Days after President Jimmy Carter passed away, the former President of the United States returned to Washington, D.C. to lay in state in our country’s Capitol before being laid to rest in his home town of Plains, Georgia. His casket, draped with the American flag, made its way through the streets on a horse drawn carriage with his family walking close by. This final journey will be forever marked in history just as his initial one was many years ago.
Democratic National Mid-Term Conference 1974
It’s been fifty years since I first met and interviewed Jimmy Carter at the Democratic National Mid-Term Conference. He was the good looking young Governor of Georgia who had more charisma than most today can imagine. After speaking with Carter, I wondered who WAS this man? He was far from a household name in those days and gave me a terrific interview.
Democrats had gathered in Kansas City to position themselves with their strongest opportunity to unseat President Gerald Ford. Each potential presidential candidate, and there were sixteen of them, met with the media to begin to make their case, and I spoke with most of them. In 1974 there were few television newswomen regularly covering politics, and I had made my own case to station management to send me to cover what had traditionally been a man’s journalistic beat.
Post Viet Nam. Post Watergate. It was a time like no other, and politics were going through a major transition period in the seventies. Political insiders were not as appealing as a non-Washington centric politician like Carter. Especially in New Hampshire where I once again found myself covering his campaign. In 1976, New Hampshire was the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, and its residents were among the most well informed. They took studying the candidates very seriously and liked the down home spirit and detailed approach to the issues that Carter presented. The Governor from Georgia won that New Hampshire primary and created the momentum he needed.
Sometimes it’s the little things you really remember. Carter and his wife Rosalynn were leading off the 1976 Memorial Day Parade in Warwick, Rhode Island. My camera crew and I were walking backwards in front of them to get the footage we needed as they waved to the crowds. In my effort to keep pace with enough distance between the presidential candidate, his wife and the Secret Service, I stumbled and fell to the ground. I told my crew to keep going as I tried to get up, but before I could totally standup Jimmy Carter broke ranks with the rest of the parade marchers and walked over to me asking if I needed help. I was honestly stunned by the kindness. When I let him know I wasn’t hurt, he was glad to hear it, and simply went back to join his wife. Not many politicians would have personally lent a hand, It was a moment I have never forgotten.
Months later standing of the floor of Madison Square Garden in New York City I watched Carter officially become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. It was my first national political convention, and the energy and excitement of the crowd was amazing. Covering major history as a journalist is unlike any of the other experiences you have, and reporting on Carter gave me amazing professional opportunities. Including covering his Inauguration. On a freezing cold day in January, 1977, I sat in the press stands watching Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale take the oath of office.
Bizarrely enough, for the first time in forty-eight years President Jimmy Carter and I are once again in Washington, D.C. at the same time on another freezing cold January day. It is with a profound sadness that I write that sentence and watch the crowds line up at the Capitol to pay their last respects to our 39th President. I pay mine with the words written on this page.
God’s speed President Carter.