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The Window in Time

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The Window in TimeJimmy Carter with Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

The Window in Time

By John Curran

 

If you’ve ever seen a photo of the late Jimmy Carter in his dress whites, his formal Navy uniform, well you saw a man who looked good in uniform. And naval officer Carter also knew a little something about higher level military functioning; with a Bachelor of Science degree from Annapolis in 1946, and post graduate work in nuclear physics, Carter was well-prepared for service on the future nuclear submarine fleet. Sadly, when his father died in 1953 Carter was forced to resign his commission and return home to run the family peanut business.

He he had real first hand knowledge of what it takes to be on a serious long term deployment at sea. It’s like, he’d been there, and he knew. Carter knew what it was and he cared. Such that when he became president in 1976, right after that long nightmare called Vietnam, the people were definitely ready for some respite from all of that. The nation had to heal. With Jimmy stepping in right then, whatever else did or did not occur, healing from that rupture did begin.

Jimmy did not want war and he delivered on that. For four years it was quiet. There was no reckless misadventures occurring anywhere.  No provocations; like the stirring up of that old hornets nest in the Middle East when there was no need.  No, there was no egging ’em on just because of some misguided ego driven power play.  Jimmy would never make our troops fodder for misguided, reckless and even corrupted grand schemes. No,  Jimmy Carter knew what it was to serve, and he cared; it was evident by how he conducted affairs during his time in office. He was responsible for the Camp David Accords, the most positive bit of almost there diplomacy concerning that Arab-Israeli mess that has been achieved, before or since.

And myself, I had the great good fortune to have done my service time during his four year single term. And even though mine was a combat job, infantry rifleman, I wasn’t sweating it. It was peace time now and it felt like peace time; it really did. For one damn moment in recent time the whole damn world was not talking war shit constantly and let me tell ya’ it was sure a nice change of tone; that it was. And ya’ did even get the feeling somehow that Big Guy there in Washington, DC did give a damn about even little ‘ol line troops slogging it out on some rainy muddy hill in Hawaii in the dead middle of the darkest night ever. Not shortchanged, nor forgotten, as we soldiered on with our dummy ammo and our plastic M16’s on our little war games practice mission. No more, no less, than what we had signed up for. And we were gonna make it through ’cause this ain’t asking us to do too much, only what is really necessary, to make sure we are good and ready, for if and when the time ever does come, God forbid. Jimmy knew this. I believe that Jimmy knew this very well. And I believe too, that Jimmy really cared, cared about each and every service member, as flesh and blood.

President Jimmy Carter Remembered

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President Jimmy Carter in Remembrance

President Jimmy Carter Goes Home

Editor:  Jimmy Carter’s state funeral is over and he has gone home.  Rest in Peace, Jimmy. 

 

By Cate Rees-Hessel with Wes Hessel

 

Man of the People

I have many sweet and wonderful memories of President James Earl Carter, Jr., a man of God and true humanitarian, dedicated to social justice, human rights, and the betterment of regular everyday Americans, no matter their color. He embodied integrity. Jimmy made it one of his missions while in office to promote fair elections globally, and to eradicate serious diseases worldwide. His Presidency, despite economic challenges, and long lines at the gas pump, was full of historically important achievements, such as the establishment of a brand new Bureau of Labor and Democracy at the State Department, as well as creating the Cabinet-level Departments of Education and Energy. President Carter architected peace between Israel and Egypt with the Camp David Accords; additionally he made our country’s National Park System a strong priority.

Up Close…

I had the pleasure of being in Mr. Carter’s company twice. I recall as a teenager standing in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a cold day during the tail end of his re-election campaign, waiting for his motorcade to arrive outside of Gimbel’s department store, my hair in curls, dressed in a blue plaid coat and tan *pleather gloves. The crowd was large and enthusiastic,  but I managed to get up front.

…And Personal

The strong media presence and sea of people made it difficult to see President Carter. Realizing this, Jimmy jumped up to stand on the back seat of his convertible vehicle – he had a bit of pancake makeup on for the cameras, but that million dollar smile was completely genuine. I was thrilled, he stood right in front of me in the car and I gave him one of my big beauty pageant smiles in return. He noticed me and bent down to shake my hand – just as his fingers nearly touched mine, a Secret Service agent got between us, then the motorcade sped away. I was so very impressed that he cared enough to take a young girl’s hand in a large crowd. He had no idea I was even old enough to vote but he saw me smile and reached his hand out.

My Vote

I did vote for him, the very first person I ever voted for; in my very first election. Sadly, he was not re-elected. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I was a registered Republican at the time. But, I knew that the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, cared enough about people to try to shake the hand of a teenager in the huge crowd. That act of kindness, truly touching, not political, was just nice.

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