Thank you for reposting this, Jim. It's a very thought-provoking as well as moving appreciation of an estimable man, and an articulate and timely reminder that morality and language both matter in public life (and are connected to each other). My father, who died a year ago (at "only" 86), would have wanted to reread it on the occasion of Carter's 100th birthday. My Grandma Casey, who grew up in East Texas and lived through the Depression, loved Carter almost as much as she loved Franklin Roosevelt.
Just an observation that's irritated me for decades-- not intending any of this to be directed at your wonderful essay, it's more about the contrast with so many others I've read recently.
In short: Carter has been blamed by almost everyone, even tacitly among Democrats, for the high inflation/stagflation/energy crisis/etc. As you point out, it's just bad luck; however, the stain on his administration is also a reflection of the financial and economic ignorance in our country- esp among the financial and economic reporters who should know better.
I won't go through the entire list, but if anyone is wondering, Google is your friend.
Longer: the truth is, the tidal forces that impacted the US economy during the Carter years is a truly fascinating cocktail. From the global economic forces taking shape in the post war era, to LBJ's twin War/Great Society spending, to Nixon price controls, to the Fed's interest rate policies... those are just a handful of contributing factors that would have hamstrung the next president no matter who won in 76.
One more example, if you don't mind: it's shocking how many people I've met over the years that remember Reagan appointing Volcker.
Did you end up going? It was *unbelievably* cold. I remember seeing National Guard troops using blowtorches or flamethrowers or something on the downtown DC sidewalks in the early morning of inauguration day, in an attempt to melt the ice.
Outstanding, and again bringing your personal experience to us, hungry for context. My first vote was for Carter, and I watched in disgust at the Reagan manipulation of the hostages. Great work.
Thanks Jim for this thoughtful article on Jimmy Carter. A wonderful remembrance on his 100th birthday. Your paragraph " It was construed as embarrassing for Jimmy Carter that his hard-luck brother, Billy, was in a penny-ante way cashing in on the family fame by promoting six packs of his own “Billy Beer.” Such a contrast to another former President who has stooped to selling all sorts of paraphernalia. No embarrassment or shame or the press pointing our of how inappropriate his behavior is. Thanks President Carter for setting standards. Hopefully we will be able to head in that direction again after the election.
The Carter story of yours that I keep coming back to, the one that shows who he was and what the nation has lost, is the one where he edits out your factual and reasonable sentence on Nixon with an explanation that it's not how we speak about our predecessors.
I'm embarrassed to say I didn't vote for Jimmy Carter in either presidential election, but I'm also very proud to say that I've learned since then what a great human being he is and what a great president he was. I was, and still consider myself to be, a "Gerald R Ford Republican," who hasn't voted for a Republican candidate for the past 3 decades. As Bill Maher (and many others) have said, I didn't change, the party did.
Jimmy Carter and Jerry Ford always exhibited the utmost respect for one another, before and after the 1976 election - easy to do, since both were honorable men. Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House; Reagan had them removed. Carter had a fiscal plan which, if followed, would have eliminated the national debt; Reagan ignored it, cut taxes, increased spending, and thus quadrupled the national debt. While it was Kissinger and Ford who initiated the process of creating peace between Israel and Egypt, it was Carter who sealed the deal with the only treaty in the Middle East that has never been violated. Carter did not initiate any wars or order the killing of any foreign national. It is difficult to imagine where our nation would be had he not lost to Reagan in 1980.
I was wrong about Carter back then, but today I have the utmost love & respect for the man. Until the Republicans abandon their cultish adoration for a corrupt carnival barker and return to the values they once cherished, I will continue to support Democrats. I pray there may be many other Americans who are willing to reconsider their former beliefs and adjust their voting habits accordingly.
Carter and Ford had not been on friendly terms during the 1976 campaign — what a surprise! But they did become respectful and friendly. I know first-hand how gracious the Ford team was during the always awkward "transition" period, of turning over the reins. Weird but true: the head of that effort, on Ford's site, was his chief of staff: the young Dick Cheney. (Who was faultlessly gracious.)
And Ford appreciated Carter's thanking him in the first line of Carter's inaugural address. (A move that I encouraged, as part of my very limited role in that speech.) They were careful to be supportive of each other's record and achievements in their post-presidential years.
I have thinking about the milestones that the very determined Jimmy Carter would be aiming for — especially after the loss of the love of his life, Rosalynn, nearly a year ago.
- First would be his 100th birthday.
- Then, I imagine, would be casting his vote in Georgia. (And I would be amazed if he has not already done that.)
- Then, waiting for the results in the melee that will start on November 5.
- Then, God and poll-watchers willing, seeing another Democrat sworn in on January 20.
If Carter is around that long, it would mean, remarkably, that there would be four living Democratic former presidents: Carter, Clinton, Obama, Biden.
Compare their legacies with those of the two living Republican former presidents: GWB and Trump.
An excellent appreciation, both now and when it first came out. What you haven’t explained is how a Harvard guy like you wound up on a good-old-boy team like Carter’s campaign.
Deb and I were living in Texas when the Carter campaign was revving up, while Deb was in graduate school at UT Austin and I was working for Texas Monthly. (After a brief stint working as an aide to the youngest-ever member of the Texas State Senate, a rising politico named Lloyd Doggett. Now familiar as practically the dean of the Democratic contingent in the US Congress, and as the first Congressman to call publicly for Biden to step aside.)
At the Texas Monthly and previously in Charlie Peters's Washington Monthly, I'd written a few stories about innovative "good-government" efforts at the state level. A couple of times I mentioned what Governor Jimmy Carter was doing in Georgia. As they started scaling up the campaign staff (and as they got the money to higher staffers at a rate of maybe $250 per month), one of my friends called to say: Interested? I thought: Why not?
When he was running in 1976, Carter would quote Bob Dylan, "He not busy being born is busy dying." Apparently, they weren't just words for Carter, who spent a remarkable amount of time on earth forestalling death because he was busy being born.
Thanks. And, yes, it was notable about Carter that he actually read, remembered, and took seriously the "fancy" things he read — poetry, lyrics, scripture.
On January 22, 1974, I was in Atlanta to attend the second of the two Bob Dylan concerts there. The night before, Jimmy Carter had hosted a party for Dylan at the Georgia governor’s mansion.
My friends and I were having dinner at a Southern-style “meat and three” restaurant called Ma Hull’s. To our surprise, in walked famous rock drummer Buddy Miles, and three other people associated with the Dylan tour.
Seating was first come first served, and I ended up across the table from Buddy Miles. He told the story of showing up with Gregg Allman sometime after 1:30 AM the night before at the governor’s mansion. Carter greeted them at the door in jeans and bare feet and kept them there for several hours talking politics and other topics.
Miles told me, “I never thought I could support a white southern politician for anything, but this guy is different.“ Slightly more than 18 months later, Carter had been elected President of the United States.
I wish a very Happy Birthday to Jimmy Carter, who has lived his life with purpose and love. Thank you, James Fallows, for this tribute and recounting of history.
We are blessed to have you also, James Fallows. Thanks for writing this. My parents were married in 1926, I was born in the 1940s, & I remember those before times. Difficult, yes. I was furious at RR’s victory & predicted he wouldn’t be the last third rate performer in our political life. It was a sad day.
Thank you for reposting this, Jim. It's a very thought-provoking as well as moving appreciation of an estimable man, and an articulate and timely reminder that morality and language both matter in public life (and are connected to each other). My father, who died a year ago (at "only" 86), would have wanted to reread it on the occasion of Carter's 100th birthday. My Grandma Casey, who grew up in East Texas and lived through the Depression, loved Carter almost as much as she loved Franklin Roosevelt.
Wonderful essay. Thank you!
Well done.
Just an observation that's irritated me for decades-- not intending any of this to be directed at your wonderful essay, it's more about the contrast with so many others I've read recently.
In short: Carter has been blamed by almost everyone, even tacitly among Democrats, for the high inflation/stagflation/energy crisis/etc. As you point out, it's just bad luck; however, the stain on his administration is also a reflection of the financial and economic ignorance in our country- esp among the financial and economic reporters who should know better.
I won't go through the entire list, but if anyone is wondering, Google is your friend.
Longer: the truth is, the tidal forces that impacted the US economy during the Carter years is a truly fascinating cocktail. From the global economic forces taking shape in the post war era, to LBJ's twin War/Great Society spending, to Nixon price controls, to the Fed's interest rate policies... those are just a handful of contributing factors that would have hamstrung the next president no matter who won in 76.
One more example, if you don't mind: it's shocking how many people I've met over the years that remember Reagan appointing Volcker.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised by anything Trump says but this is despicable, taking a shot at Jimmy Carter on his 100th b'day: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-makes-dig-at-jimmy-carter-on-his-100th-birthday
What an asshole.
Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame has written a song that's handy for guys like that guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nG6Q7MqVCo
First contribution to a candidate I ever made. $25. As a "Thank you," I received an invitation to the inauguration.
A lot has changed; thankfully, Jimmy Carter hasn't.
Did you end up going? It was *unbelievably* cold. I remember seeing National Guard troops using blowtorches or flamethrowers or something on the downtown DC sidewalks in the early morning of inauguration day, in an attempt to melt the ice.
Outstanding, and again bringing your personal experience to us, hungry for context. My first vote was for Carter, and I watched in disgust at the Reagan manipulation of the hostages. Great work.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thanks Jim for this thoughtful article on Jimmy Carter. A wonderful remembrance on his 100th birthday. Your paragraph " It was construed as embarrassing for Jimmy Carter that his hard-luck brother, Billy, was in a penny-ante way cashing in on the family fame by promoting six packs of his own “Billy Beer.” Such a contrast to another former President who has stooped to selling all sorts of paraphernalia. No embarrassment or shame or the press pointing our of how inappropriate his behavior is. Thanks President Carter for setting standards. Hopefully we will be able to head in that direction again after the election.
Bonnie, thanks. Yes, what a contrast.
The Carter story of yours that I keep coming back to, the one that shows who he was and what the nation has lost, is the one where he edits out your factual and reasonable sentence on Nixon with an explanation that it's not how we speak about our predecessors.
Those were the days!
I'm embarrassed to say I didn't vote for Jimmy Carter in either presidential election, but I'm also very proud to say that I've learned since then what a great human being he is and what a great president he was. I was, and still consider myself to be, a "Gerald R Ford Republican," who hasn't voted for a Republican candidate for the past 3 decades. As Bill Maher (and many others) have said, I didn't change, the party did.
Jimmy Carter and Jerry Ford always exhibited the utmost respect for one another, before and after the 1976 election - easy to do, since both were honorable men. Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House; Reagan had them removed. Carter had a fiscal plan which, if followed, would have eliminated the national debt; Reagan ignored it, cut taxes, increased spending, and thus quadrupled the national debt. While it was Kissinger and Ford who initiated the process of creating peace between Israel and Egypt, it was Carter who sealed the deal with the only treaty in the Middle East that has never been violated. Carter did not initiate any wars or order the killing of any foreign national. It is difficult to imagine where our nation would be had he not lost to Reagan in 1980.
I was wrong about Carter back then, but today I have the utmost love & respect for the man. Until the Republicans abandon their cultish adoration for a corrupt carnival barker and return to the values they once cherished, I will continue to support Democrats. I pray there may be many other Americans who are willing to reconsider their former beliefs and adjust their voting habits accordingly.
Well put, thank you.
Carter and Ford had not been on friendly terms during the 1976 campaign — what a surprise! But they did become respectful and friendly. I know first-hand how gracious the Ford team was during the always awkward "transition" period, of turning over the reins. Weird but true: the head of that effort, on Ford's site, was his chief of staff: the young Dick Cheney. (Who was faultlessly gracious.)
And Ford appreciated Carter's thanking him in the first line of Carter's inaugural address. (A move that I encouraged, as part of my very limited role in that speech.) They were careful to be supportive of each other's record and achievements in their post-presidential years.
I hope he lives long enough to vote for Harris.
I have thinking about the milestones that the very determined Jimmy Carter would be aiming for — especially after the loss of the love of his life, Rosalynn, nearly a year ago.
- First would be his 100th birthday.
- Then, I imagine, would be casting his vote in Georgia. (And I would be amazed if he has not already done that.)
- Then, waiting for the results in the melee that will start on November 5.
- Then, God and poll-watchers willing, seeing another Democrat sworn in on January 20.
If Carter is around that long, it would mean, remarkably, that there would be four living Democratic former presidents: Carter, Clinton, Obama, Biden.
Compare their legacies with those of the two living Republican former presidents: GWB and Trump.
An excellent appreciation, both now and when it first came out. What you haven’t explained is how a Harvard guy like you wound up on a good-old-boy team like Carter’s campaign.
Jack, thanks!
Deb and I were living in Texas when the Carter campaign was revving up, while Deb was in graduate school at UT Austin and I was working for Texas Monthly. (After a brief stint working as an aide to the youngest-ever member of the Texas State Senate, a rising politico named Lloyd Doggett. Now familiar as practically the dean of the Democratic contingent in the US Congress, and as the first Congressman to call publicly for Biden to step aside.)
At the Texas Monthly and previously in Charlie Peters's Washington Monthly, I'd written a few stories about innovative "good-government" efforts at the state level. A couple of times I mentioned what Governor Jimmy Carter was doing in Georgia. As they started scaling up the campaign staff (and as they got the money to higher staffers at a rate of maybe $250 per month), one of my friends called to say: Interested? I thought: Why not?
When he was running in 1976, Carter would quote Bob Dylan, "He not busy being born is busy dying." Apparently, they weren't just words for Carter, who spent a remarkable amount of time on earth forestalling death because he was busy being born.
Thanks. And, yes, it was notable about Carter that he actually read, remembered, and took seriously the "fancy" things he read — poetry, lyrics, scripture.
On January 22, 1974, I was in Atlanta to attend the second of the two Bob Dylan concerts there. The night before, Jimmy Carter had hosted a party for Dylan at the Georgia governor’s mansion.
My friends and I were having dinner at a Southern-style “meat and three” restaurant called Ma Hull’s. To our surprise, in walked famous rock drummer Buddy Miles, and three other people associated with the Dylan tour.
Seating was first come first served, and I ended up across the table from Buddy Miles. He told the story of showing up with Gregg Allman sometime after 1:30 AM the night before at the governor’s mansion. Carter greeted them at the door in jeans and bare feet and kept them there for several hours talking politics and other topics.
Miles told me, “I never thought I could support a white southern politician for anything, but this guy is different.“ Slightly more than 18 months later, Carter had been elected President of the United States.
Great story, thank you.
I wish a very Happy Birthday to Jimmy Carter, who has lived his life with purpose and love. Thank you, James Fallows, for this tribute and recounting of history.
Thanks for your kind words. Agree with you on Happy Birthday wishes.
Great reflection and analysis. I am not a US citizen but have followed the politics. And of an age to remember all the events covered.
Thanks!
And while you're not a citizen, can you become one, and register to vote, by November 5?
(Just kidding, but it's a tense time.)
We are blessed to have you also, James Fallows. Thanks for writing this. My parents were married in 1926, I was born in the 1940s, & I remember those before times. Difficult, yes. I was furious at RR’s victory & predicted he wouldn’t be the last third rate performer in our political life. It was a sad day.
That is very gracious, thank you.