Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (04-05-13)

“We’ve fought fire with fire, never thinking that fire is better quenched with water.” – Jimmy Carter

This is my first visit to a presidential library.  I was in high school when President Carter was in office, so he’s the first president that I was aware of in any detail.

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Carter grew up in a time of racial turmoil. His father was a segregationist but his mother firmly believed skin color shouldn't make any difference in how someone is treated.  Living in a small town with only 2 white families, all of his childhood friends were black.

Before his political life,  he was in the Navy, and had expected to make it his career.  When his father died and he went back to Plains Georgia, he was astonished to hear story after story detailing how his father, a local business man, had helped someone when they needed it.  After hearing how many lives his father had helped change, he told his wife Rosalyn that he felt he could make more of a difference in Plains GA than he could in the navy, so he left the navy and moved back home.

It wasn't long before he entered the political arena, first as a state senator, and eventually as the governor of Georgia.  He jumped into the run for governor after finding out that the leading democrat was campaigning on a Segregationist platform.  Although Jimmy lost that race, he spent the next few years introducing himself to the people of Georgia, and his next run was successful.
Two of the characteristics Jimmy carter is known for are honesty and integrity. After dealing with the disasters of Richard Nixon, those are the characteristics that this country was looking for in when Jimmy Carter ran for President.


Most of Jimmy's post White House income comes from books he has written



He wasn't well known when he started campaigning, so he published an autobiography to introduce himself to the American people.  He also relied on his "Peanut Brigade" - a group of close friends and family who chartered a plane and flew all over the country to campaign for Jimmy.  Before the New Hampshire primary, they had met more than half the population of the state. 

His campaign manager, Hamilton Jordan, used a  strategy that is commonplace now, but was innovative when he used it.  He capitalized on each primary win to build momentum and keep the spotlight on Jimmy Carter, starting with his win in New Hampshire.
The strategy was successful and Jimmy Carter became the  39th president of the United States.






Highlights of his presidency include:

The Red Phone- a direct line to the Kremlin

• Creation of the Department of Education
• Stabilization of relations with China 
• Camp David Accords- during a 13 day period at Camp David, Jimmy Carter negotiated peace between Anwar Sadat of Egypt and  Menachem Begin of Israel.
• Iran hostages released- on his last day in office.

  He was defeated in his bid for re-election, losing to Ronald Reagan, and was forced into “involuntary retirement”, as he put it. But, one of the things that impresses me about him the most is all that he has accomplished after his presidency.  Of course, at 56, he was the youngest ex-president in history, so he had plenty of time to do “stuff”. 

Still, he created the Carter Center, a sort of Think Tank that has helped improve the quality of life of people in more than 70s countries.

He has been active with Habitat for Humanity, and by his involvement (he builds houses one week a year) has brought awareness of that organization’s mission.

He won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album.

In 1999, President Clinton awarded both Rosalyn and Jimmy the Medal of Freedom, the highest Civilian honor in our country, for having done “more things, for more people, in more places, than any other couple on the face of the earth.”

And, last but certainly not least, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, in part for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts”.