In the midst of massive injustice, and living through the worst Presidency in American history, far worse than the first term of Donald Trump, we should all pause and reflect on something that can make us smile!
Today, October 1, would have been the 101st Birthday of President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024, almost three months past his birthday, and the longest lived President in American history.
Jimmy Carter is diametrically opposite of Donald Trump, as Carter can be regarded as likely the most decent, humane, truly religious, sincere, compassionate, empathetic, intelligent person ever to occupy the White House, bar none!
Carter may not have accomplished the greatness of Presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his time in office was tough, but he gave his “All”, as the hardest working President of modern times!
Carter will be remembered for the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, the most important development in modern Middle East history.
He will be remembered for his great environmental advocacy (the greatest of any one term President), and for the justice of arranging for the Panama Canal, forced on Panama by Theodore Roosevelt, to be returned to their sovereignty under international law.
He also established the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); recognized Mainland China; and presided over the creation of the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services, among other accomplishments.
Carter also promoted human rights as a foreign policy goal, and created the Carter Center, post Presidency, to deal with tropical diseases and promote free and fair elections, and won the Nobel Peace Prize a generation after his Presidency, along with building housing for the poor with his own hands for Habitat For Humanity.
And he also gave America the man regarded by many experts as the best, most effective, most engaged Vice President in American history, Walter Mondale. Additionally, he struck up a close friendship with his one time rival, Gerald Ford, the closest Presidential relationship of two rivals for the Presidency since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Carter’s reputation will continue to rise, and the contrast with Donald Trump is stark and shocking.
God bless the soul of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter!