When Jimmy Carter left the White House in 1981, he was one of the most maligned presidents of the United States in modern times, after four difficult years at the helm of a troubled country.
Having failed to restore trust in Washington after the traumas of Vietnam and Watergate, he was seen as a naive country bumpkin and crushed by former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, who promised a new dawn for America.
Carter crept back to Georgia, humiliated by the Iranian hostage crisis, in which 53 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage in Iran for nearly fifteen months, from November 1979 to January 1981.
He was 56 years old, so deeply in debt that he had to sell his beloved peanut farm and the butt of comedians’ jokes about vests and his admission that he looked at “many women with lust.”
But almost half a century later, he has died with a very different legacy: as a man whose humanity, morality and simplicity stand in stark contrast to so many other politicians who besmirch democracies after leaving office with their pursuit of wealth and influence .
Carter’s reputation has been restored – partly due to a reassessment of his time in office, but largely due to his tireless efforts in retirement to help the poor, defeat devastating diseases, advance human rights and fight for peace.
Some are even hailing him as the greatest former president in American history after his death Sunday at the age of 100, as he ensured that millions of people around the planet can enjoy a better life as a result of his determination to do good.
He deserves such praise – especially in these times of dangerous distrust in democracy.
Jimmy Carter at a construction site for Habitat for Humanity. He and his late wife Rosalynn led the Jimmy Carter Work Project for one week each year. Over 35 years he helped with 4,390 homes in 14 countries
Then-US President Jimmy Carter greets the crowd in Wisconsin in 1979
His life is a valuable reminder that people can remain decent and humble people in politics, without allowing their souls to be corrupted by power.
And his death should serve as a rebuke to leaders who cash in on their time in high office, oblivious to the mess or scandal left in their wake. Despite his financial problems, Carter turned down the enormous compensation offered for speeches or serving on boards of directors. He refused to suck up to the billionaires, charlatans and dictators who were willing to pay large sums to recruit well-connected ex-politicians.
He lived modestly, saying he didn’t think it was right to “benefit financially from being in the White House” and that he was never driven by a desire to get rich.
So he has not pocketed tens of millions of dollars, like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, by taking advantage of some of the tempting private sector ties that ex-presidents have to offer, nor amassing the great wealth that is so easy. flow into the pockets of governors and senators.
And he did not face the stench of opprobrium for advising obnoxious dictatorships like Tony Blair, nor did he, like David Cameron, become embroiled in a sordid scandal by lobbying former colleagues on behalf of a shrewd financier.
Blair infamously used his opaque corporate profits to build a vast property empire valued at tens of millions of pounds, flying around the world on private jets even lent by autocrats such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.
Blair is by far the most egregious British example of such despicable behavior – especially given his refusal to atone for the bloodshed and misery he helped create in the Middle East – but he is far from the only one.
Cameron has joined the communist dictatorship in China. Theresa May, the daughter of the vicar who was such a gloomy prime minister, manages to earn large sums of money for her notoriously boring speeches – including a six-figure fee for one in Saudi Arabia. Even the disastrous Liz Truss has raked in tidy sums from such events.
Perhaps the most sickening Western example, however, is Gerhard Schroder, Germany’s former centre-left leader, who is now a global pariah after taking high-paying jobs on the boards of Russian state-owned companies handed out by his friend Vladimir Putin. Instead, the 39th President of the United States, content with commercial airline flights, returned with his wife Rosalynn to their two-bedroom bungalow nestled among the cotton and peanut fields of Plains, Georgia, and devoted himself to improving of the world. .
A journalist who visited seven years ago noted that the $167,000 house the couple built themselves in 1961 was worth less than the cost of one of the Secret Service armored vehicles parked outside. Carter’s study was in the converted garage.
Instead of going around the world pontificating about global events and raising money like Blair and so many other ousted Western politicians, the deeply religious Carter demonstrated his values with impressive actions rather than smooth words.
He taught at his local Baptist Sunday school from his teens until his nineties and spoke of the need to live a life of purpose.
He gave one week a year to Habitat for Humanity, a charity that builds and renovates homes for poor families. Over 35 years, he helped with 4,390 homes in 14 countries, working with Rosalynn (who passed away last year) with his own hammer and tool belt.
Through his Carter Center, founded in 1982, he became a committed advocate for peace and democracy. He traveled the world monitoring 39 elections in his lifetime, leading peace talks and promoting human rights. Perhaps most impressively, he led the fight to eradicate some of the most devastating tropical diseases – most notably a debilitating condition caused by the guinea pig worm, which is contracted when someone drinks water contaminated with the larvae of the parasite.
Dracunculiasis affected 3.5 million of the world’s most marginalized people annually in Africa and Asia when he undertook this daring mission and spoke of his desire to live long enough to eradicate such cases. Incredibly, there were only 14 known incidents last year.
Like many in politics, Carter was ambitious. He can be calculating, leading to uncomfortable compromises, and appear hypocritical. He also led the free world during a time of crisis, when it was beset by rising inflation, recession and complex international problems.
Yet he stuck to his principles more than most politicians and despite rising to the most powerful job in the world, he never lost touch with his humble roots.
His later life achievements stand in contrast to all those other arrogant and egotistical politicians who seem to think that electoral success elevates them above other mortals – and that a short period of power entitles them to great wealth.
Is it any wonder that trust in politics declines when voters see politicians who earnestly preach about improving the world abandon their claimed values after retirement and stick their snouts in the trough or consort with despots?
Often they cling to the trappings of power and privilege as they parade around the world stage demanding huge sums of money for banal speeches to cover their nests.
So yes, Jimmy Carter deserves admiration. Not so much because of his achievements during his time in office, although some certainly deserve applause, but because he has proven in retirement that some politicians can actually achieve more after their term of office than when they are in power.