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”.

Circling Atlanta (04-01-13)

  Moving from one side of Atlanta to the other, we found a spot in a COE campground on  Allatoona Lake. In theory, we had quite a few more things we wanted to see in the Atlanta area, before heading a little further north.  Once again, the weather is not cooperating, with rain and temperatures in the 30s at night.  Usually by afternoon it warms up, but only for a couple of hours.  Add to that the fact that the Final Four arrived, and Atlanta became a zoo and we really didn’t want to venture into the city very much.

One of the major reasons we made the swing over this way was so we could see my cousin Brian and his family.  Brian and I grew up near each other and I babysat him when he was young.  It used to make his mother laugh that I would let him cook dinner for me at the age of 10, and I would clean up behind him.  He has always wanted to be a chef.  To say he succeeded would be an understatement.  He is the managing partner in a company that owns, among other things, some of the best restaurants in Atlanta.  He asked us which restaurant we wanted to visit, and I chose Der Biergarten because I had heard so much about it.  We were not disappointed!  The food was great and we were treated like royalty. 



Paul practices being a grandpa with Harrison



We made plans to have dinner at Brian’s house the following night.  He warned us that the “Final 4” coming to Atlanta meant that as of Thursday, he would no longer be available to socialize, so we took advantage while we could. 

Once again I took very few pictures. It’s so frustrating that I forget to snap them when people are around! I did take a few with my phone, while we were hanging around playing with his two sons, and I took one of the dinner table. I sure am glad he likes to cook! 

We had salad, quail, lamb, duck, steak, and paella. Amazingly good food and of course, Margaritas made from fresh squeezed limes.









While researching things we might want to do while in Atlanta, we discovered that the most visited historic battlefield, Kennesaw Battlefield, is here.  It is visited 50% more than Gettysburg, which I am guessing has something to do with its proximity to a major city.  Since we could combine history with hiking, off we went to Kennesaw.  To get our exercise, we hiked a very pretty 6 mile loop through the woods (Cheatham Hill).  At the Visitor’s Center, while reading about the Battle for Atlanta, I began to wonder why, in particular, was this battle significant?

So here’s the short version of what I found out.  First, the battle itself:

Kennesaw is a small mountain outside of Atlanta that in 1864 was held by the Confederacy.  General Sherman, of the Union Army, was ordered to take Atlanta, and Kennesaw was the last “hill” in his way.

  In June of 1864 he set up his men at the base of the mountain, and prepared to storm up the hill. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way he wanted, and a significant number of his troops were slaughtered as they tried to make their way up the hill. At one point, a fire broke out in the land between the two armies.  There were many wounded men still on the battlefield and the two sides agreed to a brief ceasefire while they rescued the injured from the flames. 




Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to plow through the Confederate troops, Sherman made an important decision.  He went around the Kennesaw Mountain, and marched right into Atlanta.
So, why was the battle for Atlanta important? It’s importance was mostly political, not military.  When the Union entered into the Civil War, it was assumed the conflict would last about 3 months, after which time, the southern states would be assimilated back into the Union. 3 years later, there seemed to be no end in sight.  The war was costing the taxpayers a back breaking 2.5 million dollars a day.  Election time was fast approaching, and Abraham Lincoln’s political opponent was making noises about a compromise with the southern states.  In order for Lincoln to win the election, the tide needed to turn.  The north needed some decisive victories to show that the war was winnable.  The taking of Atlanta was one of those victories, and Lincoln was re-elected by a large margin.