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UT professor recalls 100 year life of Jimmy Carter, president and peacemaker

39th President Jimmy Carter as seen on April 8, 2014 at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Carter died Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, at his home in Plains, Georgia after nearly two years of hospice care.
Courtesy of LBJ Presidential Library
39th President Jimmy Carter as seen on April 8, 2014 at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Carter died Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, at his home in Plains, Georgia after nearly two years of hospice care.

39th President of the United States Jimmy Carter died Sunday, Dec. 29 at 100 years old. One UT professor remembers him as 'a man of deep faith,' who had a 'profound impact' on the American public.

Jimmy Carter’s life was emblematic of American ideals. Born the son of a humble peanut farmer from rural Georgia, he worked his way up to the most powerful position in the world: the U.S. presidency. All the while, he maintained a strong adherence to Christian values, promising the American public, “I’ll never lie to you.”

More than his actions as president, however, it was his profound effect on the presidency itself that is still felt today. That’s according to Amber Roessner, a professor of journalism and media at the University of Tennessee, who spent years researching Carter for her 2020 book, “Jimmy Carter and the Birth of the Marathon Media Campaign.

“He was presenting himself as the moral reform candidate,” Roessner said. “The one overarching promise that he made good on, was really restoring a level of trust in the American presidency.”

Roessner defines him as an enigma among presidents. She says Carter was different because he was a down-to-earth truth-teller, at a time when the presidency was at its lowest point in the aftermath of Richard Nixon.

“The most important thing that he said over and over on the campaign trail, is that ‘I will never lie to the American people,’ that ‘I will have a government as good as the American people,’” Roessner said. “These were the themes that he and his campaign staff felt like it was really incredibly important to amplify.”

Carter grew up on a Georgia peanut farm, enduring the pains of the Great Depression firsthand. He graduated from the U.S. naval academy in 1946, and spent years serving on various deployments in the Pacific, before retiring as a decorated lieutenant in 1962. He became Georgia’s governor in 1970 after many years of involvement in local politics, while also maintaining his heavy involvement with the Baptist church. All of these traits were touted in his 1976 campaign, which framed him as an everyman.

“One of the things he sought to tap into, was kind of something that we refer to now looking back at as ‘redneck chic:’ the cultural craze around Southerness that was unfolding in the ‘70s,” Roessner said.

Carter won by running what Roessner refers to as the ‘Marathon Media Campaign.’ He received powerful endorsements from popular southern rock bands, and drove his commitment to American family values home to secure the popular election by just one-tenth of a percentage point.

“He was considered to be somewhat of a media genius,” Roessner said. “We often don't associate Carter and the term media genius, but at the time, he really was heralded in that way.”

Carter’s presidency did not win the confidence of the American people, however. Though he stuck to his promise of honesty and transparency, in the eyes of many Americans he did little to improve the deteriorating economy or resolve international crises. And his nuanced positions on many hard-hitting issues simply alienated voters.

“The press struggled to capture the nuance of those positions in the same way that they struggled to capture the nuance of Carter himself,” Roessner said. “They actually, however, spent much more time trying to dissect what they ultimately referred to as ‘the enigma’ of Jimmy Carter.”

Former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter on a train in Alexandria, Egypt, during a trip to the Middle East on March 9, 1979. The two were known for being nearly inseparable throughout their 77 year long marriage. Carter ultimately outlived his wife, who passed in November of 2023.
Courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Library
Former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter on a train in Alexandria, Egypt, during a trip to the Middle East on March 9, 1979. The two were known for being nearly inseparable throughout their 77 year long marriage. Carter ultimately outlived his wife, who passed in November of 2023.

After movie star and California Governor Ronald Reagan’s 1980 landslide win of the White House, the Carters moved back to Georgia. But they didn’t withdraw from the public eye. Instead, they founded the non-profit Carter Center in 1982, with the lofty goal of improving human life.

Alongside his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, Carter worked to advance free and fair elections worldwide, eradicate deadly diseases, and even conduct international peace negotiations. This work, and the reevaluation of Carter’s legacy as a whole, would eventually earn him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

While doing research for her book, Roessner had the opportunity to meet Carter in 2014.

When I walked into his office, he was hunched over – kind of over his desk – and I was immediately put at ease,” Roessner said. “But when he turned towards me for the first time, I encountered those piercing blue eyes that his campaign staff and journalists had often remarked upon, and it's like they can see right through you. But he was so kind, as he is known to be among many, in trying to put me at ease immediately.”

Roessner’s ultimate takeaway was this:

“He is a man of deep faith that attempted to apply those principles and values to his daily life in ways that had, I think, a profound effect or impact on the American public.”

Jimmy Carter entered home hospice care in February of 2023, and lost his wife, Rosalynn, just a few months later. His last public appearance was at his 100th birthday party in October. He was 100 years old. U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered a state funeral for Carter, which will be held on January 9, 2025.

Pierce is a Knoxville native and an undergraduate student studying Journalism in the University of Tennessee’s College of Communication and Information. He first came to WUOT as an intern in the Spring of 2024, before transitioning into a part-time role over the Summer. In his free time, Pierce enjoys reading, photography and getting lost in the Great Smoky Mountains.