Linda Dunn
It’s interesting how so many of us have softened our opinions about Jimmy Carter in the years since we gave Reagan a history-making landslide victory over him.
Carter was a former Navy officer with a strong grounding in science who sincerely practiced his religious beliefs without attempting to force those beliefs upon the rest of us. He was also a southerner raised with Jim Crow laws who treated all Americans with equal respect and dignity, judging them by their deeds rather than the color of their skin.
Maybe that’s why so many of us disliked him. He proved that Democrats could be just as pious as Republicans and that Southerners could reject racism. He also took a long view on what was good for our country versus the shortsighted, quick fixes for hot-button items that fueled popularity. Sadly, he was also a few decades too soon in recognizing the need for America to cease its dependence upon finite energy sources. Rather than just talk about it and urge us to conserve energy, he wore a sweater, lowered the thermostat, and put solar panels on the White House roof.
Reagan removed those solar panels and we cheered him for it.
But here we are, decades later, slowly being forced to recognize the wisdom of embracing renewable energy over finite resources.
The opinions of historians have shifted as well. Some who once trashed Carter for a failed presidency now view him as a political failure, and unlucky, but also credit him with a long list of successes that most of us have either ignored, forgotten or disliked.
Carter took office during a time of overwhelming public dissatisfaction with our government. It was also a time of seemingly one crisis after another both at home and abroad. He had to deal with a hostile, post-Watergate press, and was an “outsider” who was never quite able to gain the support he needed within his own party’s Washington elite.
When he made a bold move to free our hostages in Iran, it failed and that, coupled with Reagan’s smooth, telegenic and conservative message, sealed his fate.
But Carter didn’t stop working for us after losing his re-election bid. He continued negotiating for the release of our hostages in Iran and succeeded January 19, 1981 — just one day before leaving office.
We credit Reagan for freeing them.
Carter’s Panama Canal treaties likely prevented a major war in Central America and his human rights policies helped launch a democratic revolution around the world in that era.
But he was unlucky in being perhaps the right leader at the wrong time.
We had 15 percent interest rates, huge spikes in oil prices and impossibly long lines at gas stations. The public wanted quick fixes… and he talked about carpooling and turning down our thermostats.
Reagan asked us if we were better off than we were four years ago and we responded with our votes.
But I think that regardless of where we stand politically, most of us anti-Carter folks from the 80s have largely come to recognize that Jimmy Carter was the type of politician that we just don’t see any more: Fiercely devoted to both country and faith, he represented the best that America had to offer and when he lost his re-election, he devoted the remainder of his life to doing what he could where he could and whenever he could to make life better for others.
After leaving office, Carter returned to his modest 1960s era ranch-style home in Plains and founded the Carter Presidential Center at Emory University, which is devoted to issues relating to democracy and human rights. Carter also quietly worked for decades with Habitat for Humanity International to provide housing for underprivileged people.
Carter has been a “freelance ambassador” for a variety of international missions and advising presidents on Middle East issues. In 1994, he assisted the U.S. government in settling a tension-filled nuclear weapons dispute with North Korea.
In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts toward finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts, advancing democracy and human rights, and promoting economic and social development.
Carter continued teaching Sunday School classes despite a brain tumor diagnosis, had surgery and recovered, and then continued what my former Sunday School teachers would have described as “lighting the corner where you are.”
He put “service to others” first and made building a better world his priority despite his health issues.
He may have been a “failed President” but he’s set a high standard for the “ex-presidents” who follow him.
A lifelong resident of Hancock County, Linda Dunn is an author and retired Department of Defense employee.
