Thursday, February 23rd, 2023
My Dear America:
There was recently a sad announcement from the Carter Center and the Jimmy Carter Family.
The announcement said that Former President of The United States, Jimmy Carter, had chosen to leave his hospital care and return home with Hospice Care. This was a strong signal that life for Jimmy Carter is close to the end of his days on earth. This news has left most of us who remember and admire Jimmy Carter with a sadness not only for Jimmy Carter but also a sadness for the Decency, Love and Respect for Others that he represented throughout his life and has been so lacking in Politics following the years when Jimmy Carter was President.
I am sure that there are a of of young people who don't remember much, if anything at all, about Jimmy Carter. The younger they are the chances are that they don't remember a time in their lives when extremely decent and truthful people were elected all the time to high office in America. Certainly in 1976 when Jimmy Carter was elected to the Presidency there was still a distinct trace of foul odor in the White House left over from the lack of decency that characterized the Watergate Scandal which had brought down the Administration of Richard Nixon prior to Jimmy Carter's arrival in Washington.
We are very lucky in America that, for the most part, we have had relatively decent people both Republicans and Democrats running for the Presidency over the course of so many years.
Presidents have not always been the most moral individuals but Jimmy Carter brought a sense of morality and decency which the country needed after the fall of Richard Nixon and Watergate.
When Jimmy Carter began his quest for the Presidency almost nobody gave him a ghost of a chance to be President.
The favorite expression of many people including late night comedians back in the day was the following:
"Jimmy Who?"
James Earl Carter Jr, who always preferred to be called Jimmy, actually had a pretty impressive Resume long before he ran for the American Presidency. In his introduction of himself to the American People he always referred to himself as "A Peanut Farmer from Georgia."
He certainly was that.
But Jimmy Carter was always a great deal more than just a Peanut Farmer before, during and after his Residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for four years from 1977 to 1980.
Jimmy's Peanut Farm was located in Plains, Georgia where I believe he still resides today with his wife, Roslyn. He had four children ( Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy) who he brought to the White House with him back in 1977. Prior to his days of successfully running his father's farm Jimmy Carter had a successful career in the United States Navy following his Graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. Jimmy was mainly assigned to work on Nuclear Submarines since he had an expertise in Nuclear Capabilities. When a near Nuclear Meltdown occurred in Canada while Carter was still in the Navy he was called upon to lead a U.S. Navy crew to help deal with the situation, which included exposing himself to toxic levels of nuclear radiation. Carter was also assigned to work on several Nuclear Submarines during his naval career. In 1953 Jimmy left the Navy and returned to Plains, Georgia following the death of his father in order to take care of the family business.
In addition to taking on the responsibility of running the family peanut farm Jimmy also took on the responsibility of Teaching Sunday School at his local Baptist church, a responsibility that he has continued in his church until recently, when at 98 years old he finally felt as though he could no longer physically fulfill that responsibility.
In 1963 Jimmy Carter was elected to serve in the Georgia State Senate. He remained a State Senator until 1967.
In 1971 after an unsuccessful earlier try for the Georgia Governorship, Jimmy Carter became the Governor of Georgia. At the time of his election Jimmy Carter was walking a somewhat difficult political tightrope in Georgia trying to appeal not only to black Civil Rights Leaders but also to clearly racist voters, as well.
As time went on Jimmy Carter seemed to be showing his true colors and he became more outspoken about opposing racial segregation and supporting civil Rights Groups and leaders in his state.
As Luck would have it on May 4th, 1974 Jimmy Carter gave a Law Day Speech to a group of Georgia Lawyers at the University of Georgia Law School. In addition to many lawyers at the speech including Ted Kennedy, also in attendance was Outlaw Journalist from Rolling Stone Magazine, Hunter S. Thompson who was in the process of writing an article about Ted Kennedy. Gonzo Journalist Thompson was genuinely impressed with Carter's speech that outlined in specific detail what was wrong with the American Justice System. Mainly that it favored the rich and it screwed the poor Carter felt.
Hunter Thompson was really impressed with Carter's speech. Thompson called it "A King hell bastard of a speech" and he wrote an article for Rolling Stone Magazine called "Jimmy Carter And The Great Leap Of Faith." I still have my copy of Rolling Stone featuring that article. It was indeed a king hell bastard of an article and I know it introduced me and many other Americans to a previously unknown Georgia Politician named Jimmy Carter.
Although I had an interest in and an awareness of Politics during the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford Years, when Vietnam and Watergate were topics of immense importance, I had never really been genuinely personally involved with Politics until Jimmy Carter ran for President. I remember the night Jimmy won the Presidency when my good friend and fellow musician, John and I played and sang at a Jimmy Carter Victory Celebration. We were overjoyed to be celebrating the Georgia Governor's election to the Presidency.
John and I weren't the only musicians backing Carter's bid for the Presidency. The Allman Brother's Band, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris, Johnny Cash and many others were also musical members of the Jimmy Carter Bandwagon.
One of the distinguishing characteristics of Jimmy Carter's Campaign for the Presidency was the fact that while Carter had many disagreements with other Democrats in the Democratic Primary and with President Gerald Ford in the General Election he was a proponent of disagreeing with his opponents without being disagreeable. That may have been one of the secrets of his success in the crowded field of Democrats who were also vying for the right to run for President in 1976. The crowded Democratic field included: California Governor Jerry Brown, Alabama Governor George Wallace, Morris Udall, Henry Jackson and Frank Church.
Many Republicans, most especially Ronald Reagan, have gone out of their way to denigrate the accomplishments of the Carter Administration over the years since Jimmy Carter left the office of the Presidency.
The truth is that Jimmy Carter had quite a few important accomplishments while in the office of the President of the United States. Some of those accomplishments were the following:
Probably Jimmy Carter's most important accomplishment during his Administration was negotiating With the leaders of Israel and Egypt in what were known as The Camp David Accords establishing peace between those two countries. Indeed Israel's Begin and Egypt's Sadat kept the peace for many years and all three of the negotiators received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts
His Administration continued Carter's opposition to Racial Segregation and his support of the Civil Rights Movement.
On his second day in the office of the Presidency Jimmy Carter pardoned all Vietnam Draft Evaders and invited those young men who had fled to Canada and elsewhere to avoid the draft during the Vietnam era to return to their home country of America. Many of them did return to the United States.
Jimmy Carter established The Department of Energy. He also established a National Energy Policy including support for Conservation, Price Controls and New Technology.
He also established The Department of Education.
He pushed for and accomplished progress on establishing a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union.
Issues that the Carter Administration had to deal with included the following:
The Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident.
The Nicaraguan Revolutiton.
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
The decision to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
The decision not to proceed with the Neutron Bomb that would kill people but leave buildings standing.
Although Carter was a proud Christian he fully supported the separation of church and state.
The Carter Administration also provided support for the integration of women into the Military.
One of the most important issues that President Carter dealt with was The Iran Hostage Crisis which I will discuss in more detail.
The Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iran Hostage crisis occurred as a result of the United States and the Carter Administration allowing the Shah of Iran to be treated for cancer in the United States. Despite the Shah running an Autocratic and hated regime in Iran he had been an ally to the United States and Jimmy Carter approved of the Shah seeking cancer treatment in the U.S. resulting in a Coup by Muslim religious leaders and radical students in Iran. The students, angered by the U.S. taking in the Shah took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held the Embassy Staff and other Americans unlucky enough to be in the Embassy Hostage.
During the 1980 Presidential Campaign While President Jimmy Carter was working night and day to figure out how to free the Iranian hostages Carter's Republican Challenger for the Presidency, Ronald Reagan had his Campaign Manager, William Casey colluding with the Iranians to work out a deal whereby the Iranians would not release the hostages until after Ronald Reagan was elected and was inaugurated. The deal involved Reagan secretly and unlawfully agreeing to munitions being sold to Iran through Israel. While the American public was not aware of this deal prior to the Presidential Election in November of 1980 oddly enough the hostages were released minutes after Reagan's January 1981 Inaugural speech. Reagan and Casey's dirty deal with the Iranians most certainly was an important factor in Jimmy Carter's landslide loss to Reagan in the 1980 Election.
While Jimmy Carter had to be aware in retrospect of what Reagan and Casey had done with regard to the hostages as far as I know Carter never complained about Reagan's dirty dealing. Carter has over the years seemed to be merely pleased that the hostages had finally been released.
Jimmy Carter's Post White House Accomplishments
Although Jimmy Carter accomplished a great deal during his Presidency unlike many other retired President's who did not accomplish much after their Presidential days were over, Jimmy Carter's accomplishments continued long after he left the White House.
Carter was well known for supervising democratic elections all over the world in order to prevent elections from being stolen.
Carter was also very much involved with not only supporting the efforts of Habitat For Humanity but also participated in building homes for that group for many years.
Jimmy Carter was also involved with many other worldwide projects through the Carter Center in Georgia for many years.
Jimmy Carter was also the author of several best selling books
At the end of the Jimmy Carter Story stands a man who lived his life in a manner in which he could be proud of what he accomplished in his life. Jimmy Carter at all times during his life stood for something.
He was a Good Husband.
He was a Good Father.
He was a Good Grandfather.
He Was a Good Sunday School Teacher.
He was a Good State Senator.
He was a Good Governor.
He was a Good President.
He was a Good American
And probably most important to him was the fact that he was a Good Man and when he gets to heaven there is no doubt that God will be waiting there for him at the Pearly Gates saying to him:
"Come on in, Jimmy Carter. We've been waiting a long time for you to get here"
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
1 comment:
Well done.
Post a Comment