Jimmy Carter - Life before the Presidency - lovely read

[malaise]

https://millercenter.org/president/carter/life-before-the-presidency
<snip>

By Robert A. Strong
James Earl Carter's ancestors had lived in America since the 1630s. They were residents of Georgia since just after the Revolution. “Jimmy” Carter’s parents, Earl and Lillian Carter, owned a peanut farm and warehouse and a store outside the small town of Plains, Georgia. Earl was bright, hardworking, and a very good businessman. "Miz" Lillian had been trained as a nurse, but abandoned her career when she became pregnant soon after marriage. She named the first of her four children James Earl, for his father. Jimmy's mother, well read and curious about the world around her, crossed the then-strict lines of segregation in 1920s Georgia by counseling poor African American women on matters of health care.

The family became moderately prosperous, but when Jimmy was born in 1924, the first American president to be born in a hospital, he was taken back to a house that lacked electricity and indoor plumbing. By the time he was ten, the boy stacked produce from the family farm onto a wagon, hauled it into town, and sold it. He saved his money, and by the age of thirteen, he bought five houses around Plains that the Great Depression had put on the market at rock-bottom prices. These homes were rented to families in the area. His father was stern but proud of Jimmy. His mother, Lillian, while also demanding, nurtured and encouraged his reading.

Entertainment was hard to come by in the rural Georgia of the 1930s, and for Jimmy his mother's brother offered a glimpse of the outside world. Uncle Tom Gordy had joined the United States Navy, and sent postcards to the Carters from around the globe. His nephew was fascinated with all the exotic places depicted in the cards and began to tell his parents that someday he'd be in the Navy, too. Before he even entered high school he had written the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to ask for a catalogue. In 1941, he graduated as class valedictorian of his tiny high school.

Prior to his last year at Annapolis, while on leave, Midshipman Carter met Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister's. She was only seventeen-years-old, three years Jimmy's junior. When Carter first proposed marriage, she refused him. Early the following year, however, she visited him at Annapolis, and when he proposed a second time she accepted. The two were married in July of 1946.

For Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, the next eight years were typical of a young postwar, American couple. Their first son was born within a year of their marriage, and there would eventually be two more sons and a daughter. Carter worked long hours while his wife worked at home raising the children. Lieutenant Carter selected the submarine service, the Navy's most hazardous duty. One incident during this time clearly illustrated Carter's values and beliefs. While his submarine was moored in Bermuda, British officials there extended a party invitation to white crew members only. Partly at Carter's urgings, everyone on the submarine refused to attend.
-------------------

Timing is everything -- our beloved Jimmy Carter's life is providing a well needed contrast with the worst president in history. You are loved with the same intensity that the Con is hated.

[usaf-vet]

1. "You are loved with the same intensity that the Con is hated." Never have truer words been spoken"!

One of the best to the absolute worst all in one sentence. All in my lifetime.

[KPN]

2. Hear, hear!

[llmart]

4. What a beautiful sentiment that sentence is.

So true.

Also, let's not forget that when he was President, his mother joined the Peace Corps. I believe she was in her 70's then. I was so totally impressed by that.

I'm proud I voted for him. He is the best of what our country can be.

[malaise]

6. Thank you usaf-vet

[panader0]

3. I have seen many here ask for Mr Carter to "hang on, we need you."

I love the guy but it's time to let him go. He has served not only honorably,
but as an example. He's done enough. We are thankful for you Jimmy.

[llmart]

5. I posted something similar a few weeks ago.

He'll decide when he's ready to go. He's given this country so much. Let him go peacefully knowing that he did so much for so many of us.

[malaise]

7. +1,000

I love his timing - he has made many wise decisions and this one may be the most important given the historical moment.

[crickets]

8. Oh lord, Lester Maddox, blast from the past

For some years during childhood, my sister and I shared a bathroom with the sign "This is Maddox country" sitting on top of the toilet tank. You'd think we'd be a little further along since then.

It's not for the lack of some people trying. You want to talk about someone who deserves the accolade "head and shoulders above the rest," it would be Jimmy Carter. That was a lovely article, malaise. Thanks for the good read.

[malaise]

9. You're welcome

He did some great things this year - he and Rosalyn became the longest married of all presidential couples, he became the oldest living ex-President and he publicly questioned the Con's legitimacy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/jimmy-carter-trump-presidency-russian-interference-investigation-robert-mueller-white-house-2020-a8979921.html
Jimmy Carter questions Trump’s legitimacy, says he was ‘put into office because the Russians interfered’