From A Jarhead To A Sailor: Fair Winds And Following Seas President Carter

I don’t recall what I was reading or what news channel it was on when I heard some guy saying “My name is Jimmy Carter and I’m running for President.” I looked up startled and started paying attention to the TV. It was a short report about some unknown southern Governor going around the country and he’d introduce himself almost always with that phrase I started with. What grabbed my attention?  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I think it was so improbable that someone so down-to-earth and matter-of-fact in his tone of voice. And once I started paying attention his manner. Unflappable. Seemingly immune to the coverage then and all along not exactly poking fun at him, but with a clear ‘Can you believe this guy?’ type attitude from journalists and pundits. And other politicians too.

Well, the Gov. of the then mostly backwater southern state wound up being a credible candidate as things progressed. Myself? I just liked the guy from the beginning. The whole ‘Born Again Christian’ thing might have been a turnoff for me because despite having been raised a person of faith and churchgoer I was wary of politicians who made a BFD about their Christianity.  Carter however came across differently. He was unashamed of who he was and what he believed, but also was clearly a humble man. On this point he seemed more like ‘It works for me and I’m fulfilled by it but I’m not one to judge others who don’t see things the same way.’

When he was the feature of the monthly Playboy interview boy did THAT stir things up! (Yes, I always looked at the pictorials but back then a startling amount of great articles and actual journalism, as well as awesome cartoons and jokes were there to enjoy!) The whole ‘lust in his heart’ quote became a huge “thing” and generated much mockery that never went away. During the campaign after he got the nomination I recall going to see him speak over in Carbondale at my university. It was a large crowd and supportive. Except for one a-hole who climbed up in a huge tree behind the platform and from a precarious perch with a foghorn voice kept raining down stuff like ‘Repent’ and so on. Carter just ignored it and let it roll off  his back. He gave his speech, pure Jimmy Carter in tone and content and it was well-received. I found out later the a-hole wasn’t so well received when he came down out of that tree!  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who’d gone to hear Carter who was pissed at the guy!

What really did it for me was reading Carter’s autobiography Why Not the Best?  There I learned what an extraordinary life he’d already lived. How accomplished he actually was because he sure as hell didn’t come across as such a tough, brilliant and accomplished person when you saw him in interviews or heard him speak.  (Now that I think of it the next time I’ve got some extra cash and order some used books online I need to buy a copy since the one I had is long gone) In the book he explains the title, which in turn explains the man himself. He’d worked like hell to get into the Naval Academy and did quite well ranking high up in his class. Having almost attended West Point I knew how tough it was just to get into one of those schools. Anyway, he was off to a promising start in his Navy career and got interested in being part of the “Nuclear Navy” the famed Admiral Hyman Rickover was building.

Rickover was quite the taskmaster. That Carter even got an interview to be on his staff was an impressive feat in and of itself. It was a substantive, tough interview of course and at the end discussion of Carter’s time and performance at Annapolis was raised. Carter proudly noted how high he ranked in his class and it WAS quite high. In his deadpan manner Rickover asked “Did you do your best?” Being not only a humble but honest man and Officer he hesitated a bit before responding that ‘No, he hadn’t ALWAYS done his best. Rickover gave him that classic look he was famous for (not at all pleasant) and said “Why not?” then turned his chair away indicating the interview was over. Carter was shaken as he left the office. Yet he’d impressed Rickover and became part of the team, became a nuclear engineer and sub design engineer in the process.

As the book made clear that was a defining moment in Carter’s adult life. He’d always worked harder than most, and gave more than most. Whether in his personal life or professional one. But for all that, that question from Rickover would haunt him the rest of his life. And fill him with a resolve to try as hard as he could to do his best. Especially for others.  No one can be one-hundred percent every single moment but as far as I’m concerned Jimmy Carter came closer than anyone else I can think of.

That my friends is why if I could have a wish granted today it’s that every single person would be tuned in to watch his funeral that will be held at 10am at the National Cathedral. This country, and the world OWES Jimmy Carter that much.  He deserves the full respect he didn’t get as President, even if accolades poured in over the decades of his post Presidency for all he and his wife Rosalyn did. Her journey ended a couple of years ago and it was the last significant public appearance by Carter himself. His own unique and uniquely American journey, a kid born in a small house with no electricity and running water that would go on to become a graduate of the Naval Academy, a hugely successful farmer and businessman, then a tireless politician who focused on the needs of regular people and all the way to being President of the United States is worth pausing whatever is going on in your life and marking.

I have much more to say, and I hope you will find time if in bits and pieces later today or in the next few days to read it. When I learned Jimmy Carter had passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loved ones I couldn’t help but think of him sailing off into the sunset. With Rosalyn at his side. That why instead of a submarine taking to sea at sunset I chose s simple sailboat for the title picture. Yes, at Annapolis Midshipmen are required to learn how to handle actual sailboats!  Having done some sailing on a friend’s 27-footer on the Chesapeake Bay (not all that far from Annapolis now that I think of it) it just seems right to think of saying goodbye to him this way.

Well, the pre-funeral coverage will be on soon.  But as I said I hope that if you’ve read this now before it starts, even if you don’t read what follows ahead of it you’ll come back and read it later.  If ANYONE wants an example of who to follow, to try and emulate it would be Jimmy Carter and his beloved wife Rosalyn.  Following is an attempt I’ve made in recent days to pay full tribute to this extraordinary person.. For me, a jarhead Carter was a sailor I can’t help but admire so it seems fitting to add the Navy Hymn at this point, especially given the stormy seas our country and the world will have to ensure in the years ahead:

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked’st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Jimmy Carter, poor kid made good, Naval Academy graduate and Officer who helped usher our Navy into the nuclear age. Peanut Farmer who rescued his family business, Georgia state legislator and then Governor and eventually President of the United States will be laid to rest in a private ceremony in Plains Georgia on tomorrow. Next to his beloved wife Rosalyn who passed away a couple of years ago. Theirs was a love for the ages. And to the end they were true to themselves, their faith and doing their best to put that faith into practices. What in the New Testament is called ‘faith through works.’  Again, that ceremony at graveside will be a private affair. However today Jan. 9 2025 is a National Day of Mourning. Yet it is also a day of celebration of an extraordinary life.  Yes, tears will flow but there will be stories that evoke smiles, chuckles and even laughter.

Through it all Jimmy Carter remained at heart a humble and decent man. Part of him was embarrassed at having to take part in planning a Presidential funeral, yet part of him knew there was a duty to properly marking such an event.  Plus there’s the not well known fact Carter sometimes bristled at being labeled as being our best “Ex-President.” If he felt he never got his due for his years in Office a helluva case can be made for why he felt shortchanged by history. Some, only some of his accomplishments as well as unrealized vision (unrealized because even his own Party didn’t support him the way it should have) have been being talked about.  And will surely be talked about more.

Reagan took all the credit for the release of the Iran hostages even though it was Carter who’s early actions and tireless efforts to keep pressure on Iran meant they’d have no choice but to give in. In fact a deal in principle had been worked out months before but Reagan snuck behind Carter’s back to get them to hold off. Gaining the hostages release might have affected the 1980 election and much as the new Iranian regime had to fear from a Reagan foreign policy they hated Carter more. So much so they literally kept the plan on the tarmac until they were SURE Carter was out and Reagan had been sworn in.

Inflation was the other big issue but that was largely beyond Carter’s control except for the one thing he COULD do. When the Federal Reserve needed a new chair he appointed Paul Volcker with a mandate to hammer down inflation. Volcker told him of the pain the necessary steps would cause and that it could cost Carter politically. However Carter put the needs of the country first and Volcker it was.  Volcker was right about the political backlash he’d cause but Carter left him alone to do his job. It took a couple of years, into Reagan’s first term but inflation was brought under control. Reagan of course happily took all the credit for “beating inflation” but it was CARTER and his putting Volcker in place and defending him that actually got the job done.

My active duty time in the Marines was in the 1980s and Reagan and his SecNav John Lehman boasted of building a “500 ship Navy.” We never got that high a number of ships but the Navy was indeed modernized starting in Reagan’s first term. Guess who set all that in motion?  No, it wasn’t Reagan or Lehman. It was Annapolis Graduate become President Jimmy Carter who saw the state of our Navy and came up with the plan to upgrade it to meet the mission it was tasked with! (Carter is the only Naval Academy grad to serve as President in case you didn’t know) People marveled at “Reagan building up the Navy” but all he did was continue what Carter had conceived and set in motion. See the pattern here? Carter actually DID the work, and Reagan got/took all the credit. I for one can’t fault Carter for feeling shortchanged by history.

Carter was considered from the beginning a “rube” by ‘Official Washington’ by which I mean politicians, key power brokers and of course journalists covering the White House and Congress. Not as the literal nuclear engineer Carter truly was, but some dumb ole peanut farmer from ‘nowhere Georgia.’ The fact is, Carter resigned from a VERY promising career in the Navy because his father died and the family business (at the time a small farm and store) were in trouble. Carter didn’t just rescue the family business, he expanded it into a highly successful operation! (It was mismanaged by the blind trust that took over when he became President but that’s a separate story) So in addition to being an Annapolis grad (and I can tell you from experience getting accepted to a Service academy is one tough thing to do – I was set for West Point but declined nomination at the last moment though) AND a bona fide nuclear engineer who was instrumental in the design of our first nuclear subs AND being a highly successful businessman with a net worth in the millions folks in DC looked down their noses at him.

Only in recent times have many who were around during those years started to rethink things. Much has been made over the decades of his “Malaise” Speech yet when he gave it polling indicated it was well received. It was the trashing by ‘Official DC’ that led journalists to start being derisive. Then there’s Carter’s efforts on energy. In addition to creating FEMA he also got the Dept. of Energy up and running. Carter had a vision of doing more than preventing middle eastern oil cartels from whacking us by holding back oil production. He wanted the United States to do with renewable energy what it did with space exploration. LEAD. He had a plan, an ambitious one because like many he foresaw the looming issue of climate change. Carter as I’ve told you was smarter than most people and he DELVED into a report he’d been given that laid out the data on CO2 and greenhouse gasses.   Carter just wasn’t part of ‘Official DC’ and didn’t really care. That grated on the then bigwigs (including the media) even more.  All those oh so smart people didn’t know what they had. Well, one person did.

A President this country deserved but didn’t have sense enough to appreciate.  President Joe Biden did. The young Senator Biden was the first Senate Democrat to come out in support of Carter’s candidacy. They remained friends to the end.  It’s fitting that Joe Biden, who like Carter hasn’t gotten the credit for astounding accomplishments and was driven out by a spoiled and petulant electorate because his own Party wouldn’t forcefully back him up was chosen to give the Eulogy at the National Cathedral.  I hate that Trump was so classless to show up. NO ONE wanted him to.  But Carter had too much class to issue instructions to refuse Trump if he chose to attend. But as it says in the song Big Yellow Taxi “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” and in Carter’s case it’s taken decades for people to realize what they had and that those of his time didn’t appreciate.

He was as we know ignored. Again and again, even by those in his own Party. As I look at the wildfires in Los Angeles, the residents in the western part of the state of North Carolina where I live (their struggles are detailed every morning when I turn on my TV and catch up on local/state news) and so many other climate events that are increasing in number and intensity the tragic measure of how Carter was ignored should haunt everyone. He was a man and President before his time.  Republicans of course wanted someone else, but so did Democrats and Ted Kennedy led the charge that pretty much ensure Carter would be unlikely to win a second term. Anyone old enough to remember that time should know damn well Kennedy would also have lost to Reagan. Kennedy would have wound up wishing he’d drowned that night in Chappaquiddick alongside his young female staffer. Carter beat back the challenge but Kennedy refused to help unite the Party at the convention and as I should pretty much ensured that even the release of the hostages might not have been enough for Carter. “Thanks” Ted. So Carter got whupped that fall.

But he took that devastating loss to Reagan with class and dignity. I recall, not fully understanding (even though I was a young adult and should have) how without specifically thanking Carter personally Reagan came close by a section in his speech marveling at the enormity of the transition of power. And how it had all gone so smoothly. That was about as close as Reagan could bring himself to personally acknowledging something  great about Jimmy Carter.  Perhaps Reagan was jealous. As was the case with his own Vice President and successor (Bush 41) Carter was ALL the things Reagan only pretended to be. A devout Christian who lived his faith, and also took pains to ensure others of different faiths could live theirs. A devoted husband and father. A true family man. A President who truly put the needs of the average and poor person at the center of his decision making.  A President who believed in peace, and using all the levers of diplomacy to bring it about.  Carter’s legacy shows he was better at it than most.  I could go on.

Then we have the extraordinary decades of Carter’s post Presidency. He did more as a former President than many Presidents have accomplished while in Office. If Reagan set the standard for PROFITING from being President once out of Office, Carter set the standard for HELPING OTHERS which SHOULD be the standard.  And through it all he had his beloved wife right along side doing her part. Rosalynn would join him in some  dangerous places to help ensure free and fair elections. In poor areas both at  home and abroad talking and listening to people to figure out how to HELP them.  And getting results. Rosalynn would join him during each year’s week devoted to helping Habitat For Humanity. Like Jimmy, she didn’t just show up for photos. She too used tools, carried stuff around, PHYSICALLY WORKED. As they got into their 90s they couldn’t do quite as much as they had when younger but that didn’t stop them from actual work on the build sites.

There will be only ONE Jimmy Carter. He’s one of those rare people of whom it can be said when they were made the mold was broken. For my money the same is true of Rosalynn who supported him during close to eight decades of marriage.  She was his true partner. Yet for all they did, and as admired as they became around the world they remained humble people until the end of their lives. No fancy home after leaving the White House. Just back home to their simple house in Plains Georgia.  That was enough for them. It was far more than they had growing up, and as their travels showed them again and again more than most people have. A solid if modest home and a little land. No financial worries.  So they did what their faith taught them to do and instead of enriching themselves, embracing the whole “Prosperity Gospel” blasphemy they devoted themselves to helping those in need. Just as Jesus told his followers to do.

No, we will not see the likes of Jimmy Carter amongst the ranks of American and world leaders again. One can at least hope some will look to his example and try to live up to it.  Jimmy Carter “ran his race” and from where I sit left others in the dust well behind him.  I keep mentioning Carter was more than a sailor. He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Interestingly enough the Navy doesn’t have an official motto and there’s debate over what the ‘unofficial’ Navy motto is. The consensus is that it’s the words carved over the entrance of the Chapel at Annapolis: “Non sibi sed Patriae” – translated from the Latin it says “Not self but country” which seems fitting enough. I happen to have served as a Marine and we DO have a motto that’s well known.  Semper Fidelis. Always faithful. Jimmy Carter was his entire life. Starting as a child to his family and (mostly black) friends, to his classmates at school all the way through Annapolis. To the sailors he served with and who served under his command. To his wife Rosalynn and his family and friends as an adult and of course to his children. To his colleagues in government even when they didn’t return the respect he gave them. To his country. To his belief we have a duty to leave the world better than we found it – and convince others to think the same way. And to his faith. An unshakable belief in his faith and its guiding principle – help others whenever and however you can.  That even the smallest acts can mean everything to some people at times.

So yes, this ole jarhead says without equivocation the Marine Corp motto of Semper Fidelis fits Jimmy Carter as much as any Marine who ever wore the Eagle, Globe and Anchor.  If there is a heaven Carter is up there with Rosalynn. Like her, he did far more than most to earn a place there.  If not, then take another look at the title picture. “Fair winds and following seas” is a sailor’s term and it certainly seems fitting. Even with some tears rolling down my face I can smile at the thought of Jimmy Carter sailing off into the sunset with his beloved wife Rosalynn.

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