In Touch With Memories Of A Past President

By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer

The 39th President of the United States of America, James Earl Carter, Jr. was a man who showed his character by the way he thought, felt, and behaved. The word substance can be added to his character because it adds value to his hard work and accomplishments due to his honesty and intelligence. But he would not have a substance character without his faith. Faith was his foundation for what he hoped for and his relationship with God was strong.

Carter was a politician who came to Washington, D.C. to serve as the President and he was a calming personality. He did not have the drama after him and he did not have the tabloids at him. He was a shocker because it seemed to some politicians that he was a dull person. He was a peanut farmer, and Washington, D.C. high society did not know what to make of him. He came to the White House with his wife, Rosalynn, his mother, who everyone called Miss Lillie, his brother, Billy, who liked to drink beer, and his daughter, Amy, and her African American nanny. They were all out of the small town of Plains, Georgia with a population of about 600 which included more African American residents than White residents.

The Washington media first focused on Rosalynn Carter when she decided that she would wear the same inauguration dress that she had wore to her husband’s Georgia inaugural balls. That was unacceptable by Washington, D.C. high society. She was being too practical. She needed to wear a dress made by a high fashion designer so that the dress would be talked about for days. She did not relent, and her dress is still on display in the museum that highlights the First Ladies’ Inauguration Ball Dresses in downtown Washington, D.C.

Miss Lillie was raised in rural southern Georgia, was a trained nurse, and spent her life opposing the strict codes of segregation. This opposition was a factor behind Carter’s political campaigns and policies. After the death of her husband, James Earl Carter, Sr. she left Georgia and joined the Peace Corps to support public health in rural India. She published two books during her son’s presidency and one book was a collection of letters to her family about her time spent in India. She was soft-spoken with a southern charm when interviewed by the media and endeared by her public followers when she visited the White House. The media moved on to another relative.

Billy Carter was the youngest brother of President Carter, attended Emory University, served in the United States Marine Corps, and later worked in the Carter family’s peanut business where he increased revenues to $5 million per year. In 1977, he endorsed Billy Beer manufactured by a brewing company. The company wished to capitalize upon his colorful image as a beer-drinking Southern good old boy which got him known for his outlandish and embarrassing public behavior. The media took advantage of this opportunity and Billy Carter did not make too many visits to the White House.

The Carters decided that their daughter, Amy, would attend a public school while in Washington, D.C. This decision created an uproar among the societal elite and the media. Presidents’ children did not attend public schools but highly tuition private schools. How dare these parents put their child in a public school. They did it anyway. Amy attended the Thaddeus Stevens School, a historic African American school, with her Secret Service detail. She completed the fourth and fifth grade at Stevens and transferred to the diverse Rose Hardy Middle School.

And then Carter did a public Nation message to the American people from the Oval House seated at the Decision desk dressed in a cardigan sweater. Shocking! He should have been in a suit, so the media raged.

These are the memories that I am sharing with you because I was there in Washington, D.C. employed as a Federal employee during Carter’s administration and the media’s coverage of Carter presidency.

President Carter was a humanitarian back then and until he passed away. He was a compassionate and caring man devoted to his family and helping others.