Jan.14

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Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Reader Reflections on Jimmy Carter, Part IV

We will have 10 more Carter stories tomorrow, and then the final 10 on Friday. For now, six more thoughts from readers on the 39th president:

• J.L.G. in Boston, MA: In 2003, the Jimmy Carter Work Project sponsored a huge effort to build over 80 houses in a week in three southeastern US cities, including in my hometown of Anniston, AL.
  
  I was lucky enough to be invited to help with the effort. My father's church provided some support for the effort in terms of both cash and muscle power. At the time, I was in grad school several states away, and dad arranged for me to come home and for us to pitch in on the building.
  
  It was an amazing opportunity for me—in large part, and this sounds cheesy, because it taught me what it takes to build a house: the vision, the planning, the logistics, the effort, the neighborhood, even the raw materials and how they are joined together. It was also meaningful that my dad and I volunteered together; I had been away at school for most of the previous decade and so the week we spent together was a chance to connect as adults in a way that we didn't really have before or after.
  
  And, of course, President Carter was there hammering away every day. The Carters stayed in a dorm room at Jacksonville State University alongside the other volunteers. Their only request? Peanuts and Diet Coke for an evening snack—humble preferences that reflected their unpretentious approach to volunteerism.
  
  At lunch one day, I saw him standing near me. I decided to go shake his hand. He graciously did so, but then an enormous line lined up behind me—I suspect he spent the next hour shaking hands—I felt a little guilty about having broken those floodgates for him that day inside the lunch tent. But I also hope that those moments conveyed to him how inspirational he was to me and everybody there.
  
  
• W.T.L. in Everett, WA: Jimmy Carter is the first vote I cast for a President, as I was still only 16 when the national voting age was lowered to 18, and so missed out on '72.
  
  I was always defensive of his legacy in later years when the subject (infrequently) came up. I would never wear one of those "My President" campaign buttons featuring a shaggy-haired Bill Clinton, because my view was "Jimmy is still my guy!"
  
  Many years later, taking a cruise trip with my mother, we shared a dining table in the evening with an older couple from Georgia. The husband had many stories of his time as a Republican in the Georgian House, and in particular related how he had frequently carpooled with Jimmy Carter up to the Capitol for a few years, as they were neighbors, even though Jimmy was in the Senate and a misguided Democrat. Still, he expressed warm feelings of his memories of that friendship.
  
  Next to him, his demure wife, a faded but still-fighting-the-good-fight Georgia Peach, finally had enough and spoke up: "Yes, we all know Jimmy, and we all love Jimmy, but sometimes we all wish Jimmy would just shut the hell up!"
  
  The conversation moved on.
  
  
• D.J. in Oberlin, OH: Something I learned only recently from Electoral-Vote.com was that Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. president to visit Africa. In 1978, I was a crewmember aboard the SS Delta Paraguay, a cargo ship heading towards Lagos, Nigeria. At the time, it was common for ships to sit at anchor for weeks or even months outside the harbor while waiting for a berth. The rulers of Nigeria were spending their newly acquired oil wealth on building materials, and ships from all over the world were arriving without adequate port facilities to handle the influx of cargo.
  
  To our surprise, after sitting at anchor for only a few hours, we received orders to proceed to dock at a newly built dry cargo terminal. As it turned out, President Carter was visiting Nigeria, and part of the itinerary was to show off their new port. We were given some warning that, as the only American flag vessel in port, the President would be taken to our ship. So, I had time to grab my camera. The President and Rosalynn came aboard while their young daughter, Amy, waited in the bus:
  
  
  
  A few pallets of cargo were discharged before the entourage departed for the next stop on the tour. We remained at the dock for a day or so and, apparently after the Carters departed from Nigeria, we were sent back to anchor for a couple weeks before finally discharging the remainder of our cargo.
  
  
• T.H. in Champaign, IL: The story beer enthusiasts tell is that when prohibition ended, Congress passed a law intending to legalize home production of wine and/or beer in limited quantities for private consumption. Somewhere in the lawmaking process, the "and/or beer" part got left out due to a clerical error. That mistake was not rectified till the Carter administration. The fix made possible the American homebrewing craze of the '80's, followed by the microbrewing craze of the '90's. Thanks to Jimmy, you can now drink good beer brewed in America.
  
  
• R.C. in Newport News, VA: The last presidential debate in 1976 was held in Phi Beta Kappa Hall at the College of William & Mary. My spouse was a staff member in the computing center at the college and received two tickets to view the debate. Because PBK Hall had limited space, her overflow tickets were for the closed-circuit large screens at William & Mary Hall, the basketball arena. (False rumor: It was not named for Bill Hall and his wife Mary.) I was the and-one for her tickets.
  
  After the debate, which was boring, the candidates came to William & Mary Hall to speak. Carter was first and gave what I considered an inspirational speech, emphasizing that he wanted a presidency as good as the American people. Lots of applause. Ford came into the hall and said he wouldn't be speaking but wouldn't we rather listen to Pearl Bailey singing. That she did: live in the arena, a cappella, again to lots of applause.
  
  "As good as the American people" wouldn't fly today. So many changes to our political culture, mostly awful.
  
  
• A.B. in Wendell, NC: Although I was born when Nixon was President, Jimmy Carter was the first person whom I knew to be President, and what that meant... at least, as a 6-year-old would understand it.
  
  Anyway, one anecdote I heard was that Rosalynn Carter used to wash out plastic sandwich bags for re-use instead of throwing them away. That is how environmentally conscious they were, long before it was "cool" to be that way.
  
  Of all Presidents, I think Carter best exemplified what was best about America, and I would dearly love a return to the decorum of his times. And I would very much like a plain-folks guy like Jimmy back in the White House... he will be sorely missed.
  
  RIP, Jimmy!

We really wanted to do another 10 Carter stories today, but life got in the way. Oh, well, as they say, "tomorrow is another day." (Z)