Jimmy Carter: A Life Well-Lived
Jan 4, 2025
Rolland Kidder
America lost an icon this past week…Jimmy Carter. In
many ways, he was an anomaly in our national politics–a peanut farmer who came
from nowhere to win the Presidency.
When I say “nowhere,” I do not mean to disrespect the
people of Plains, Georgia. But, even people from Plains would never have
predicted it. To bring it close to home, it would be like someone from around
here predicting that Robert Jackson from Frewsburg, N.Y. would become a U.S.
Attorney General, Supreme Court Justice and Chief American Prosecutor at
Nuremberg.
These things just don’t happen very often.
What drew me to Carter, I expect, is just that fact–he
came from the kind of rural background that I grew up in. He was what, in New
York, we would call an “upstate Democrat,” and both he and his wife, Rosalynn,
came and campaigned here in Western New York.
In the process, in 1980, I became a Carter delegate to
the Democratic National Convention. Though his prospects for re-election didn’t
look good at the time, I believed that he personified the kind of human being
that we should want to have in the White House. The fact that he lost that
election, has never changed my mind as to the genuine humility, kindness and
goodness of this man.
A lot of things can cost people elections, but
character was not one of them as far as Jimmy Carter was concerned. He was
smart, strong, and, sometimes, could be a stubborn man. He was also a person of
faith. He not only taught Sunday School, but he believed that the principles he
was teaching there should be carried out in real life.
After the Presidency, these attributes magnified
themselves. His involvement in the early days of Habitat for Humanity is a case
in point. One commentator called it “the theology of the hammer.” It wasn’t
good enough just be a Christian in church. You had an obligation to serve
others and to work for their benefit in the wider world.
Recent comments on his passing may well remain
true–that he may be the only President whose high office was a stepping-stone
to something perhaps more significant. Carter could have been awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize just for his work as President in forging peace in the Middle East
between Egypt and Israel. But, the Nobel award was also based on his
post-Presidency efforts through the Carter Center in advancing health, peace
and democratic initiatives throughout the world.
During the time I was involved in Washington with the
World War II Memorial, I became good friends with one of Carter’s former staff
leaders in the White House, Frank Moore.
After serving in the White House, Frank and his
colleague, Jody Powell, stayed in the Washington area and purchased some
property on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. For 25 or 30 years, the former
President would come there late in the fall for duck hunting. Carter, the
country boy from Georgia, loved the out-of-doors and was a sportsman at heart.
Yet, it was also the camaraderie of the hunt, and the personal friendships that
surrounded it that really made it special.
Frank and the former President became good friends
during those times. In 2002, Frank and Nancy Moore were invited by the Carter’s
to accompany them to Oslo where Carter would receive the Nobel Prize.
Frank told me that in the week or two preceding his
death, the former President remained cognizant and responsive. Rosalynn Carter
died last year. She and Jimmy had been married for 77 years. As the end drew
near, Jimmy Carter told those caring for him that he was ready to die and
“wanted to be with Rosalynn.”
His prayer was granted. He is at peace now.
Jimmy Carter…a life well-lived.
