Remembering President Carter

A Life of Service Beyond the Presidency

Former president Jimmy Carter passed away this Sunday, December 29th, at the age of 100. His funeral will be held in Washington D.C. on January 9th and a national day of mourning has been declared. At the time of his passing Jimmy Carter was the oldest living president in American history.

I can’t think of a person who embodied a commitment to public service and the common good more than President Carter. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1947, Jimmy Carter served as an officer aboard a submarine and remained in the Naval Reserve until 1961. His active-duty service coincided with the start of the United States’ nuclear submarine program during the opening chapters of the Cold War. According to biographer Dr. Peter Bourne, Jimmy Carter’s experience working as part of a cleanup crew responding to the nuclear reactor meltdown at Chalk River Laboratories was a motivating factor in his opposition to the development of the neutron bomb. Jimmy Carter’s career after his time in the military included serving as a state senator and governor of Georgia before assuming the presidency. Through the Camp David Accords and the SALT agreements, Jimmy Carter advanced an agenda of peace and stability in his foreign policy at the height of the Cold War. His term as President also included the creation of the Department of Education and the implementation of progressive domestic policies.

President Carter’s life after leaving office was a continuation of his earlier commitment to the public good. To many Americans, Jimmy Carter is the face of humanitarian initiatives like “Habitat for Humanity”, which seeks to build housing for disaster-struck and displaced people in the United States and abroad. Carter would also serve as an international election monitor and special envoy to the Middle East and would later win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work as a peacemaker.

President Carter witnessed the Great Depression, the United States’ entry into World War Two, the moon landing, the end of the Cold War, and the emergence of the information age. Throughout a century of rapid change, Jimmy Carter’s commitment to the common good was a constant fixture. His life exemplified the virtues of public service and should be seen as an example for any young Americans seeking public office.