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When Jimmy Carter died Sunday afternoon at age 100 in his home, just up the road in Plains, the United States and the world lost a man who made an impact that will reverberate for years to come.
James Earl Carter Jr., a son of South Georgia, grew up on a farm in Archery, a community about three miles west of Plains. His was one of only two white families in that small farming community. His home was heated by fireplaces and wood stoves, and did not have running water or electricity until 1938 when Carter was nearly 14 years old.
His boyhood playmates were all black, as were his adult caretakers who helped raise young Jimmy, as his mother was a nurse who was often out traveling to homes throughout the area tending to both black and white Georgians needing medical care. Lillian Carter didn’t see color but saw humanity, and did not allow race to be a determining factor in how she treated others.
Carter's father, a local farmer and businessman, believed in treating all races fairly but insisted blacks only come to his back door while Carter's mother allowed anyone to come through the front door.
This boyhood of hard work on a rural South Georgia farm with close black friends and facing somewhat differing views on race within his own home helped form the character and sensibilities of Jimmy Carter.
"We felt close to nature, close to members of our family, and close to God,” he once said of those early days.
Carter's Christian faith was a guiding force throughout his life. He was driven to achieve, whether it was building homes for the less fortunate, helping eradicate diseases across the world, or helping others through government service.
But he was human and was a complicated person. He could be a ruthless politician. A Valdosta businessman told me years ago that he had been on the opposite side of an issue with Carter when he was governor, and Carter "never forgot anyone who crossed him."
Lester Maddox, a segregationist who was elected lieutenant governor when Carter become governor, was taken aback by Carter's inaugural speech as governor when he announced that "the time for discrimination is over." Maddox later told a reporter that he had never been spoken to as severely as when Carter dressed him down shortly after becoming governor. Maddox said that Carter told him he would "crush him" if Maddox stood in his way.
The late Eunice Mixon of Tifton was a political mover and shaker in Democratic circles who also worked well with Republicans. On a wall in her home, she had numerous framed photos of state and national political figures with whom she had been associated. While gazing at them, I once asked her where was Jimmy Carter; I didn't see his picture anywhere.
She pointed to a photograph with more than a dozen people lined up for the camera. At the very end of the line was Carter. "There's the politician!" she said dismissively.
As a political reporter, I had a chance to cover Carter a few times, along with other presidents. He always appeared to be a man in hurry. I found most politicians, especially Southern ones, to be the type that would slap you on the back and chat. Bill Clinton would stop and listen to you, appearing to give you his full attention as if you were the most important person in the world at that moment.
Jimmy Carter had no time for small talk; he was always looking to move on to the next thing. When I attended a news briefing with him in the White House Cabinet Room along with other out-of-town journalists, he kept glancing at his watch as we asked questions. It appeared our briefing was just something he endured until he could get on with his work.
And he was probably correct in thinking that, although most politicians wouldn't show that disdain to the press.
Carter actually accomplished an extraordinary amount in his four years as president, although he rarely gets credit for it all. Yes, he is justly praised for the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, and for creating FEMA, the Department of Education, and the Department of Energy.
But Carter also was the "great deregulator," deregulating the airline industry, trucking, rail, and telecommunications. Before Carter, the government set the rates for air flight. Air travel was expensive and something beyond what many Americans could afford. After deregulation, there was more competition by more airlines, and air travel increased.
By deregulating telecommunications, Carter set in motion the elimination of fees for long-distance calls, opened phone service to more carriers, and allowed more innovation in the industry, ultimately resulting in smart phones.
Carter also saw that energy independence would become more important in future years. He created a synthetic fuels initiative to develop commercial synthetic fuel manufacturing plants, such as coal gasification, that would produce alternatives to imported fossil fuels and installed the first solar panels on the White House.
Those energy initiatives were all dismantled after Carter left office.
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