A Chicago-based communications professional had a front-row seat for all that former President Carter accomplished as president and humanitarian.
did I realize back in 1975 when I began doing advance work for a peanut farmer and governor of Georgia, who was pursuing what I thought then was a long-shot campaign for the presidency, that I would still be engaged in that journey with Jimmy Carter nearly a half-century later.
What a privilege it has been working for Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter, not just during the White House years, but also having the opportunity to support the Carters across the globe — throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America — in their meaningful and consequential Carter Center health, peace and democracy initiatives.
That incredible journey included my late wife, Judy, and all four of our children, who likewise did both Carter advance work and events. In fact, the Carters became family.
I’ll confess it always bugged me, and does to this day, that Carter is referred to as “our greatest former president.” That would seem to suggest that his one-term presidency didn’t accomplish much.
However, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis stymied his reelection campaign in 1980.
Yet, he is the president who created the Department of Education and Department of Energy. When there was a gasoline shortage, he promulgated a national energy policy and deregulated domestic petroleum prices to stimulate production.
