WASHINGTON – Jimmy Carter ended his one-year presidency in defeat. For years he was ridiculed as a weak leader.
But over time, a sea change occurred in the way Carter was perceived, fueled by his decades of post-presidency good deeds and the enduring power of his successes in the White House.
Perhaps more than any other post-World War II president, Carter changed the way many viewed the United States by attempting to infuse American values such as altruism, democracy, and human rights into foreign policy.
Sometimes he succeeded; often not. But his efforts left an indelible mark on nearly two generations of diplomats, officials and global activists.
Carter will be remembered Thursday at a state funeral at the cavernous Washington National Cathedral. President Biden will deliver the eulogy and all four living former presidents are expected to be in attendance, including one who was inspired by him – President Obama – and one who regularly attacks him – President-elect Donald Trump. Not expected to be a great foreign leader – at 100 years old, he outlived everyone he interacted with.
Keith Mines, a 32-year veteran of the State and Defense Departments who worked from Mexico to the Middle East, recalled being at Ft. Benning, Georgia, with a military officer from Burkina Faso. During her free time, Mines suggested exploring the beaches and mountains of Georgia or the vibrant city of Atlanta.
“I want to go somewhere,” Mines recalled the African official saying. “I want to go to Plains, Georgia. I want to see the…place that produced this remarkable man, Jimmy Carter.”
Carter's legacy is mixed. His administration managed to build key security platforms that continue to exist today, while advancing a broader global and national social agenda. As president, he officially made human rights the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, with particular impact in Latin America.
And he set a precedent for former presidents by continuing his public service, charity and human rights work after leaving office.
Carter sought to change the world's view of America at a particularly difficult time.
The 1950s and 1960s were marked by US-sponsored coups that overthrew governments that those in power in Washington didn't like; Then came the torturous Vietnam War and the scandalous tenure of Richard Nixon.
Carter rose from nothing to become a president who spoke more about peacemaking than foreign conquest, about humanity rather than self-interest.
He was willing to wield hard power when necessary, but also recognized the value of soft power, the combination of “attraction, persuasion and influence” that he called after his presidency and which he said was often even more effective at winning hearts win and change opinions.
“I saw the fundamental nature of Carter's contributions to U.S. foreign policy … in advancing U.S. interests in the Middle East, China, Russia … but that's not all,” said Thomas Donilon, a former national security adviser under Obama and senior State Department official under President Clinton, he said in an essay for Foreign Affairs.
His leadership led to the first peace treaty between Israel and a warring neighbor, Egypt, which is still considered the most important agreement of its kind today. Although tensions continued to subside in the Middle East, the successful Camp David negotiations were applauded by Israelis and Arabs alike, who praised them as an impartial U.S. approach
Carter was a peacemaker but not a pacifist, and recognized the need for military strength. In 1980, in response to the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he promulgated the Carter Doctrine, which committed the United States to protecting oil production in the Persian Gulf and laid the foundation for the security infrastructure in that part of the world for Democrats and decades to follow republican governments.
In the final weeks of his presidency, Carter agreed to the creation of the Joint Special Operations Force, a group of elite military personnel from all branches who would train and plan top-secret reconnaissance missions and other covert deadly attacks.
Carter recognized the need after the failed attempt to rescue US hostages in Iran. It remained in place, expanding over the years and eventually becoming involved in numerous controversial operations from Afghanistan to Iraq.
Carter seemed most proud of his work on human rights and democracy building.
His decision in 1977 to return the Panama Canal – long seen in the region as a symbol of US imperialism – to the government of Panama was widely praised in Latin America. It was a move Nixon initiated at the urging of the U.S. military, which said operating the building and the surrounding American military colony was expensive and unsustainable.
In the early years of his administration, Carter also looked south and saw brutal military dictatorships controlling Argentina, Chile and other nations. He drastically reduced U.S. military aid to these countries and blocked their access to some international loans. Historians believe that many of these steps were the first dominoes to overthrow dictatorships and introduce democracy to the region.
He “challenged the assumption that security assistance to repressive regimes furthered Cold War goals, and instead argued that … U.S. support for these regimes damaged its global leadership and made the U.S. complicit in human rights abuses.” said Enrique Roig, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a recent forum at the US Institute of Peace.
The son of Chilean parents, Roig called Carter a “beacon of hope” who showed him that the United States could be a champion of democracy and human rights.
In June 1979, when the United States was still supporting the dynastic Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, Carter was horrified to see television footage of Somoza's troops shooting an American reporter, ABC's Bill Stewart, with his hands raised at a military checkpoint. Carter immediately broke with the Somoza regime, which collapsed within weeks, giving rise to the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a revolutionary but ultimately anti-American group. They launched social programs and were initially welcomed by a long-mistreated population—as was Carter's perceived intervention.
But within two years, Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, worked to undo his reforms and soon began wars both in Nicaragua, to drive out the Sandinistas, and in neighboring El Salvador, to support its right-wing military government. Neither went as Reagan intended.
Fast forward to 1990. Carter, out of office for a decade, was in Nicaragua to oversee what was supposed to be the country's first democratic elections. Sandinista President Daniel Ortega had agreed to the election – but refused to accept the results when it appeared he would lose to his matronly opponent Violeta Chamorro, owner of the country's leading opposition newspaper.
Carter sat with Ortega all night trying to convince him to accept the results. “I know what it’s like to lose,” Carter told Ortega. Eventually, Ortega gave in and allowed a peaceful transition to democracy.
Such post-presidency missions to support foreign elections, fight disease and build homes for the poor made the aging but always engaging and affable Carter a hero to many abroad. His picture would hang in the homes of activists; Crowds greeted him on the streets of cities in Latin America and Africa.
“He was lucky in many ways during his time in office,” Carter's former speechwriter James Fallows said on CNN this week. “But then he was fortunate enough to bring out the best in himself, the best in his fellow citizens, the best in what he wanted to bring to the world.”