Jimmy

 

 

A few days before Christmas, I picked up “The Outlier "at the library. It is a biography of Jimmy Carter by Pulitzer Prize winning author Kai Bird.

I hesitated to bring it home because it is a LENGHTY book. Not counting the 8 pages of acknowledgements, the 18 pages of bibliography, and the 26 pages of notes, it is 628 pages long. Due to the amount of detail it covered, it was NOT a quick read, but I finished it today – one day before his funeral.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter was a breath of fresh air after the Nixon presidency, but he happened to come into office at a time when events made his job a lot harder.

Inflation was still a persistent problem, the environment was in need of some scrubbing, and the country suffered from the first of two oil embargos, which sent prices soaring and led to long gas lines. On top of that, the U.S. embassy in Tehran was invaded by Iranian dissidents, who held some of the employees hostage for a total of 444 days.

His administration was also hampered by infighting by his staff members, and his re-election campaign was dealt some tough challenges due to Ted Kennedy and the Iranian hostage situation.

Included in the cast of characters who foiled his chances were Bill Casey, John Anderson, Roger Stone, and Roy Cohn, as well as a few people in Reagan’s sphere of influence. Bill Casey worked for the Reagan campaign. He personally delivered a large amount of money to two Iranian representatives so that the hostages would not be released until the day of Reagan’s inauguration .

Although his historical rating is more in the middle of the pack, he actually did accomplish a lot during his time of office, including more protection for the environment and  enhancement of civil rights,

His crowing achievement was the negotiation of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which consumed the better part of two weeks. Then (as now) the Israeli government was the main impediment to solving the problem, and he probably felt like strangling Israeli prime minster Begin more than once. He became close friends with Anwar Sadat, but Sadat paid a terrible price less than 3 years later when he was assassinated.

In addition to the peace treaty, he also was successful in getting the Salt II arms agreement signed by Russia.

Unlike some of the administrations that followed, his always obeyed the law, told the truth, and kept its promises. In addition, none of the people in the military were forced into combat roles during his time in office.

Life got better for Mr. Carter in his post-presidency years.

After selling the peanut farm to Archer-Daniels-Midland for $1.5 million, he embarked on a new career as a writer. His first book, “Keeping Faith”, kept him afloat since he received a $900,000 advance. 29 other books followed that one, and eventually allowed him to open the Carter Center. In 1990, its operating budget was $17.5 million, but it is $100 million a year today.   He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Years late, when asked what his proudest moment was, he did not say that it was the Nobel Peace Prize.

He said it was the day that Roslyn said that she would marry him – and they were married for 77 years.

When I walked into school today, the flag was flying at half-mast, and will continue to do so for 30 days. Much to my delight, it will still be flying at half-mast on January 20, a fitting metaphor since our democracy effectively died on November 4, and will soon be replaced by an oligarchy/dictatorship, which we will have to live with for 4 years.

Jimmy Carter is a decent human being who contributed to society long after his term in office ended, largely due to his involvement with Habitat for Humanity.

A billboard in Atlanta is a perfect description of the man:

Goodbye for now, Jimmy. It was a pleasure knowing you.