On February 20, 2023 a News Release from the Carter Centre for Democracy announced former President Jimmy Carter was forgoing any further treatment for his health and was going home to rest comfortably for his remaining days. Many thought he only had a few days left, yet almost a month later Carter remains at home resting with his family.
I wanted to write about Carter while he was still alive, I have little belief he will read this, but the thought of honouring him while is still living was a worthwhile endeavour.
Recalling my attention to Jimmy Carter, the 1976 election is my earliest recollection of a Presidential election, and that election saw President Gerald Ford go against Governor Jimmy Carter. Ford was seeking to be elected after being sworn in as the 38th following Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. In ’76 being a Washington outsider was clearly an advantage for Governor Carter.
His presidency was the presidency of two sides on the positive he delivered the Camp David Peace Accords, airline deregulation, SALT II, immigration reform and made human rights a foundation of US foreign policy.
The flip side was that he was President during an energy crisis, recession and the Iran hostage crisis that had 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days and a failed rescue mission. The Americans were released the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, January 20, 1981.
He lost in ’80 to Ronald Reagan with the Iran hostages hanging like a ball and chain on his ankle. It was the issue in the last year of his presidency that more than anything unfairly defined Jimmy Carter as President. In 2017 declassified papers showed that Iran “was determined to exploit hostage taking” that lead to his election defeat
Carter’s post president years set him apart from every other president in their post White House years. At 98, he is the longest living former president, remaining active with the Carter Centre and Habitat for Humanity, only recently having to hang up his hardhat.
Carter visited Canada in 2017 during Canada’s 150th year of Confederation, the 34th Carter Work project for Habitat for Humanity built 150 homes across Canada. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter visited and worked on projects in Edmonton and Winnipeg that summer.
e greatest impression with me as a peace envoy and emissary of peace and democracy around the world. He was a prolific author; writing 64 books. I’ve read maybe 4-5, and today his book “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” is in my office on Parliament Hill.
He took very time off after leaving the White House, in 1981 he served the US with diplomatic missions to the Middle East, and in later years to North Korea, Haiti, and Sudan & Uganda. With global leaders such as Nelson Mandela he participated in independent tours and visits for peace and human rights.
In 1982, Carter founded the organization that bears his name in to promote peace and expand human rights in 2002 and for this was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Along with peace, the Carter Centre was busy with election monitoring, the centre has been invited to monitor 101 elections in 39 countries in the past 34 years. In 2020, the Carter Centre monitored the recount in Georgia as part of the 2020 US Presidential elections.
Carter’s White House and his diplomatic post-Presidency years are a lesson in contrast; where he never had the success he sought as a President, without the restrictions of being the US Commander in Chief he had great achievements globally with peace, humanity and earned the respect of leaders around the world.
The one constant in the lives of Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter is their faith, they have written many books about their faith. They have been true to their faith every day, never was their belief altered during any time while in elected office. It was and is their strength. I believe it is what has made Jimmy Carter a humble person. His level of humility is a goal worth striving for, he has shown what one can do in a lifetime with humility, personal beliefs, and kindness.
In an excellent essay in the New York Times on the day of the February 20th announcement, Kai Bird states “the last 43 years (since Carter left the White House) have really been an extension of he unfinished presidency” (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/opinion/kai-bird-jimmy-carter-life.html).
44 other men have had the opportunity to do important work after leaving the White House, I doubt that former Presidents, alive and in the future will match what Jimmy Carter has done.
I have never had the honour to meet or speak with President and Rosalyn Carter, but John Snoblen has. John is a former Minister in the Mike Harris government; he wrote the column below on February 22nd.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/snobelen-jimmy-carter-lived-to-serv...
God Bless Jimmy Carter today and after he takes his last breath.
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