as witness, can mask—and unmask—greatness.

Jimmy Carter passed away on December 29, 2024.