Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, who recently passed away at the age of 100, was the only president I ever met, and he was the first president I supported. I was only 7 when he ran for office, so my support was nominal and symbolic, but it was still clearly out of sync with my second-grade peers and, as I recall, my parents. (It's difficult to remember, though, and also surprising to some to recall that Carter won the Texas electoral vote in 1976.) 

I can't recall exactly what drew me to Carter. I like to think, as so many have said about Carter during his post-presidency years, that I sensed Carter was a fundamentally decent man. He certainly dressed and acted like a more common man, and I may have been drawn to that agrarian persona. I suppose I was also slightly contrary, even for a 7-year-old, and I liked supporting this underdog who seemed so reviled by my classmates in elementary school. (I can only assume that, living in the Houston suburbs, they were echoing the conservative opinions of their parents. My own parents seemed content enough to let me have my own opinions, even if they made me less popular with my classmates. This was an unfortunate pattern, perhaps, in that I wasn't guided to be more liked by my peers when it mattered the most.)

I think I may have also been keen on Carter's identity as a peanut farmer, which was made larger in a kind of teasing fashion by mass culture at the time, as if there was something funny about being a peanut farmer. That's an odd assessment, since somebody has to grow peanuts, and they are certainly popular (in spite of the growing allergy problem.) I loved peanuts, and I still love them, including all the variations in which peanuts are used (like Nutter Butter cookies). My love for peanuts has grown even as they are increasingly identified as not really nuts and perhaps not as healthy as other, real nuts (though peanut butter is a wonder food that has been used successfully to help address acute starvation). The point is, as much as Carter was referred to as a "peanut farmer," as if it were a reductive insult, to farm peanuts is a noble and worthy pursuit. 

The humble peanut butter and jelly sandwich, shown here served at a fundraiser for Kinky Freedman.

And, as much as we might connect "peanuts" (the word) to little things, including small amounts of money (and it is one of those inherently funny words, like banana), Carter clearly did pretty well for himself. As with most modern presidents who have been framed in this way, Carter's "humble" background was relative. 

Much has been written since Carter's passing about how he was a very complex and even a difficult man, who, again in spite of the humble persona, often knew he was right and was tough-minded in his negotations and persistent in achieving outcomes even when it irked the presidents who came after him. This loner quality makes me feel a certain kinship with Carter, as well, as decision-makers and leaders often must live with this kind of solitude in order to be effective (at least some of the time). 

I met Carter when I was in my 30s, at a book signing in Houston. The line was, predictably, literally around the block outside the independent Brazos Bookstore. He was gracious but, also predictably, quick. I think I had about 5 seconds in his presence. Meeting a president probably feels unreal to most people, since they exist as larger-than-life personas, and that's the way it was for me. I gave the autographed book away (I can't even remember if he made it out me or not) to a friend who I thought would appreciate the religious content of the book, though I did read it and found it compelling enough. He was a prolific writer on top of everything else, which is another reason I continued to admire him into adulthood, as my early admiration become more concrete.  

Though Carter has been most appreciated as an ex-president, I think most of all I connect his memory to his actual presidency and his time in the White House during the 1970s. Though those were difficult times (marred by inflation and the energy crisis), they seemed hopeful to me as a 7-year-old Cub Scout enjoying the optimistic themes of the bicentennial and the blue-and-gold banquet (which celebrated presidents, all of them). Carter gave me an early taste of supporting a candidate and considering the country's direction and our need for compassion and grace. I thank him for awakening in me those early impulses, which seem to have been appreciated across the aisle, in retrospect.