From Plains, Georgia to the Presidency

The PAC perspective by Ted Flint

The nation’s 39th President passed away this past weekend in hospice care. James Earl Carter was 100 years of age. Carter is being remembered for his decency and his charity. He worked closely with Habitat for Humanity and taught a Sunday school class until just a few years ago.

The Carters had a local connection too. During his stint in the Navy, the former president was stationed in West Milton, Saratoga County, where he was part of a nuclear power program at the Kesselring Site. In 1953 while taking a graduate course in nuclear physics at Union College in Schenectady, Jimmy and Rosalynn lived near the Rotterdam Industrial Park.

By most accounts Jimmy Carter was a fine man, devout Christian, faithful to his wife of 77 years and led the country as best he could. I hate to malign someone who left us only days ago, but the four percent of his life that he spent in the Oval Office were some of the worst years for the country in recent memory; except for the Biden years. As a matter of fact, there are many parallels to their terms in office. America was a nation in decline from 1977-1981, as it has been since 2020. Events on the world stage would  test America’s resolve: The Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Marxist revolutions were unfolding in Nicaragua and in El Salvador, and to top it off, Islamofascists in Iran held 66 Americans captive for 444 days. That one action more than any other led to the unravelling of Carter’s presidency.

There were myriad problems on the domestic front: double digit inflation, high unemployment, (remember the “misery index”?), long lines at gas stations. Carter’s response to these challenges resulted in him being a one-term president. Carter was a decent and principled man who followed his conscience when making decisions, but he was a disaster as President.

In recent years, he made some provocative statements regarding Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians, characterizing it as “apartheid.” Ironic, considering the landmark peace deal Carter helped broker between Israel and Egypt is viewed as the high point of his time in office.

Carter was the longest living president, and his post-presidency was also the lengthiest in American history. But perhaps his greatest contribution to the nation was clearing a path for Ronald Reagan to be his successor.