The political world stopped for two hours Thursday as it bid farewell to Jimmy Carter. The idea that character matters in politics may have gone with him.
Carter is famously known as “the best ex-president ever.” The moniker is a little reductive for a man who achieved a peace most thought impossible, won a Nobel prize and set the country on a path toward economic recovery from stagnation during the 1970s.
But politics has a way of fixating on stumbles; look no further than Carter’s predecessor, Gerald Ford. He lived with the perception he was uncoordinated due to a slip down the steps of Air Force One despite being athletic enough to play for the University of Michigan football team.
It may have been destined for the former to best the latter in a presidential campaign.
That did not deter the two men from forming a friendship that lasted the rest of their lives. One of the most touching moments during the two-hour televised mass came when Ford’s son read a eulogy his father wrote for Carter before his own death nearly two decades ago. The clear fondness for his one-time rival demonstrated that they were never really adversaries; both believed in the fundamental goodness of their country and felt duty bound to serve its people.
For Carter, the presidency only served as an act in the middle of that service. A naval officer in his youth and governor before his surprising presidential victory, he eventually became an icon of decency and humanitarianism. For decades after leaving office, his name was synonymous with Habitat for Humanity.
By some estimates, Carter helped build 4,300 homes that provided shelter for many times as many families. He was as apt to be pictured in a hard hat holding a hammer as a cumberbund attending a gala. To him, the physical act of housing the less fortunate connected him with the Christian values his life centered around.
Cartoonist Michael Ramirez captured the sentiment perfectly. A toolbelt-clad Carter walks away from the reader through clouds with a long-haired, white-robed man draping his arm over Carter’s shoulder saying, “Welcome home, from one carpenter to another.”
While many politicians play lip service to Christian belief, Carter lived out his faith. He never seemed bitter, enraged or petulant. He moved on from what most political figures would consider a humiliating loss — Ronald Reagon won 489 electoral votes to the incumbent Carter’s 49 — by dedicating himself to continued service. He understood that losing elections is not the same as losing the opportunity to help others.
That is what he did for decades after. Alongside his wife, Rosalynn, he threw himself into communities across the globe. In places forgotten and overlooked by everyone else, the one-time leader of the free world saw value and worthiness in people. Through his actions, he inspired generations of humanitarians and aid workers.
Yet, he always returned home to his beloved home in small-town Plains, Georgia. As one grandson quipped from the pulpit during his eulogy, Carter lived four years in the governor’s mansion, four years in the White House, and the other 92 years in Plains. He found everything he needed there. His wife, his children, his grandchildren and their children. His friends and his colleagues.
Legendary civil rights activist, ambassador (appointed by Carter), congressman, mayor and the pastor who delivered the homily for Carter, Andrew Young described his first interactions with Carter and his cordial relationship with a sheriff Martin Luther King Jr. despised. But that did not mean Carter would not stand up against bigotry and racism. To the contrary, he became a staunch ally of civil rights leaders and helped lead the way for change among southern white elected officials.
Looking at the living presidents seated in the front rows of his service, the contrast could not have been more stark. Bill Clinton and his wife have remained politically active and active on the public speaking tour; George W. Bush has retreated to a painting studio in his native Texas; Barack Obama remains one of the most sought after speakers in the world.
And that is before we reached the end where once-and-future President Donald Trump sat.
In contrast to the grace with which the man being eulogized exited office, Trump sent a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol before spending four years stoking fear and hatred to return to power. The juxtaposition of Carter’s service followed by Trump’s criminal sentencing the following day demonstrates how far our country’s leadership has fallen.
In a time and place where polarization between political factions has grown exponentially, it seems we have travelled too far from the foundational decency Carter left for us. Instead, we lay on the precipice of a president willing to use his incoming administration to enact retribution and curtail opposition.
Looking for the light in such darkness may be the last gift Jimmy Carter will leave with us. He did not always win, but he never used that as an excuse to give up in frustration or give in to anger. Instead, he used it as a springboard to do more good in the world. That is a lesson we could all stand to learn.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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