The news that President Carter had chosen hospice filled me with sadness & many memories. This strongly principled man was Governor when I moved to Atlanta. The vibrant city, where I arrived following college graduation, was a huge change that I embraced with anticipation. Carter’s integrity & sense of racial justice was a stark contrast to the underworld, which many locals never knew existed, in the Mississippi area of infamy where I grew up.
A strong remembrance that has never faded was a visit to an early Carter for President office, very close to my first apartment complex. The small office was located on Peachtree Street not too far north of the Amtrak Station. The Amtrak Station fronted the road that dead ended into my apartment complex, long demolished for I-75/I-85 split improvements.
The confusion in my mind was the timing of the campaign office visit, where I made a donation & received a “Jimmy Carter for President” T-Shirt. The experience remains so strong in my memory bank that I remember the exact exterior & interior of the office. It wasn’t a busy place & was much too small to have been an announced candidate office.
Recent research explained. Carter tried in vain to prevent a Democratic loss in 1972. Following the election he hired a fledgling campaign staff. The timing, office size & lack of frenetic campaign activity points to this as the Atlanta office I frequented, personally making donations. He announced in 1974.
The “long too small” T-Shirt remained in my closet for decades before being discovered by my son. He wore the then vintage shirt until the fabric began to disintegrate.
President Carter was a good Governor. He is responsible for many accomplishments as President, even though the country only focused on the failures. Best of all he is a good man.
The work Jimmy Carter & the Carter Foundation has done will live forever. I am filled with sadness knowing the world will soon lose such a man.