May God Bless the Carters
01/06/23 05:37
June 1, 2023 (Vol. 17 No. 25) - We learned this week that former First Lady Rosalynn Carter is suffering from dementia. And we have known for some time now that her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, is in hospice care. The news has a very personal impact upon me, as I have met both of them and have spent some time in their Plains, Georgia, home. I met Mrs. Carter first. I was the news director of a radio station in Americus, Georgia, which is just down the road from Plains. I interviewed her in her home in September 1975 just as she was getting ready to embark on her first solo campaign trip on behalf of her husband's presidential campaign. She was gracious and, I freely admit, as a 23-year-old reporter I was somewhat smitten with her. I met the former president a few weeks later on my birthday. Mr. Carter, just a few months out of office as governor of the state, was making appearance at a local air show at Souther Field - the place where aviation hero Charles Lindbergh first soloed. The good people of Plains had a celebration in his honor that evening. It was not just for what he had done as a local school board member, state senator, lieutenant governor and then governor. Judging by the huge "Home of Our Next President" banner on Main Street, the people of Plains were also celebrating what he was doing to do next. Very few people were taking Jimmy Carter's candidacy very seriously at that time. Even The Atlanta Journal-Constitution famously once asked the question "Jimmy Carter is running for WHAT???" As we would all eventually learn, he was running for president - and would win. On this evening, however, he was home among friends. When I interviewed him, I was honored that he treated me, a small hometown radio reporter, with the same respect he'd show Walter Cronkite. I had already met his son, Chip, a member of the Plains Town Council. I liked him very much. It was obvious that Chip had grown up in a loving and caring household. On the day after Christmas 1975, I gave the Carters a holiday fruitcake my wife baked for them. (He met me at their door and said, "No fruitcake, no interview" with that famous Carter smile flashed across his face.) I've even filled my car with gas at brother Billy's service station. I left that first encounter convinced that Jimmy Carter had the intelligence and political savvy to win the presidency. Our paths would cross several more times. My wife Jan and I were honored to receive an invitation to his inaugural and one of the inaugural balls in January 1977. That was heady stuff for a couple of newlyweds in their early 20s. For those memories, alone, I am forever grateful. Many may debate how successful he was as president. Certainly, it is a mixed record. And to be sure, Rosalynn Carter was not as flashy and socially connected in the role of First Lady as her successor. But no one can question the morality, humanity and simple human decency of the Carters. My prayers are with them, the extended Carter family and the good people of Plains who nurtured them and will forever cherish their memory. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.