Today America’s longest-lived President, Jimmy Carter, turns 100 years young. While many Americans disagreed with much of his politics, as Conservatives we also greatly value the soul of every person. Jimmy Carter is one of those who is greatly valued.
Jimmy Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, 60th out of a class 821. Despite graduating from the Academy less than a year after the end of World War II, his being in uniform during that era saw him awarded, among other medals, the World War II Victory Medal and Carter the most prominent figure from that era still with us.
Lt. Carter showed a very promising career as a submarine officer, coming under the tutelage of the legendary Admiral Hyman Rickover, who was still in uniform when Carter became his Commander in Chief in 1977.
Carter demonstrated his loyalty to family by leaving the Navy to take over the family farm after the death of his father. He remained happily married, before and after entering politics, to his beloved Rossalyn for 77 years.
Jimmy Carter was a cunning politician in many ways that would not be acceptable today. When running for Governor of Georgia he ran an increasingly racist campaign, concealing his motivations and support for blacks. Upon becoming Governor, he immediately declared the days of segregation gone forever and proceeded to appoint more African Americans to State government than had been seen before.
Upon becoming President, Carter told the truth about the crisis of confidence that was afflicting America, though he did not understand that a President is the one to inspire the American people to a great purpose through their inherent goodness.
President Carter did understand that energy was a lifeblood for the United States and believed that the America should not be dependent upon foreign sources for energy. He was able to achieve Sadat’s recognition of Israel and got Israel to hand back the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
Carter’s greatest domestic successes as President were conservative in nature. The beer industry, railroads and most notably the airlines were deregulated to various degrees under Carter, allowing more of the free market to determine pricing as opposed to the government and by doing so opened these industries, albeit with safety restraints, to more Americans than before.
He also, though noticeably much more slowly than his successor Ronald Reagan, began to build up America’s military in response to Russian aggression in Afghanistan and Iranian aggression in taking the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The latter crisis more than anything ended his Presidency. While the looming threat of Reagan, who would undoubtedly have initiated major military action against Iran, was what released the Embassy hostages, it was Carter who worked around the clock, literally, until leaving office to get a deal done to bring our people home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRlGrXUr5s8 President Reagan sent him to meet the hostages in Germany, on their way back to the United States.
After he was President, Carter worked to ensure the integrity of elections throughout the world and was eventually awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He was also extremely active in Habitat for Humanity, building houses for poorer people and, together with former President Gerald Ford, argued that a Clinton impeachment for lying under oath about an affair with an intern/de facto employee (which Clinton would not survive today) was not good for the country and that a resolution of censure by the Congress was best (likely turning out to be true as evidenced by the Republican loss in the 1998 mid-terms and increasing use of impeachment as a political weapon as opposed to a Constitutional tool).
While much of the country may not have always agreed with him, not agreeing 100 percent of the time certainly can be said about anyone from the greatest of married couples to the fiercest of political opponents. What can be said with certainty is that President Carter is a good man and has become one of two models to follow for former Presidents. He chose the model of keeping very active in political affairs and sometimes criticizing his successors from both parties, the other model being that it is not good for the country to criticize those who came after you. Both have its place in America.
When in Basic Training, one of the books I was allowed to have was a short text, really a devotional, that Carter had written and it was a source of encouragement. Statistically speaking, President Carter’s days on this earth are shorter than most of ours. Most of us did not have the pleasure of sitting in his Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church and now, we never will until, through Jesus, we see him in Heaven.
But we did not need to attend his Sunday school class to understand Jimmy Carter. We knew him well as a person and were challenged to be better people and seeing each other as brothers and sisters. He modeled Christlike behavior and in agreement and disagreement, is showing us how to even end our lives; reminding us that the oldest among us have great purpose and remembering how we should live all of our days as peacemakers.
Jesus said “Blessed be the peacemakers” and on this 100th birthday, until the end of his days, may Jimmy Carter be blessed.
*Views expressed in this article are those of the author and not any government agency