Jimmy Carter: A Centennial Assessment

Jimmy Carter today becomes the first American president to live to be 100 years old. Presidential scholars mostly consider Carter to have been a mediocre president. In two of his four presidential years, the unemployment rate averaged above 7 percent, with two years of inflation of more than 10 percent. Mortgage interest rates reached into the double digits. It was the era of stagflation and malaise. A seemingly ebbing planetary presence was symbolized by the U.S. giving up control over the Panama Canal. Domestically, Carter successfully advocated for a federal Department of Education that has subsequently been spectacularly unsuccessful in improving American educational opportunities. I heartily concur with most historians who give Carter low marks as president. Moreover, I even thought it was inappropriate for Carter to assume an aggressive position for several years after his presidency in continuing to meet with foreign leaders and sometimes take positions at odds with the administration of his elected successors. 

Yet today many of us actually long for some of the personal qualities that Carter has that often seem lacking in today’s national leaders — honesty, loyalty, a sincere concern for others less well blessed, and a strong Christian faith. I voted for Carter opponents Gerald Ford in 1976 and Ronald Reagan in 1980, yet after spending a day with him in the late 1980s, I was very impressed by Carter’s exemplary human qualities that I cannot imagine exist with either of this year’s president frontrunners.

I chaired Ohio University’s leading lecture series in the late 1980s, and after some tough negotiations (Carter’s honorarium devoured my budget), secured his agreement to give a lecture. I flew by private aircraft to South Georgia to pick up the former president. While drinking Diet Coke on the plane, Carter said it was the Iranian hostage crisis that cost him the 1980 election (many would disagree) and that Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was a very difficult and relatively unpleasant individual to deal with, which seems to me strikingly similar to the current relationship of Joe Biden to Benjamin Netanyahu. 

We arrived in Ohio in early afternoon for an evening lecture. Carter insisted that he have a totally unpublicized meeting with our newly formed Habit for Humanity chapter. Sitting at the local Lutheran church, Carter gave a lovely burst of encouragement to a few students and two campus ministers shepherding the effort, resulting in the expansion into a robust Habitat presence in our low-income Appalachian location. He didn’t meet much with local Democratic Party leaders, academic deans, or major donors, but rather with students trying to help society.  

Carter’s innate niceness was revealed on a walk from a large dinner in the university president’s home to the auditorium where his lecture was been held. As I was walking with Carter, a somewhat hippy-looking, long-haired graduate student accosted him, no doubt to the chagrin of the Secret Service. He asked Carter if he would do him a favor. Carter calmly asked, “What do you want?” As we walked down the street I then heard: “This is Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States. John Jones [not real name] is not here. Please leave a message.” Carter had done a message for the kid’s answering machine!

Jimmy Carter did not parlay his presidential and earlier gubernatorial successes into lucrative board memberships, nor did he live in grand retirement homes like most of his successors. He returned to his relatively modest home and still taught Sunday School at his church. He had the same wife for over 77 years. Contrast his lifestyle to that of a Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. Neither of them will be teaching Sunday School or likely even attending church as an ex-president. 

As one blessed with having met with world leaders as great as Margaret Thatcher or as evil as Vladimir Putin, I have gained some perspective on the act of governing. In my judgment, this presidential season has sadly demonstrated the extent of our national moral as well as political and military (and probably economic) decline. On president Carter’s 100 birthday, I wish him the best and thank him for his long service to his family, God, and country. 

Richard Vedder is distinguished professor of economics emeritus at Ohio University and senior fellow at the Independent Institute.

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