RIP Jimmy Carter
I was hoping Jimmy Carter would wait long enough to pass away for it to coincide with my ongoing Pop Culture Presidents series. But that was never very likely, since that series began over a year ago and I’m still only up to President #3 Thomas Jefferson (have faith, James Madison is set for very soon on the PCLB editorial calendar).
Carter has indeed passed away at age 100—officially the longest living president of all-time. He also holds the record of having the longest marriage of the presidents—a 77-year partnership with Rosalynn, who passed away a year ago at age 96.
When I was a kid, Carter was the first president I ever knew existed. I was mostly amused by the fact he had a daughter—the eventually ultra-private Amy—who was about my age and a punchline brother whose claims to fame were profitting off Jimmy’s fame, selling Billy Beer, and being hilariously played on Saturday Night Live by Gary Busey. I do remember the tail end of his presidency miserably having to deal with long lines of cars at gas stations due to the oil shortage and the 444-day U.S. hostage crisis in Iran.
His pre-presidential resume included that he was a peanut farmer in rural Georgia, which was always one of the most endearing facts about Carter. How could anyone possibly not love—or at the very least have a soft spot for—someone with that all-American back story?
Carter also would have to be considered fairly appealing to both political parties if he were elected today, even if we appear to be somewhat blindly stuck in our partisan foxholes. He was the first Deep South-born president since Andrew Jackson left the White House in 1837. He was a Navy vet. Although just about anyone would have beat Richard Nixon or Gerald Ford, making for an easy path to the presidency, Carter did campaign “against Washington,” something particularly attractive since then to modern Republican candidates.
But beyond his presidency, which occured at a precarious time in the nation’s history and would have been a tough four years for any president to endure, Carter was a legendarily great humanitarian. In fact, he was such an overly goody two shoes that he may indeed be the toughest of all the presidents for me to write about for my sex, drugs, and rock n’roll Pop Culture Presidents series.
The amount of goodness and folksiness is large. The Carters remained in the Plains ranch house they built in 1961 all the way to the end, and it’s their burial place as well. He did not accept the corporate millions that all the other recent presidents took in after their leaderships not because he thought it was wrong but because he never had a desire to be rich. They spent a week each year building houses with Habitat for Humanity and were arguably the world’s leading peacemakers and battlers of extreme human poverty from their perch at the Carter Center at Emory University in Atlanta. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Carter had been quiet, dealing with health problems, over the last few years, but warned in 2020 that “we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late.”
Also RIP to:
Greg Gumbel, who, when combined with his brother Bryant Gumbel, seemed to call just about every pro football and college basketball game on CBS for decades. Always baby-faced and energetic, it’s tough to believe Gumbel was 78 when he passed away from cancer. Before CBS, he was an anchor on ESPN from 1979 to 1988 and then made his biggest mark as host of The NFL Today with Terry Bradshaw. He would become the first Black person to be a lead announcer for a Super Bowl, in 2001.
Linda Lavin, who was a TV star during nine years of my childhood as Alice, a singer who gave up her career to be a mom and a waitress. She has passed away of lung cancer at 87. Although I never claimed the sitcom as one of my favorites, Lavin held down the steady starring role while, what I remember most about the show was its funny cast of sidekicks: grouchy owner Mel, klutzy Vera, and “kiss my grits” Flo.