Fifty years ago, a simple farmer from Georgia burst onto the national scene as a long-shot candidate for the Democratic nomination in the Iowa caucuses.
Jimmy Carter placed second in Iowa, but he won the nomination and then the presidency in 1976, prevailing over Republican President Gerald Ford among a Watergate-weary electorate.
Last week, our nation laid Carter, the 100-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, to rest following a remarkable life demonstrating the genius of America in summoning the leadership necessary for the times.
Carter exuded a humility, honesty and decency that was the antidote to the imperial, dishonest and haughty leadership of Richard Nixon. Nixon, of course, was forced to resign the presidency in August 1974, making then-Vice President Ford not only our president, but also the first unelected president in our nation’s history. Ford had replaced Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, who resigned in 1973 after bribes accepted as Maryland governor caught up with him in the White House.
Carter’s humility and reassuring persona were rooted in his deep, evangelical Christian faith. He taught Sunday school, attended a Southern Baptist church faithfully in his Plains, Georgia, hometown, and knew the Bible backward and forward.
Carter was a nuclear engineer and a U.S. Navy officer and a submarine warfighter. He was the governor of Georgia and a peanut farmer who loved the rock band The Allman Brothers.
His single term was very consequential, not only for the moral reset he brought to Washington, D.C., but for a Middle Eastern breakthrough that still serves us well four-plus decades later. The Camp David Accords proved the wisdom about the Middle East of that day: Without Egypt, you cannot have war; without Syria, you cannot have peace.
The accord between the Muslim leader Anwar Sadat of Egypt and the Jewish leader Menachem Begin of Israel has set the tone for overall peace with obvious hot spots since 1978. Carter’s personal engagement made the difference, according to all informed histories of the negotiations.
The recent demise of Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad and the change in Syria reminds us anew of this last significant reset in the Middle East and the foundation Carter helped build that shows promise today for peace lovers everywhere.
Carter had his problems, especially at home with the economy and abroad with the new religious rulers in Iran. His legacy was and is very mixed, but after Ronald Reagan sent him into retirement in 1980, Carter redefined how ex-presidents continue to serve the nation.
The Carter Center’s health initiatives and hostage negotiations made the world better. His model for vice presidential involvement pioneered with his running mate, Walter Mondale, continues to be the model followed by presidential administrations. His work with Habitat for Humanity inspired many to tackle the problem of homelessness and affordable housing through a faith-based perspective.
Carter’s emphasis on human rights as an element of U.S. foreign policy gave him an opening to continue to use his voice and influence for good.
It is true that, as Carter aged, he became something of a scold. His criticism of Israel in the midst of U.S. government negotiations and operations bordered on downright harmful.
Still, Carter’s impact is remarkable. He answered the call of a scandal-weary nation, shocked by President Ford’s pardon of disgraced President Nixon, to restore a simpler, forthright leadership from the Oval Office. We owe him a debt of gratitude, even if the conclusion of history is that we want our presidents like Ronald Reagan and our former presidents like Jimmy Carter.
Rest in peace, Mr. President. Well done, good and faithful servant.•
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Smith is chairman of the Indiana Family Institute and author of “Deicide: Why Eliminating The Deity is Destroying America.” Send comments to [email protected].
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