My introduction to Jimmy Carter.

 

Jimmy Carter

I first became aware of Jimmy Carter when I heard on the news, and later read in the Oregon Journal, about the Lieutenant Governor of Georgia calling the Governor of Georgia a communist, and calling for his impeachment. I was familiar with the name of the lieutenant governor of Georgia: Lester Maddox, a fool, a bigot, a racist and a nut. I had never heard of governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter. It was a prime example of the adage that while it’s important to have friends, it’s also good to have the right enemies. Anyone who had Lester Maddox for an enemy could probably have me for a friend. When I got to the end of the article, I said to my wife, Peggy, “That guy wants to be President.”

“Of what?” she said.

“Of these United States.”

Days or weeks later, I turned on our crappy radio in the middle of some interview. It was some Baptist minister, and I was going to turn it off. I could tell it was a Baptist minister by his cadence, his inflection, the whole feel of his speech patterns. Then I realized he was talking about economics, and making some sense. I called Peggy in. “Hey, they’ve got this Baptist minister talking about Economics --and making sense!?” And we listened till the end, when they mentioned that It was Governor Jimmy Carter, of Georgia. “That man Is going to be our next president,” I said.