Remembering Jimmy Who?
The idea that Jimmy Carter was a complete unknown when he began his race for the presidency in Iowa is no myth. Who he became is monumental.
Jimmy Carter is rightfully being remembered as many things: the 39th President of the United States; a Nobel Peace Prize Winner; a Georgia peanut farmer and former one term Governor; a Navy engineer who served five years on nuclear submarines; a loving husband, father and grandfather; a great humanitarian; and a visionary whose penchant for doing the hard, tough, heavy lifting on public policy others let fester - that probably cost him his re-election.
Jimmy Carter also saw further ahead than most when it came to seeing — and getting to work on - problems that might not reach crisis stage for years, but that need attention right now.
That’s another attribute, by the way, that often does not pay dividends in terms of re-election votes, a fact that helps explain some of the difficulties we are dealing with today. Presidents like Jimmy Carter are, indeed, a rare breed, and things tend to pile up between them.
All that is a terrific way to be remembered, and in Carter’s case, all are well deserved and hard earned.
In my view, however, there is something else about Jimmy Carter that we are overlooking, and deserves to be noted and celebrated, too: how far he came - as a candidate - to become president.
When Jimmy Carter announced his candidacy for the presidency - on December 12, 1974, at a press conference in Washington, DC - the few who noticed were mostly trying to stop laughing. He couldn’t be serious, right?
His journey from that press conference to the White House was perhaps the most unlikely traveled by any American president elected to that office.
Jimmy Carter was unknown to most Americans when he announced his candidacy, and certainly to most Iowans. The great “myth” of “Jimmy Who” is no myth at all. It was stark and cold reality when he started.
I saw that reality, first hand, early in his Iowa campaign.
I first saw Carter campaign in Des Moines, at the Iowa State Fair, in August 1975. I had no idea who he was at the time, even though I was a former political reporter, and at that time, worked on the staff of a member of Iowa’s congressional delegation. Which is to say, I was no “low information” observer of presidential politics.
On that hot August day, Carter was campaigning in the beer tent off the Grand Concourse, near the State Fair’s Administration Building. I had a day off and was spending it at the Fair. By chance, I ran into a friend, Bill Ryerson, who had become one of Carter’s first supporters in Iowa - if not his very first supporter - who happened to be walking across the concourse.
He urged me to go into the beer tent and meet Carter.
I did, more out of courtesy to Bill than anything else. I didn’t know anything about Carter, but what Bill told me about him - that he was an ex-one term Governor of Georgia - didn’t elevate my view about Carter’s likely chances in the Iowa caucuses.
When I entered the tent, I saw nothing that might suggest a presidential candidate was “in the house.” No cameras, no pack of reporters, no bevy of supporters waving brightly colored signs. Just Iowans, seated at white plastic tables, enjoying a seat out of the sun on a sweltering August day, nursing a cup of cold beer or ice water, and visiting with each other.
I left the tent, found Bill, and told Bill I’d missed him. Just Iowans, no presidential candidate in there. Sorry. I’ve got a lot of fair to see today, so catch you later.
Bill couldn’t believe it. “I literally just left him there, not two minutes ago,” he said. “He’s got to still be there.” We returned to the tent, and Bill quickly said, “There he is.” He pointed to a man I now know was Jimmy Carter, but had no idea who he was at the time. Carter was seated with everyone else, at a white plastic table, sitting on a white plastic chair, sipping some water and visiting with 3-4 farmers who - by the looks on their faces - didn’t now who that man was either.
In 16 months “that man” would be President of the United States.
Something else I remember about Carter campaigning in Iowa in those early days. It was not unusual for candidates for major political office then to arrive fashionably late - whether by design or just the way the travel schedule worked out, I could never tell - and then make a big splash when they entered the auditorium.
Jimmy Carter was just the opposite.
He would be among the very first to arrive, plant himself at the entry door, and then shake hands and visit with every individual who arrived after he did. Every one. Sometimes that would include the people who set up the tables for the banquet or worked in the kitchen - that’s how early Carter would arrive.
Other major candidates routinely arrived much later.
They arrived late enough to make their “splash” upon arrival, but the big difference was that they wound up giving their speeches to a crowd of unfamiliar faces while Carter, gave his speech to a crowd of new friends & familiar faces - friends he’d already met, shaken their hand, and spent some time with visiting.
I thought it was a brilliant approach.
That approach also underscored who Jimmy Carter was - a man who genuinely connected with people, was truly of the people, and who sought public office to serve the people, nobody else.
I think Iowans saw that in him as he campaigned across the state.
I don’t think there has been a more decent man in the presidency than Jimmy Carter since Lincoln, nor one who was more grounded in, and who truly rose from, and stayed connected to the people than Jimmy Carter.
One final observation: Carter’s 1976 “victory” in the Iowa caucuses (NOTE: Carter “won” the 1976 Iowa Caucuses by coming in second to “Uncommitted”) and his subsequent election as president, changed the national campaign calendar, and revolutionized campaigns in Iowa up until 2024 when Iowa lost its first in the nation status in the Democratic delegate selection process.
There was a little noticed side benefit to that: with Iowa becoming the new “gate state” for presidential campaigns, Iowa’s state and congressional campaigns received a substantial and revolutionary benefit. Iowa candidates and their staffs began to have the regular opportunity to work directly and indirectly with some of the top political operatives in the nation in real-time, actual campaigns.
The training value from that - even if just by osmosis and observation - has been of inestimable value over the years. It is why for much of the 1980s, 1990s, and the 21st century, Iowa has been a state that manufactures top notch political operatives.
Iowa Democratic campaign operatives are unlikely to have that same “training in the trenches” opportunity as the delegate selection process starts elsewhere from here forward.
As those opportunities fade, Iowans will once again be reminded of why they miss Jimmy Carter. The dynamic that was launched as a reaction to his 1976 effort in the state is now gone, too.
Jimmy Carter left major marks on the world, the nation, and even Iowa’s political process. His greatest impact, however - at least in my view - has been the example of his own life about how to live a truly patriotic life, a life of active, engaged, every day citizenship, and one of active faith.
His dream of becoming president in 1976 was truly an impossible dream. But he made a plan, did the work and persisted. Relentlessly. Tirelessly. With unlimited determination. And he did it all for the right reasons. To serve the people.
Anybody can talk the talk, and many do. Jimmy Carter walked the walk. Every day of his life.
Let history remember that, too, please.
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Interesting to read this story and consider its parallel to the rise and fall of the Democratic caucuses in Iowa. Loved the state fair story, and appreciated you sharing some background Jimmy Carter details few of us know about. Thank you.
I met Jimmy Carter in the fall of '75 at the home of Simpson College history professor Joe Walt. Jimmy was friendly, but Jody Powell was too busy to be so. Jimmy was a smart guy. He was also the first man I had ever seen with manicured fingernails. (I'm not sure if Iowa farmers noticed that.) I ended up campaigning for Fred Harris.
Jimmy was a good president who spent too much time with minutiae (his engineering background could not be denied). His legend of the simple peanut farmer who gave up farming is a good story, but still a legend.
Jimmy was a complicated leader. I left active military service in '80 for various reasons. One reason was when I found out that my wife was being seen by a medic and not a doctor for gynecological issues. Carter had cut the military's budget so far back that even the large Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco was understaffed.
Jimmy's post-presidential period deserves admiration. He was true to his beliefs and led our country the same way. However, his presidential performance was more complicated than his legend. Reagan took advantage of the country's unhappiness, and the Republican party has played that card since.