Milnes: Jimmy Carter — farewell to a friend and hero

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Joe Clark called Jimmy Carter a ‘pretty good Canadian.’ My mom called him ‘a good and decent man.’ To me, he was a friend whose principles transcended politics.

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My journey with Jimmy Carter started early.

Only 11 years old when Carter entered the White House in 1977, I nonetheless sensed my parents’ admiration and respect for him.

My mother rarely ever spoke about politics at the family dinner table, with one exception: the 39th president of the United States. “Jimmy Carter,” my late mom would say, “is a good and decent man.”

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Very conscious of the Cold War shadow we lived under, mom said she felt safer knowing that the Western world’s nuclear weapons were in Carter’s trustworthy hands. My father said the same.

Decades later, in 2012 and while sitting in my Kingston home with (by then) former president Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, I asked if I could tell him something very personal. He agreed and I described how my parents had felt about his leadership during that dangerous era.

President Carter responded with a gentle smile.

There was silence for a moment. Then Rosalynn Carter spoke up.

“Art,” she said, “that’s how I felt too.”

I could not have imagined the experience — a former U.S. president staying at my house — when I first visited the tiny town of Plains, Ga. that Carter always called home, and where he will be buried in the coming days.

It was 2004 when I travelled to rural Georgia, hoping to catch a glimpse of the former U.S. president as he taught his weekly Sunday school lesson, an event open to the public. A lapsed member of the United Church of Canada who had not attended a church service in years, I found myself surprised at how moved I was by his message.

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He was known to issue challenges to his congregation. One inspires me still.

“We’ll never know whether something new and wonderful is possible unless we try,” he said. “Let’s scratch our heads, stretch our minds, be adventurous! Serve God with boldness, and who knows what wonders the Lord may work?”

Jimm Carter sawing wood
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter uses a hand saw as he works on a Habitat for Humanity home in Pikeville, Ky., June 16, 1997. Photo by Ed Reinke /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

To this day, there is one spot in Plains where I always stop. It is the town’s small public housing complex that is still in service. One of the apartments has a large historic plaque on it. In this unit, 9A, the future president lived with his wife and children for a year (1953 to 1954) when their family’s money ran out.

From public housing to the White House: if this isn’t a story to inspire generations, I don’t know what is.

As a reporter at the Kingston Whig-Standard, I began to research Carter and his presidency, and he graciously sat for interviews and discussions with me during my many visits to Georgia over the years.

He seemed intrigued that my questions focused on Canadian concerns, in particular his relationships with the two Canadian prime ministers — Pierre Trudeau and Joe Clark — he dealt with as president. I was always struck by his respect for his Canadian counterparts and his deep knowledge and understanding of Canada.

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Former prime minister Joe Clark, in writing the preface to my first book about the Carters, put these traits into perspective. “Canada’s … advantage with Jimmy Carter was in the way he saw the world, which was broadly similar to the international goals Canadians supported, for at least sixty years after the Second World War,” Clark wrote. “That consonance of view was true generally during his presidency, but became even clearer in his conduct and priorities as a groundbreaking former president … (Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter) are a beacon of the international values which most Canadians like to think we represent. In terms of what Jimmy Carter says and does in the world, he’s a pretty good Canadian.”

As a former president, Carter’s interventions led to the release of tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience throughout the world. And his work through the Carter Center, monitoring elections worldwide, helped to establish democracy and hope in many struggling nations.

Carter and his wife also built thousands of homes for the poor through Habitat for Humanity, while millions facing the daily stigma still associated with mental illness were strengthened by their advocacy and understanding.

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As my annual trips and conversations each time with Carter continued over the years, I became less and less interested in Jimmy Carter, the president/politician. Instead, his moral leadership in a changing and complex world was what I came to admire more and more. His character stood above his accomplishments; his principles transcended his politics.

I became less and less interested in Jimmy Carter, the president/politician. Instead, his moral leadership in a changing and complex world was what I came to admire …

While he was a true ally of Canada, Jimmy Carter became more than that for me.

He became a friend.

An inspiration.

An example.

The type of leader this Canadian hopes, but does not expect, to ever see again.

Kingston’s Arthur Milnes, a public historian and political speechwriter, is the author of 98 Reasons to Thank Jimmy Carter, published in 2022, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: A Canadian Tribute, published in 2011. Arthur was the memoirs’ assistant to Brian Mulroney and a speechwriter to then-prime minister Stephen Harper.

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