Cartagena Jimmy Carter, peanut farmer, submarine captain, Governor of Georgia, President of the United States, and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, passed away at 100 years of age as the longest lived president in the history of the country. There will be a lot of comment on his time under the sun. Some of it will be faint praise and mention malaise, Iran, lust, and a troubled economy. In order to speak no ill, many will praise his post-presidency, his faith, his commitment to service, and witnessing with grace, all of which is true and much of which is fair, but we will all have different memories.
I can recall when he was a total dark horse candidate in 1976. The first time I can remember that we took him seriously, he reached out for a meeting with us at the Little Rock Airport, as he was beginning his campaign. We were one of many meetings he was having to build support in those early days. I’m not sure who might have suggested he meet with ACORN in those early days, but he was the first candidate for president that ACORN ever met directly. It could have been South Dakota’s Abourezk, since we had expanded there in 1975. It could have been Bill Clinton back then, who we had endorsed several times, and who earlier had tried to recruit me, unsuccessfully, for the McGovern campaign. I can’t remember who we sent over to do the meeting. I think it was one of the leaders and our research director. We didn’t endorse, but the report was generally positive.
In the wake of first Nixon and then Ford, Carter to his administration’s credit tried to resource grassroots efforts in organizing. The expanded funding for the LEAA law enforcement grants sustained many community-based efforts in the NTIC/NPA network. He appointed Sam Brown to run ACTION and Margery Tabankin, from the Youth Project, to run VISTA. Through their efforts we were funded for one-year with 100 VISTA volunteers around the country to expand ACORN and community organizing. Predictably, funding ACORN through CORAP, our Community Organizing Research & Action Program, became controversial. There were accusations that we were doing union organizing, because we organized an association of household workers, among other things. There were congressional hearings. We weren’t renewed. I could point fingers, but my bottom line is that Carter and his administration tried to do things differently, and not many have done as much before or since. Take the fact that the Community Reinvestment Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act both became law with his signature as a unique accomplishment that reverberates to this day.
In 1980, Carter was late in that campaign to meet with us, as we pushed for an affirmative action allotment in both parties for lower income families in various primary and caucus states. We eventually got a letter from the campaign with a weak commitment, and later won the Leland Commission to try to move the program forward, but Carter had his own problems, and we were the least of the reasons he lost for a second term.
We remember a giant banner during a utility rates campaign, since the energy crisis had hammered our members. In capital letter, it said something like “Hey, Jimmy,” blah, blah, blah “fix it” or something like that. His was not an imperial presidency. He was a good, solid man without dispute, even if he lacked the natural political skills of a Clinton, the charisma of an Obama, or the deep principled commitment to our issues, like labor rights, of a Biden. We’ve now seen a lot worse on Pennsylvania Avenue, which makes the memories of Carter soften and a comparison of his term and the dignity he brought to the office fall under a more glowing light.
Thanks for the memories, but mostly thanks for the good work.