Jimmy Carter – Worth A Trillion of Trumps and Musks

I know Jimmy Carter wouldn’t approve of me starting out the way I will but I’m going to anyway. Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other rich and powerful fat cat conservatives can SUCK IT! So can rank and file conservatives and too many others who equate wealth and power, but mostly wealth with how good a person is. Money, even for the very richest in and of itself has NOTHING to do with how good, or for that matter how bad a person or any individual is. Same with power. Conservatives just love to play up their “Christianity” yet every f**king day IGNORE the teaching about ‘faith through works.” So I challenge any of them to measure the actual works of those who will lead this country the next four years against those of James Earl Carter Jr., who always preferred to be called Jimmy.

It was a gut-punch learning yesterday that Jimmy Carter died. Yet not as much as it might have been for more than one reason.  Let’s start with this: We all have known the time was coming when former President Jimmy Carter’s extraordinary life would come to an end. He passed away the way he wanted, at the simple home he’s shared for most of his life with his beloved wife Rosalynn, surrounded by loving family. A humble man to the last. If there was any conflict in his mind, it was that on the one hand he never liked people making a fuss over him, yet another part would want people to recognize his accomplishments which were legion.

I have been watching some news and again I heard a pundit (I believe it was historan Michael Becheloss) comment on how Carter felt about being called ‘the best ex-President in history.’ It wasn’t that the sentiment wasn’t true, but Carter felt (and I wholeheartedly agree) he accomplished much more as President than he was given credit for. (I’ll get to that and other accomplishments) Jimmy Carter did do more good for people both here and the U.S. and around the world than any other ex-President. He went around and to some awfully rough, even dangerous places promoting human rights and overseeing free and fair elections.  Often his wife Rosalynn accompanied him I might add. His Carter Center became a true force for promoting such things and tackling other ‘impossible’  problems like diseases most of us never heard of.

For example Carter was the catalyst for creating a simple device to filter water in impoverished villages in Africa.  I remember him showing one on a talk show, and noting they’d gotten the price down to a dollar. With it the problem of guinea worm parasite deaths was virtually eradicated. In the 1980s when the Carter Center went to work (with other international organizations) on the problem there were known to be at least 3.5 million DEATHS a year (and of course untold suffering) but the goal was to make it the second disease after smallpox to be eradicated.  Last year only a few dozen deaths from this common parasite were recorded!  THAT is the kind of person Carter was, going around and finding things that people needed help with, and coming up with a way to provide real, actual help.

Habitat for Humanity was a pretty small organization when Jimmy Carter became aware of it. Ironically it was based not that far from his home in Plains, but he learned of it during a visit to New York City. Carter made some inquiries and the rest is history. Everyone knows about Habitat for Humanity!  Much needed homes have been built and provided to people who needed them, and not just here in the U.S.  More importantly, Carter himself (as well as Rosalynn) set aside time each year to PERSONALLY take part in projects. Carter was quite a carpenter and had a hobby of making furniture down there at his home in Plains.  Even into their 90s Jimmy and Rosalynn were at build sites. WORKING. In the title pic, Carter has fourteen stitches in his face yet is wielding tools and helping build someone a home.  Donald Trump had ‘magical’ Bone Spurs!  Trump was never in his life fit to shine Carter’s shoes, and frankly neither is Elon Musk.

There is so much more. Carter was born to quite modest means on a farm. No plumbing or running water. Virtually all of his friends were black kids. He grew up working as such kids do, but studied hard in school and earned a nomination and appointment to the Naval Academy. Carter did well, graduating 59th out of a class of 820 Midshipmen in 1946. His first couple of  years of active duty were spent on old battleships learning gunnery. He also learned to fly seaplanes, something I only learned recently although he never attained designation as a Naval Aviator. Submarines caught his interest and that’s when his tremendous intellect and work ethic paid off.  He was one of only two Lieutenants hired by the legendary Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy.

Rickover was determined to launch the first nuclear powered ship, and a new class of submarines. Carter played a key role, and along the way through practical work rather than in the classroom picked up about the equivalent of a doctorate in nuclear engineering. As well as one in propulsion and ship design. Even “miniaturized” fitting a reactor in the already limited space on a ship (particularly a sub) required wholesale changes in the internal structure. Carter was slated to become the Executive Officer of one of the new Sea Wolf subs that would be commissioned when his father died. Carter was smart, a good officer and diligent and well liked so that would have led to command of a sub and he’d have had a great shot at Flag (admiral) rank.  His efforts during Ottawa’s Chalk River nuclear accident would have replaced any “lack of combat” experience from selection boards weighing candidates for promotion.

It’s a little known part of Carter’s career but in 1952 in Ottawa the world had its first nuclear accident. A partial meltdown that threatened to become a far worse disaster if not dealt with quickly and effectively. Canada asked for and got help from the U.S. Carter was part of the team of Navy Engineers that knew about nukes, and a plan was created to dismantle the old core to “save” the reactor. Even with radiation protection suits the levels were so intense each person who went in was limited to a max of ninety seconds work. A mock up was built on a nearby tennis court for practice. A plan was worked out for workers to be lowered one after another into the reactor and remove this or that bolt or piece of the reactor in the brief time allotted. It was Carter who worked out the details.  He also took his own turn inside that deadly room. Later he’d say he ‘peed green for weeks’ afterwards but like most who went in he didn’t suffer permanent health effects. It was however a truly heroic bit of work. Again, imagine an asshat like Trump or Musk or any of those who will no doubt take potshots at Carter in the weeks ahead doing such a thing!

So Carter was on his way to a stellar career in the Navy and probably an office on the E-Ring of the Pentagon. However, with his father’s death and the family business (that peanut farm they’d acquired) in deep trouble Carter resigned his commission and that was that. I’ve read Rosalynn wasn’t thrilled with the decision at the time, but I’ve also read Carter was getting a bit tired of Rickover and his ways.  Who knows?  What we do know is that Carter turned things around for the family business and became a millionaire.  Quite the feat but to look at him one would never know it. He didn’t dress or act like one, and as is so often noted he and Rosalynn lived in that simple, functional home.

As you know, he moved into politics. When he ran for the Presidency for the longest time he was “Jimmy Who?” and not taken seriously. Georgia might be a ‘player’ in national politics now but back then it was a backwater like the other southern “Bible Belt” states like Alabama and Mississippi. Other than Atlanta few noticed the state at all and certainly not it’s youngish and unassuming Governor.  Carter recognized something about 1976 other candidates failed to do, which was that for the first time primaries would play the main role in choosing a nominee instead of the Party bosses.  Getting out of the gate early in Iowa he quickly became a force. Party leaders were NOT happy.

Carter however did win the nomination and then the Presidency. And from where I sit backstabbed by “Official Washington”, the unelected elites who advised administrations, the media/press of course and I must add other elected federal officials. Including Democratic Party leaders. One can’t help but wonder how things might have unfolded for this country if Carter had gotten full Party support. Instead, this top graduate of a top school, a nuclear engineer with a keen engineer’s and technocrat’s mind was treated like some rube. An interloper. So much so Ted Kennedy split the Part by mounting a rousing campaign against Carter.

People have talked for days about the famous “Malaise” speech but the fact is initially it was well received by the public. It was only when other “leaders” started picking it apart with journalists that it became known in the context it’s commonly thought of. Carter admitted he made a mistake by allowing the Shah of Iran into this country for cancer treatment, but who could have imagined a bunch of students violating every diplomatic norm and not just taking over an embassy but kidnapping the people working there? As for the second oil embargo, combined with the price shocks from the sanctions after the hostage crisis began Carter himself fixed the problem of the huge inflation it caused.

Reagan gladly took credit for Fed Chair Paul Volker’s hammering down inflation which took a couple of years. But it was CARTER who appointed Volker. Prior to the announcement Volker was clear with Carter about what he would do and the pain the raise in interest rates would cause. He correctly noted it would damage Carter politically. However it was another case of Carter proving unlike most he was willing to do what he believed was right, and NEEDED regardless of the personal (in this case political cost) and he told Volker in effect ‘Don’t concern yourself with politics, that’s my job. YOU do what you have to do as you see fit.’

I served my active duty time in the Marines during the 1980s and being in the Naval Service meant all kinds of talk about a ‘500 ship Navy’ initiative. We never got 500 ships even with Reagan’s crazy defense spending but our Navy had long been in need of more and better ships.  It was CARTER, the Annapolis grad who came up with the plan for upgrading the Navy that Reagan took credit for.  Sensing a pattern here?

Of course, we all remember the release of the hostages by Iran on Inauguration Day in 1977. The seeds of the deal for their release were sown early on by Carter. He not only froze Iran’s assets in the U.S. (a considerable amount) he quickly convinced other western banks to do the same. He also led to a wide international range of sanctions that choked Iran off from the world.  Their new government of course was embarrassed that things for their people were WORSE than under the Shah but they couldn’t swallow the notion of releasing the hostages, fearing loss of face with their own citizens.  So it all dragged on but a deal was eventually made. However REAGAN was in secret communication with Iran and convinced them to delay agreeing to a formal announcement until AFTER the election!

Iran did him one better. As a final f**k you to Carter they refused to allow the plane holding the hostages to take off until AFTER Reagan had been sworn in. I still recall Reagan at that traditional luncheon they hold in the Rotunda after the swearing in. He stood there making the announcement the hostages were free and for all the world made it seem like HE was the one who got them out!  Given all that (and more) I can see why Carter might have gotten testy when people would tell him he was our finest ex-President.

What really haunts me is his Energy Speech to the nation. Carter had a vision of the U.S. again leading the world. We’d won WWII, split the atom and even sent Americans to the moon. Massive projects. Things many believed weren’t possible. Carter, in the wake of that first OPEC Oil Embargo had a vision of weaning our country and the world off oil. He wanted the U.S. to lead the way in developing solar and other renewable forms of energy. It was pretty much dismissed out of hand. However imagine a country in which President Jimmy Carter had the FULL backing of his own Party, and when there were still some sane Republicans willing to work across the aisle?  Think about how during all the decades since, as we allowed (and we included Democrats and our leaders) big oil to keep us addicted to oil, and the auto industry to internal combustion engine vehicles.

Think about the alarming fact that global Climate Change has passed the tipping point.  We are now in mitigation mode. How do we limit the damage? While we’re doing that what if anything can be done to someday reverse it?  What if we’d all paid attention to what Jimmy Carter tried to tell us almost fifty years ago and ACTED?

Jimmy Carter was someone who spent a lifetime, a century being a good person who tried to help others. I am humbled thinking about all he did in his life. He experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in winning the Presidency and then (unfairly under the circumstance I believe) losing it to Reagan. However through it all he was a good and decent person who thought everyone deserves a break. A real, FAIR shot to get as far as their abilities and effort would take them.  Whether as a private citizen or an elected official that always was who and what he was. EVERY person and especially every person in power should aspire to be the kind of person and leader Jimmy Carter spent his life being.

I’ve mentioned before that Jimmy Carter received the very fist vote I ever got to cast. (the story about the Illinois primary is too long to go in to) I took that big old paper ballot and of course the federal races were first, starting with President. And the name James Earl Carter Jr. was right there on the first line. Without hesitation but WITH great pride and pleasure I marked an X in the box.  I will always be proud of that moment. It’s on the short list of the best moments of my life.

As we celebrate the life and legacy (and hopefully build the latter) of Jimmy Carter in the next couple of weeks I’ll repeatedly harken back to that moment. And hope that someday before I die I can become as good a man as Jimmy Carter was.

Support the site with a subscription today and see no more ads!

Go Ad-free Now!