COLUMN: Do you have a Jimmy Carter in your life?

I couldn’t even spell president, let alone know what the position really meant, when Jimmy Carter was president from January 1977 to January 1981. As I grew up and I learned more about presidents and history, I saw the picture of Carter wearing an Allman Brothers band T-shirt, assumed taken sometime in 1976 during the campaign.

I thought that was really cool how a president-like person could look like a normal, everyday person. To this day, I still hope for a president to wear a band or sports team T-shirt, fried-chicken grease stained baseball cap from the 1990s, faded, roughed up blue jeans and dirty white sneakers taking questions at a White House press conference. If the president is to be for all of us, maybe somedays the president should look more like some of us. We’re not all suits-and-ties. I don’t expect Trump to do that. Ever.

Carter was laid to rest last week at the age of 100. I was traveling from seeing family after Christmas when the news broke of his death. People’s experiences, opinions and comments about Carter and his presidency have since come out like I was passing the white lines in the middle of the highway at 75 mph.

What I’ve heard about Carter over the years, which was random, was his influence on the 1980s farm crisis. I came across some of that in late 2023 doing some research on something else. Carter gets the blame since he cut off the Russians for agricultural trade since it invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Since Russia couldn’t be a buyer, that severely hurt the income of American farmers. That’s what upset many farmers emotionally and financially for the next several years.

More research, again with no Ivy League school procedure, also came across that Carter maybe shouldn’t get all the blame. Farming was relatively good in the second half of the 1970s. A number of those farmers got used to, or maybe spoiled by, the good yields, prices and income. They expected the 1980s would pay for the new tractor, implements and additional land. Again, it’s only anecdotal.

Sure, when you tell a big customer “no more,” it’s hard on the income. I haven’t found any information Carter telling those famers to go into, or even more, debt not knowing what is in the crystal ball. The day of his funeral, I heard one caller on a radio talk show blame Carter for his in-laws’ struggles. I wish I knew more of that story, as it was only from one perspective.

That made me think of the people who I may question who has done something significant with detrimental consequences. How much should we really blame them for it? There may have been other factors at the same time that were just as influential and had nothing to do with the person who made the decision. A football receiver can’t catch the important pass that was forced to be thrown because the lineman couldn’t hold his block.

Some historians are crediting Carter for the massive growth in the micro-brew beer industry with some regulation shifts. It’s not all mainstream beers these days, and probably hasn’t been at least in the past 30 years. There has got to be someone in our lives who we give credit for something we enjoy (not just beer).

Carter was also known for his humanitarian work, including Habitat for Humanity.

“The passing of President Jimmy Carter is a loss felt by millions... around the globe and certainly throughout the Habitat for Humanity organization... President and Mrs. Carter led the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project for Habitat for Humanity for more than 30 years. Together, they’ve worked alongside over 108,100 volunteers who have built, renovated or repaired more than 4,447 homes in 14 countries, all while raising awareness of the critical need for affordable housing,” according to the habitat website.

Over the years and the places I’ve been in my career, I’ve publicized Habitat chapters. Creston has had one but it has evolved into a subsidiary of Habitat doing the same work.

Appropriately educating others about (name of issue) is delicate work. I’ve also heard from others over the years who think Habitat is a “free” house and the resident doesn’t have to do a darn thing for it. That’s not true. Applicants must first be eligible for a house. Then they must contribute a determined amount of hours to the construction of the house. It all sounds legitimate and fair to me.

Of course, one critic leading up to Carter’s funeral wondered if the houses were cheap, shoddy and low-budget. Purely based on my own experiences, the houses built used supplies from the local lumber and hardware stores. It’s the same 2x4 used for the general contractor-built house and for Habitat. At habitat home opening receptions, I thought the house was solid, comfortable and fair. The residents are grateful to have a house.

Housing, regardless of how it’s planned, financed and built, is becoming more of an issue in the United States. Housing of all incomes is needed and Creston officials have admitted to that here. Maybe Carter’s passing will be a motivator to continue to find ways to come up with more housing. It all doesn’t have to be on undeveloped land too.

Thanks for your service President Carter. I hope someone in the family kept the T-shirt.