Former U.S President, Jimmy Carter Kind Touch with Humanity

By Prince Olalekan Olagunju

America recently lost one of its most respected leaders, the departed President, Jimmy Carter; a member of Democratic Party, was the 39^th President, 1977 to 1981, of the United States. He was born October 1, 1924, in  Plains, Georgia. He was a farmer, engineer, scientist and a businessman. His wife was Rosalynn Smith. She died November 19, 2023 at the age of 96 years.

Jimmy Carter, as he was known, was the first governor elected president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was also the first man to be elected president from the “Deep South” in the 20th century. He grew up in Plains, Georgia, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1947. While in the Navy, he supervised the construction of nuclear submarines. His teachers at Union Collage in Schenectady, New York, where he studied the characteristics of nuclear power for the Navy, remember him as an exceptionally bright student.

The 1947 lucky bag, the Naval Academy’s yearbook, read, “Studies” never bothered Jimmy; in fact the only time he opened his books was when his classmate desired help on problems’’

An Annapolis classmate and shipmate say: “Carter was quiet, purposeful, and sincere. He was a lot more intellectual than he ever let you ever know but he wasn’t afraid to do the dirty work, the nuts-and-bolts stuff down in the engine room. He was the kind of guy who could work all night and appear completely unruffled in the morning. He was really interested in the enlisted men if they had problems he was the one they went to.”

When his father died in 1953, he returned to Georgia to help out in the family business-peanut farming. He was an active church member in the Plains Baptist Church and became interested in politics. He was Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. Then he started campaigning for the democratic presidential nomination.

According to F.X. O’Connor, Jr. “My religion means more to me than anything else in the world” Carter said. A Baptist, he taught Sunday School, and before he started running for presidency he toured New England states with his church group. But he was willing to defy the entire congregation of the members. He described himself as a born again Christian. His supporters have always tried to push this image of rebirth, too, assuring listeners that Carter was instrumental in bringing Georgia and the south into modern times from the dark and lingering maladies of the Civil War. Carter approach was one of the few that promises an administration based on knowledge of rural life and the difficulties farmers face.

Jimmy Carter was a philanthropist to the core. As the saying “Good pious works do not make a good pious man; but a good pious man does good pious works.” This is one of the outstanding attributes of Jimmy Carter as few mentions could be made of his strides and exploits to make life better for people on a global spectrum without recourse to racial discriminations or prejudice.

Here is a brief account of Jimmy Carter Post-Presidency from The Carter Center: In his “Farewell Address to the Nation” in January 1981, President Carter said, “In a few days I will lay down my official responsibilities in office to take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of president, the title of citizen.” And he meant that. After a brief period of decompression, President and Mrs. Carter went back to work to serve the ideals that had guided their lives. In 1982, President Carter became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta and, in partnership with Emory, he and Mrs. Carter founded “The Carter Center” to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope” in nations around the world.

Since its founding, the nonpartisan, not-for-profit Center has had numerous achievements: leading the international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, which has reduced cases by more than 99.99 percent; helping establish grassroots health care delivery systems in thousands of communities in Africa; observing more than 110 elections in 40 countries; furthering avenues to peace in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda, the Korean Peninsula, Haiti, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; expanding efforts to diminish stigma against people with mental illness; and strengthening international standards for human rights.

In 2002, during the 20th anniversary year of the Carter Center’s founding, President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

The Center’s headquarters are located at the Carter Presidential Center complex in Atlanta, which was dedicated in October 1986 and also includes the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives. President Carter celebrated his 85th birthday on October 1, 2009, with the reopening of a totally redesigned Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum. It is the first presidential museum to highlight a president’s post-presidential career, a period that for President Carter was substantially longer than his political career. The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains, Georgia, which includes President Carter’s boyhood home, is administered by the National Park Service.

President Jimmy Carter good impact on promotion of good governance / improved and credible electoral systems, health care cuts across Nigeria, Ghana and other nations around the world.

It could be recalled Jimmy Carter was the first America Presidents to visit Nigeria in 1978 purposely to engender mutual respect, understanding, partnership and bilateral relations with the United States and Nigeria as a vent to solicit concerted efforts in order to improve lives of poor and less privileged people globally.

He will be fondly remembered and admired by the Americans, people and nations, his associates and neighbours as a hero, friend, faithful and honest politician who never backpedalled or climbed down on his promises, contrary to what many politicians are known for.

We can project, as a beacon of light, emulate and take a cue from President Jimmy Carter who added value to people and make life meaningful; as we say, “Adieu President Jimmy Carter”.

Olagunju writes from Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, South West, Nigeria. Email: princesadeolas@gmail.com