Jimmy Carter, America’s best ex-president

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and the oldest surviving president in American history, died December 29. By any reckoning, he led a remarkable life.

Anyone who visits Plains, in southwest Georgia, and especially the Carter farmstead three miles down the road in Archery, cannot fail to be impressed by the simplicity of Carter’s background. Carter himself never complained about the circumstances of his childhood, and in fact he often made the point that his family was more prosperous than their neighbors. But the Carter farmhouse lacked indoor plumbing during Jimmy Carter’s childhood, and it wasn’t until he was 14 years old that Franklin Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Agency brought the wonders of electricity to Archery.

Carter walked three miles to school and back, often barefoot. He was acutely conscious of his status as a “country boy,” but he studied hard and read diligently. His favorite teacher, Julia Coleman, often remarked that one of her students might become president of the United States someday. Carter was listening.