What's Past is Prologue — The life and times of Jimmy Carter

"What's Past is Prologue" series, an homage to William Shakespeare's "The Tempest", looks at events of the past that seem to reoccur later with remarkable similarities. Frank Nickell of the Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation, previously a longtime faculty member at Southeast Missouri State University, is primary historian for these articles, which are carried intermittently in the Southeast Missourian.

Jimmy Carter, 98, the nation's 39th president now living out his final days in hospice care, never came to Cape Girardeau for any campaign events during his two runs for the White House in 1976 and 1980.

The nation's next Democratic commander in chief after Carter, Bill Clinton, made a point to include Cape Girardeau in a two-day, four-state bus tour in August 1996 immediately following his party's nominating convention in Chicago.

Clinton and Vice President Al Gore spoke at a Capaha Park rally Aug. 31, 1996, attended by an estimated 30,000 people.

"(Carter) never visited here and the fact that he bypassed Cape Girardeau said something perhaps about the lack of political connection that Carter had with the area," Nickell said.

Two other Democratic presidents merit mention.

Barack Obama, America's 44th president, visited Thorngate Ltd. in Cape Girardeau for a private town hall meeting May 13, 2008, while the nation's current chief executive — Joe Biden — made few campaign appearances in 2020 because of COVID-19 and did not come to Southeast Missouri that year.

Carter would lose Cape Girardeau County in both of his campaigns.

• 1976: Gerald Ford defeated Carter, 55% to 45%, in a race Carter won nationally.
• 1980: Ronald Reagan defeated Carter, 63% to 37%, in a race Reagan won nationally.

In 1976, Cape Girardeau County was represented by Democratic congressman Bill Burlison, who won his campaign that year over Republican Joe Carron by a vote in the county of 58% to 42%.

In 1980, Burlison was overwhelmingly defeated by Republican Bill Emerson, with Emerson winning the county 70% to 30%.

Accomplishments

An official portrait of Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. president, taken during his tenure in office. Carter, 98, recently entered hospice care.Submitted

An official portrait of Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. president, taken during his tenure in office. Carter, 98, recently entered hospice care.Submitted

"(Carter) created the cabinet departments of Energy and Education; negotiated and saw confirmation of the Panama Canal Treaty; he worked on SALT-II, the strategic arms limitation treaty with the then-Soviet Union; and the 1978 Camp David Accords are all evidence of his impact on the office," Nickell opined.

Missteps

"On his second day as president in 1977, Carter announced he was pardoning all Vietnam draft evaders," Nickell recalled.

"Since it was so early in his presidency, there was obviously little preparation and he simply used the wrong word in discussing those who violated the Selective Service Act. By contrast, at the end of the Civil War, amnesty was offered to former Confederate soldiers. Amnesty means you 'forget' or 'overlook' what people have done. Carter used the word 'pardon,' which means to 'forgive,' which is a big difference and a lot of Americans didn't understand (Carter's) thinking."

Late in his presidency, on July 15, 1979, Carter outlined his plans to reduce oil imports and improve energy efficiency in his "Crisis of Confidence", or "malaise", speech.

"(Carter) was careful about words and thought a lot about them. When he came out with 'malaise,' it conveyed sadness and was negatively interpreted by most people," Nickell remembered.

Historian Nickell also recalled the stark contrast with Reagan, who — in contrast to his opponent — used phrases such as "morning in America", and "America is a shining city on a hill".

"I always thought of Reagan as 'President Happy Face.' He had a big smile; he'd wink at people, laugh with them and shake hands. Carter was too serious. He was setting the White House thermometers and scheduling the tennis courts. He wanted to do great things but was his own worst enemy and I think his personality was not well suited to the presidency."

Of note

Carter, Nickell said, was the only White House occupant to serve a full four-year term never to place a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"He just didn't get the opportunities to do things other presidents did. There's not a final verdict on Carter. He's had the longest post-presidency of any of our chief executives. Every president has had a great historian tell his story but that hasn't happened yet for Carter. He did remarkable things and lived a fascinating life. For example, Admiral Hyman Rickover, the so-called 'Father of the Nuclear Navy,' chose Carter as a subordinate officer to work with him on nuclear submarines.

Nickell offered a summation of a person he admires but has never met.

"(Carter) was a tough character and courageous but didn't have right personality for the job of president. He is a complicated person, upstanding morally, sincere and as honest as is possible for a politician to be," he said, recalling Carter's promise never to lie to the American people.