The main news today, the sad news, really, was the death of former President Jimmy Carter, who had turned 100 in October. He was the longest-lived president in American history being the first to reach the centennial, and he also had the longest post-presidency of 43 years. Neither record is likely to be broken anytime soon.
His presidency was mired with a rabid media that trashed him and family members (think of Billy Carter), and over all the time he had to spend negotiating over the hostage situation in Iran. He enabled their release, but we all know, or should, that the Reagan campaign interfered with the release of the hostages, the so-called "October Surprise." It was no coincidence the hostages were released on the day of Reagan's inauguration even though he had nothing to do with the negotiations. However, it is clear at least to this observer other people were involved in hijacking those negotiations to help favor Reagan.
Carter also had to deal with inflation and other shit that the media blew totally out of proportion.
I actually met the former president back in 2006, when he campaigned on behalf of his son, Jack, who ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign against Republican John Ensign, who, as we know, had to resign his Senate seat thanks to a sex scandal. When I met Carter, he was doing a private fundraiser at an exclusive part of Reno on the way to Lake Tahoe, Montreaux. I contributed $250 and posed with the former president after exchanging pleasantries, but I didn't get to get a print because I hadn't contributed $500.
He made a few trips to northern Nevada then and gave some speeches. His late wife, Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at the age of 96, was also a part of the Jack Carter campaign.
Here are a few photos I took of an event on September 27, 2006, at the University of Nevada, Reno, campus, where the former president spoke in support of his son Jack's Senate campaign:
A brief video clip:
He received the Nobel Peace Prize and both he and Rosalynn were heavily involved with Habitat for Humanity. He and his family were simply great; not a bit of phoniness about them. He really was a Christian in the best sense of the word.
At least he doesn't have to be around for a second Trump term.
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
James Earl Carter Jr. was born in Plains on Oct. 1, 1924, the first of four children of Earl Carter, a farmer and businessman, and Lillian Gordy Carter, a registered nurse.
He gained an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated and joined the Navy submarine branch where in seven years he worked his way into “Rickover’s boys,” the elite nascent unit of America’s nuclear submarine fleet championed by the iconic Admiral Hyman Rickover. Carter was on his way up until a death at home changed his destiny.
His father Earl, a farmer, businessman and cornerstone personality in the Plains community, died from cancer. Carter left the Navy and its far-from-Plains postings such as Hawaii, and he, Rosalynn and their growing family returned to Georgia in 1953 to take over the family farming business. It was there he first ran for school board, then state senator.
He was elected governor in 1970. Carter served one successful term before launching an improbable bid to become president, winning the Democratic nomination and then defeating Republican President Gerald Ford in November 1976.
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