When one is recovering from hip replacement surgery, one is afforded lots of time to read. Over the last couple of weeks, I afforded myself this luxury and I read a biography on the late President Jimmy Carter our 39th president of the United States. The biography was written by Jonathan Alter and it covers in detail every facet of the longest lived, and married president of the United States.

When President Carter was elected in 1976 I had just turned eight years old. I was in the second grade. Carter’s daughter Amy, was my age. I remember reading about Amy’s life in the White House. I also remember my family complaining every moment about the Southern man who became president. I didn’t understand why my family despised him so. He had a nice smile, and seemed to be a man of kindness and service. “Damn, Peanut Farmer!” my dad would always say. Their conservative bias always clouded my young life.

In the course of the biography I filled in a whole lot of holes in my knowledge about the man. I was not aware he was in the US Naval Academy specializing in nuclear technology. He also assisted in avoiding a nuclear accident within the borders of Canada. His knowledge of nuclear physics is one of the variables that motivated him to push for the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union. Sadly, that treaty was never passed by congress due to thousands of other issues his administration got dumped on. Even though the treaty didn’t pass, both countries followed the reductions. At that time both countries had enough warheads to make the entire planet uninhabitable for hundreds of thousands of years with nuclear fall out.

Carter was an evangelical Christian, but he believed in separation of church and state. Carter did not want to give federal funds to evangelical universities. This angered the Christian Right. Sadly, this is an event that gave birth to the Falwell, Robertson, etc… Christian Nationalist Right. Their distorted version of Christianity has done more harm to our country than Carter ever did. When Reagan was elected in 1980, Falwell was quoted, “Now that we have a true Christian in the White House…” This angered Carter, because Reagan was not religious. As an atheist, I have more respect for Carter the Christian, than Reagan the great pretender.

I did not know that President Carter was the great environmentalist. He signed more orders and legislation to create protected wildlife refuges, national forests, and parks than any American President in history. He even passed President Theodore Roosevelt in that department. I knew he was an advocate of alternative energy, and installed the first solar panels on the White House, but I never knew he made 1.2 million acres of pristine forest in Alaska a national forest, blocking oil drilling… until $47 reversed that order earlier in his first term. BTW, the Alaskan congressional leaders opposed this legislation. They gave Carter only 25% of the Alaskan vote in 1980, afterwards. The senators were despised that Carter knew more about Alaskan wilderness than they did. As a result of Carter’s decisions, Alaska’s tourism exploded making the state millions in revenue. One man’s long term vision…

There was so much information within the biography about his peace talks with Egypt and Israel, and the fall out of Iran. It appears that Israel’s Zionist Nationalism made things difficult in ironing out a peace plan with Egypt. Carter supported Israel, but Israel was incredibly militant about their Arab neighbors, and Palestinian refugees. Carter was frustrated the rest of his life about not getting Palestine a recognized state. Meanwhile the Zionist Nationalism under Netanyahu has made Israel a partaker in Palestinian genocide. I know Carter would be sickened by this atrocity. Zionism like Christian Nationalism is a dangerous belief system that threatens peace and the world order. Israel deserves to exist. Palestine deserves to exist. Religious zealotry serves no purpose.

The Iran fall out that Carter had to absorb and take responsibility for, was created by his predecessors. When the USA put the Shah in power in order to take advantage of the oil interests within Iran, created militant Islam and Islamic sponsored terrorism. When the Islamic revolution took place in Iran, Carter and his staff were content to leave them alone and develop their new government as they pleased. Interests in the USA despised this as they held onto the notion that the Shah was an ally. When the Shah was exiled, and entered the USA this created the fuel for the Embassy takeover and the 444 day hostage crisis. Following the death of the Shah, the United States managed to find the money he embezzled from the people and gave it back to the Iranian people in exchange of hostages. It took months of negotiating for the exchange to take place, but the Algerian government was kind enough to be the intermediary. Iran was cash strapped due to the Iran/Iraq war. This deal returned our American citizens, and gave Iran much needed cash to defend their nation. All of this was accomplished by the Carter Administration. Rumors that the Reagan administration delayed the return of the hostages until his inauguration day by working secretly with Iranian sources still exist today, but hard evidence seems lost. When Carter informed Reagan’s team that the hostages were coming home, Reagan’s response was, “what hostages?” It seems Reagan was only interested in Reagan… …or he simply was showing signs of memory loss before his first term… One will never know.

President Carter’s relationships with his presidential successors was tenuous. Carter’s idealism got him into many arguments with the Clintons, Bushes, and Obama. It appeared as Carter aged his political idealism became more and more left of center. The biography places him supporting Bernie Sanders in 2016. Carter’s relationship with Clinton was especially hostile as Carter placed Cuban refugees into a military base in Arkansas when Clinton was governor. Those refugees staged a riot, and Clinton was left to clean up the mess. All of the successors were not always happy with his peace work around the globe. His work as a self-appointed secretary of state did not make him welcome in any circle. However, on occasion a successor would call him and ask him to do them a favor. Wars in North Korea, and Haiti were avoided thanks to Carters work.

Carter always seemed to be a kind and humble man, but the biography did not avoid talking about his stubborn pride, or occasional anger streak. Carter wanted to be remembered. He wanted his term in the office to be respected and lauded. His work post-presidency was all motivated by those goals. A lot of it worked, even though some people became rankled by his idealism. His tireless service to all communities post presidency was all motivated by wanting to do good for others. This includes his work with Habitat for Humanity, Disease fighting in Africa, and Covid work by his Carter Center. The man accomplished more than anyone. I feel lazy in comparison to him.

Would I see eye to eye with President Carter? Yes, in many ways. His humanism especially. Of course we would disagree on his faith, but he understood that faith is journey between oneself and their god. I embrace his work on peace, and his ability to recognize that “God” is the greatest issue the Middle East faces when it comes to peace. I admire that out of the 15 or so years that America has not been involved in some military action for self interest, that Carter’s four years in the office of the presidency accounts for 25% or so of that time. He demonstrated that even as a naval officer, he was an arbiter of peace.

I enjoyed reading this biography very much. It brings my short visit to Plains, GA into perspective. This biography also fills a lot of holes that my perceptions of Carter, as a child, were distorted by parents and media. He got a bad rap. He had the world fall on top of him economically, socially, environmentally, and internationally. I wonder… what if he won a second term… Would we have had to deal with this rise of crazy conservative Christian Nationalism in this country? It appears the country’s reactions to Carter and then Obama lead to the travesty I have experienced throughout my adult life from the Republican Party. One can only ponder… …so it goes…