There is a long-standing trope in American entertainment, that of the dim-witted southerner – he of slow-talking, drawl-inflected verbiage and that old lights-on, but nobody’s home stare.
Those stereotypes persisted when Jimmy Carter ascended to the presidency in 1976. Editorial cartoons in newspapers depicted an outhouse being installed on the White House lawn, and Dan Ackroyd got a lot of mileage out of Carter’s good-ole-boy persona in the early days of Saturday Night Live.
Yet Carter, who had studied nuclear physics and had an impossibly sharp mind, bucked those caricatures. Still, at heart, Jimmy Carter was an improbably selfless guy, who, as his daughter Amy recently revealed in an interview, would sit drinking beer and laughing at Ackroyd’s lampooning of himself.
Carter’s passing, at age 100, has brought a slew of retrospectives, and have put what is generally recorded as an uneventful single term presidency, into closer inspection by historians, journalists and political pundits.
When people go on and on about president-elect Donald Trump being a political outsider, well, Jimmy Carter wore that brand first.
The peanut farmer from the hamlet of Plains, GA, came to the Oval Office as an obscure governor from his home state. Reportedly, when he decided to run for the nation’s highest office, he phoned his mother to tell her the news. “President of what?” was her reply.
One can cram a lot of life into a hundred years, and for brevity’s sake here, I’ll focus on a few points about Carter, but the main thing I’m struck by is how service-minded the man was, compared to the self-centeredness that is the norm with politicians today.
Carter could have made a killing on the lecture circuit, but instead, he strapped on his toolbelt, post-presidency, and volunteered countless hours, alongside his beloved Rosalynn, with Habitat for Humanity. Carter, who more or less gave a public face to the organization, could have helped it immeasurably just by lending his name to the cause, but he went above and beyond and rolled up his sleeves.
Unlike other ex-presidents who relish in the prominence afforded by such a station, Carter used his travels to help make the world a better place, through his work with the Carter Center. Through diplomatic missions, and the quest to eradicate illnesses such as the guinea worm, Carter was not one to back down from a challenge.
To that point, also, Carter committed decades to his beloved Maranatha Baptist Church as a Sunday School teacher and deacon.
Where other ex-presidents wouldn’t be caught dead without top-tier, formal fashions, Jimmy Carter was at home in boots, jeans and an Allman Brothers T-shirt.
Music was a huge part of what made Jimmy Carter such an appealing figure to people. Before Carter, it was unfathomable for a U.S. President to be caught listening to rock music. Carter was not only a huge fan of bands like his beloved Allmans, but close friends with them, as well as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and even the Ramones, whom he arranged to play a private show for his daughter Amy, who was also a fan.
As a sidenote, although I despise the band U2, Jimmy Carter was so cool that his love of that band (almost) makes them cool, by proxy.
Carter also brought other types of artistic endeavors to the White House. Reportedly, he was a huge film buff, and screened movies during his term, and was also a big fan and supporter of pro wrestling.
Carter was a man with a lot of “common” interests, which used to be frowned upon by the highbrow types, but he was a man of uncommon goodness who did a lifetime of good deeds.
In an era where certain leaders demand unquestioning, absolute loyalty, Carter insisted that scrutiny and criticism of government officials by the press and public are an important part of a functioning democracy.
The standard take on Carter’s presidency, regarding military actions, is that he never had to fire a shot. That take is often ridiculed in today’s mindset of constant conflict, but what’s so bad about negotiations and thinking about the everyday people affected by combat? Carter cared about all people and believed that the scriptural mandate to serve extended beyond the borders of the United States, but to all God’s people.
One of Carter’s long-serving Secret Service minders spoke recently about looking after the former president, and about how Carter, who was already wheelchair-bound and under home hospice care, was in church, listening to a sermon about leaving the better world a better place through one’s acts of service.
The Secret Service agent recalled that Carter lowered his head and meekly said “I tried.”
I know a lot of folks who equate wealth, and the acquisition of all the shiny things and other toys that usually come along with riches, to high intelligence. I never understood this concept, however, Jimmy Carter was undoubtedly brilliant, yet he never seemed to care for living anything more than a simple life in his hometown, in a house that probably cost less than the Secret Service vehicle parked out front.
There’s an awful lot of ink one could sling about such an incredible life, but I’ll leave you all with this: Jimmy Carter is proof positive that you can do great things without changing who you are.
