By Peter Boyer
In June 1979, on a warm and sunny morning in Washington, President Jimmy Carter stood with minders and media people on the roof of the White House to view what they imagined to be the future: 32 glass and metal panels supplying the White House with hot water heated by the sun.
This wasn’t an isolated event. At his 1977 inauguration in freezing January weather Carter had attempted, with limited success, to use heat from the sun to warm the reviewing stand where he stood reviewing the passing parade.
Later that year he lowered the White House winter-time thermostat and spoke about conserving energy. In 1978, drawing on his training as a nuclear engineer, he spoke of harnessing the fusion power of the sun, and went so far as to declare the third day of May in future years to be “Sun Day”. It didn’t stick.
In that 1979 rooftop event, he described his solar power adventure as “taking the energy that God gave us, the most renewable energy that we will ever see, and using it to replace our dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.”
The White House’s solar hot water system lasted just seven years, as did Carter’s tax credits for private homeowners to install similar systems on their own roofs. The panels, the tax credits and other energy-conservation initiatives of his presidency were abandoned by his successor, Ronald Reagan.
Jimmy Carter could not be described as a champion for climate action. He ignored warnings from his chief science advisor about the climate risk posed by using fossil fuels and directed most of his energy policy to meeting oil supply problems – his motive for boosting domestic coal production.
But he saw the damage inflicted on nature by human activity and sought to curb bad American habits. He abhorred wastefulness and inefficiency, especially with energy – part of his view of the universe centred on belief in God and respect for the natural world – God’s creation. He was inclined to preachiness in expressing those beliefs, but they were sincerely held.
When pragmatism was the order of the day he kept pushing the envelope. That sometimes went wrong, as in the case of the botched hostage rescue mission in Iran, the final nail in the coffin of his 1980 campaign against Reagan. But he could never be accused of not trying.
The end of his presidency was the start of a new, equally remarkable career. Carter and his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, led an international venture called Habitat for Humanity, in which they spent a week each year in volunteer workforces building houses for the poor. He had worked on over 4000 homes in 14 countries when he “retired” just five years ago.
He and Rosalynn battled for human rights and better public health, and led a highly successful effort to eliminate Guinea worm in Africa, initially afflicting over three million people a year but down to just seven detected cases last year.
Carter led election monitoring teams at crucial moments in the history of Panama and Nicaragua and mediated in regional conflicts on three continents. In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts”. He alone of the four American presidents who have won that prize received it for achievements after leaving office.
Carter’s candour, truthfulness and acceptance of personal responsibility were a breath of fresh air in 1976 when Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal was still fresh in voters’ memories. In today’s blame-shifting world they are even more so.
There could not be a starker contrast than between Carter and America’s once and future president, Donald Trump. In Trump’s early months in office Carter showed sympathy for the new president, taking his side against media critics, but that dissipated over Trump’s anti-migrant attitude and the trade war with China.
The January 2021 attack on Congress and ensuing court battles hardened Carter’s feelings about Trump. Just before his 100th birthday, in the final weeks of Trump’s election battle with Kamala Harris, his son Chip Carter asked him if the 100-year milestone was what kept him going. “He said, ‘No, I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris.’”
Six days of national mourning for Carter, ending on Thursday with multiple ceremonies in Washington and his home state of Georgia, are celebrating a presidency that drew its strength from honesty, knowledge, respect for others and, above all, a sense of personal moral obligation to humanity and all of nature. It all seems a lot longer than half a century ago.
This article was originally published in North Wind.
About Peter Boyer.
See also: Jimmy Carter, Israel and the Apartheid Question
Dear reader, we need your support
Independent sites like The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.
One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.
With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.
Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
Though there seems to be a division of opinion on whether or not in office Carter was a ‘faithful servant of Empire’, upon his leaving office he became very much his own man and did not hesitate to voice his thoughts on a variety of subjects – and often not in support of Empire. Consider for example the following quote, part of a longer article critical of American policy generally:
“…While there is a prevalent belief in the United States that the country almost always wages war for noble purposes and in defense of freedom, global public opinion and facts paint a very different picture. Most countries surveyed in a 2013 WIN/Gallup poll identified the United States as the greatest threat to world peace, and a 2017 Pew Research poll found that a record number of people in 30 surveyed nations viewed US power and influence as a “major threat.”..
“…The US has also invaded or bombed dozens of countries and supported nearly every single right wing dictatorship in the world since the end of World War II. It has overthrown or attempted to overthrow dozens of foreign governments since 1949 and has actively sought to crush nearly every single people’s liberation movement over that same period. It has also meddled in scores of elections, in countries that are allies and adversaries alike.”.
[ https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/18/jimmy-carter-us-most-warlike-nation-history-world ]
The reference to ‘allies’ is an oblique reference to the fate of the Whitlam Government and American meddling, for which Carter later apologised (off the record it seems).