In 2017, I was in Atlanta and one of the touristy things I did was visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. I’ve been to three presidential libraries now. The others were for two much high-profile presidents—Kennedy and Nixon.
Carter isn’t an easy man to summarize. His presidency was marred by the Iran Hostage crisis, “stagflation” and other issues. His 1980 re-election bid ended in a landslide loss to Ronald Reagan.
But Carter was far ahead of his time in terms of energy conservation and he actually accomplished a lot internationally. But his most enduring legacy is what he achieved after he left office. His humanitarian work, his diplomacy, his efforts to support election integrity internationally and negotiate major conflicts won him a Nobel prize in 2002.
He may not have been our best president, but he was definitely our best ex-president—and probably our kindest.
If you’re interested in touring Carter’s presidential library and aren’t going to Atlanta soon, you can take a virtual tour of the exhibits and building. Plus, there are my photos below.
The museum includes a life-sized reproduction of the Carter Oval Office. Photo by me. Click image to enlarge.
Of the three presidential libraries I’ve visited, Carter’s is the only one with Marvel Comics art! The art (signed by Stan Lee) is by John Tartaglione who drew many of the romance comics panels I’ve used in Last Kiss!
The guy in the goony hat—but great T-shirt!—is me on the serene, wooded grounds that are the exterior part of the Carter library. (Photo by my sister Lisa Lustig Hernandez.)
CAPTION: “I have one life and one chance to make it count
for something...
"My faith demands that I do whatever I can,
wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long
as I can with whatever I have to try to make
a difference.”
--Jimmy Carter, now 99 and
in hospice for one year as of yesterday.
No snark this go round. My father, a pretty staunch republican, always said Carter was too good a human being to be an effective president. I think he was right.
Whatever the case, Carter is a good man. Hope God carries him to a well deserved rest.
I agree with you–and your father, Jams!
Thank you for sharing, John. I have to agree that Mr. Carter is definitely our best ex-president. What he has accomplished is mind-boggling.
Amen! Hands down! Our greatest ex-president! Dignified statesman!
I’ll always be grateful for the Carter Admin getting me a low paying government job as part of a works program. At a time and place when jobs were non-existent. Yes, I’m that old.
Even during his presidency I was reminded of the Wizard of Oz. When accused of being a BAD MAN! the Wizard replies (to the best of my recollection) that he is not a bad man, in fact a good man, just a very bad Wizard.
President Carter was a very good man. Just an ineffective President. Good, sensible, obtainable policy proposals chopped to pieces by a wide variety of players and factors.
Not Machiavellian enough. Not enough desire in him to be feared. He didn’t want to rule, he wanted to lead.
As an aside, Machiavelli (The Prince) is more alluded to than actually read. In my opinion (and it’s been years since I read it) it ends up like the Bible in that you have to cherry pick your justifications.
Sorry about the rant.
Thanks, John. Now I want to visit.
Totally agree, thank you for honoring Jimmy! I admit that in my youth I voted for Reagan; reference Ps. 25:7
If you read my answer to Donna Rowe’s post, you’ll see I regret my vote in that election as well!
One of my greatest joys in life was voting for James Earl Carter, Jr. in 1976 at the tender age of 19 in my very first national election.
One of my greatest regrets in life is voting for the independent candidate (John Anderson) as the “neither of the above” candidate instead of President Carter.
He is a good and decent man.
I voted for Anderson too. At the time, I was disillusioned with Carter. And I refused to vote for Reagan. In retrospect, I regret not voting for Jimmy. And it taught me the futility of voting for a third party candidate.