A Salute to First Lady Carter

“Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.”

~ Rosalynn Carter

My eyes were a little wet last week while watching the news coverage of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s funeral ceremonies. I had a long-time affinity for Mrs. Carter because I had the honor of shaking her hand as a sitting First Lady in 1977.

In fact, I cast my first Presidential vote for Jimmy Carter back in 1976 when I voted for the “peanut farmer from Georgia” by absentee ballot because I was away at college. I believed even then that the Carters were good and moral people who were excellent caretakers of the nation.

However, I do remember being deeply disappointed when President Carter was defeated in a landslide for a second term by Republican Ronald Reagan. But I understood why. Carter did something that provoked many Americans profoundly, which lost him the hearts and allegiance of millions of Americans. It was unthinkable at the time.

President Carter ordered a boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games, which was scheduled to be held in Moscow, Russia. Carter called for the boycott because the USSR (Russia) invaded Afghanistan that year. At that time the Olympics Games were much more popular than today. The Cold War competition between the the USA and the USSR (Russia) was highly anticipated every four years to compete for global athletic superiority. It would be like a President cancelling a Super Bowl four years in a row. Carter disappointed many people with that bone headed decision, and I believe it ultimately cost him his Presidency, which he lost by the biggest landslide in history. I also believe Jimmy was a disappointment to many whites, since they assumed because he was from the deepest of the deep South, he would be tough on Black’s civil rights. He wasn’t.

Carter was a great and noble President who deserves to go down in history as a great leader who didn’t get America into any wars. I thought it remarkable that a farmer from Plains, Georgia can rise to be President and not one person has come forward with testimony of Jimmy using the N-word. LOL.

In many ways, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were the shining example of human decency and Christian love. And the world has been a better place because of them. God’s speed, First Lady Carter. Jimmy will be coming home with you soon.