In 2017 three black SUVs streaked by our older son’s truck on South Georgia’s Corridor Z. His wife, Heather, turned and said, “Alan, there goes President and Mrs. Carter. I bet they are headed to the island.”
When the SUVs turned into the Friendly Express in Waynesville, Alan pulled in, too. Sure enough, it was the Carters. They were taking a rest stop. As Alan walked toward the Carters, Secret Service agents signaled him to stop. That’s when Alan called out, “President Carter, I’m Alan NeSmith. We appreciate your help in the coal-ash fight.”
The 39th president of the United States—sporting his famous grin—walked past his guards. Shaking Alan’s hand, he said, “Tell your daddy hey.” The Nobel Peace Prize winner didn’t have to do that. But Jimmy Carter was just being, well, Jimmy Carter.
The peanut farmer and I met on the University of Georgia campus in the spring of 1970. I was chairing the Interfraternity Council’s political forum for gubernatorial candidates. There were seven Democrats in the race, but the real battle was between former Gov. Carl Sanders and the former State Sen. Carter from Plains.
When the former state senator arrived in Athens that May, he said, “I want to meet some students and find out what’s important to them.” I suggested that we climb on a UGA bus. He talked to every student, front to back.
In November, Carter beat his opponent—whom he dubbed Cufflinks Carl—to become Georgia’s 76th governor. Even though we met 55 years ago and stayed in touch, our friendship never reached fishing-buddy status. Nonetheless, the 39th president of the United States always listened and responded. Among my keepsakes are Jimmy Carter letters and handwritten notes, stretching back to 1970.
Another special memory was during the 1996 Olympics. As a presidential ambassador for chairman Billy Payne, I hosted Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at a rhythmic gymnastics event in UGA’s Stegeman Coliseum. Cordial as ever, the former president flashed his ear-to-ear smile when we talked about that 1970 bus tour with the UGA students.
1941.
If people figure that Jimmy Carter was just another farmer who had fallen off the peanut wagon, they have figured wrong. I suggest that you read The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kai Bird. And if you want to know more about Carter’s humble dirt-road upbringing, I recommend the former president’s memoir, An Hour Before Daylight.
Over the holidays, I read JIMMY CARTER, RIVERS & DREAMS by Jim Barger Jr. and Dr. Carlton Hicks, St. Simons Island residents, who were fishing buddies of President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn. Even in their 90s, the Carters were flyfishing globetrotters. Among the book’s stories is how Jimmy Carter leveraged a fishing trip at Camp David to get Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin to agree to peace.
Several times, I thanked Jimmy Carter for two of his gubernatorial legacies. He kept his promise to reorganize Georgia’s government, creating these new agencies: the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Division. Our philosophies on stewardship of natural resources were in sync.
And when Wayne County was on the verge of becoming one of the largest toxic coal-ash dumps in America, Jimmy Carter stood up for my hometown. He had one-on-one conversations with the waste company’s largest shareholder, Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The correspondence and handwritten reports on those meetings are in my fireproof file.
Regardless of your political opinion of Jimmy Carter, I believe that he was the ultimate role model for former presidents. While others profited from their famous status, he used his genius and sweat to make this a better world. The Carter Center’s global impact on health and human rights, along with his swinging hammers with Habitat for Humanity, are just two testaments.
And we should always remember that his vision is responsible for doubling America’s national parks and saving millions of acres of Alaska’s irreplaceable wilderness.
Author of more than 30 books, Carter wrote in An Outdoor Journal, “It is good to realize that, if love and peace can prevail on earth … and if we can teach our children to honor nature’s gifts … the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.” I can’t think of a better blueprint for the future.
In his 1977 inaugural address, President Carter said, “To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others.” That short sentence defines his 100-year legacy of servant leadership. Jimmy Carter could have ignored my 1970 UGA invitation. He could have refused to endorse a book that Wayne Morgan and I produced in 2012 to help protect Georgia’s rivers. He could have passed on my plea to join our 2016 toxic coal-ash battle. And he certainly didn’t have to wave off his Secret Service agents so that he could shake Alan’s hand.
But he did.
And that “true to others” devotion is why Jimmy Carter must always be remembered.
(A version of this column was first published on Oct. 3, 2024, commemorating President Carter’s 100th birthday.)
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
