Some newspapers have described the now deceased US president as “the most incompetent president of all time” while he was still in office. In reality, Jimmy Carter proved to be one of the most forward-thinking and forward-looking. As early as the 1970s, he installed solar panels on the White House that his successor Ronald Reagan had removed on his first day in office.
Symbolic for Carter and symbolic for Reagan. Jimmy Carter dreamed of a “solar age” as early as 50 years ago, as he told me at a dinner in Bochum in 2012 (photo): “But my successor wanted to extend the oil age,” he added with a laugh, “but I wanted the solar world revolution.” He was often far ahead of his time. In the middle of the oil crisis, he had 32 solar cells installed on the roof of the White House.
Mister Jimmy from Georgia
Jimmy Carter lived in his birthplace, the village of Plains in the US state of Georgia, which has a population of 600, in a house he built himself, 200 kilometers from the state capital Atlanta, until he was 98 years old. In the village of Plains, he is still known to everyone as “Mister Jimmy”.
Read our report about a visit to the Carter Work Project in St. Paul in October 2024
Now he has also died there in his self-built bedroom. The technically gifted 39th President of the USA preached Sunday after Sunday in one of the eight churches in Plains for decades. Carter was married to his wife Rosalynn for 77 years. She died in November 2023 at the age of 96.
Political dream team
Rosalynn and Jimmy had the longest marriage of any US president. Jimmy Carter's political career is unthinkable without his wife. They lived and worked as a political dream team. Rosalynn was the first first lady to have her own office and staff in the White House. She also attended cabinet meetings.
In her biography, she wrote that her husband took her advice but did not let her dictate. Jimmy Carter himself considered his wife his “most important advisor.” Carter's role as a mediator in the Middle East peace process can largely be attributed to Rosalynn Carter. She had already campaigned for him politically when he became governor of his home state of Georgia in 1970. In the 1976 presidential campaign, she gave countless campaign speeches for her husband in 42 states. The Süddeutsche Zeitung called her “a first lady for the history books”.
Impressive achievements
Carter, a friend of Jesus, had cancer, was treated in hospital, but retired to his beloved house to die, ultimately refusing any medical treatment. He has now died at the age of one hundred.
In 1979, Carter negotiated the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and advocated for a separate Palestinian state. Behind the scenes, he ensured that the racial conflict in Rhodesia was ended during his term of office.
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He promoted the legal rights of women in the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Throughout his political career, Jimmy Carter has been a champion of human rights worldwide. When we met for dinner in Bochum, he had arrived that morning from a human rights tour in the Middle East. He had an international vision of the gospel: equality and dignity for all people. Carter: “In the eyes of God, all people are equal”.
Activist without office
That he was replaced by Ronald Reagan after only one term in office bothered Jimmy Carter less than his wife. She said after his de-selection in 1980: “I'm bitter enough for the two of us”. Even in our conversation in Bochum, there was no sign of bitterness. Jimmy Carter felt needed as a political activist worldwide – even without political office.
As the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, he campaigned for peace through political compromise in all major conflicts until the end. He lived for peace. It was and is his great and lasting achievement that he brought together Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwer al-Sadat at Camp David in 1978.
Begin and Sadat shook hands
After twelve days of intensive negotiations, the famous Camp David Agreement was reached: the basis for the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Begin and Sadat received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Carter-brokered peace treaty.
Jimmy Carter will be remembered as a great peacemaker. He has reached the highest age of all previous US presidents. The world needs such peacemakers more than ever. Jimmy Carter is a hero to me. He remains an inspiration. (Franz Alt)
You can read the full obituary on Sonnenseite of Franz Alt (in German)
