It was my good fortune, after graduating from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in 1982, to be accepted as an intern at the newly-founded Carter Center in Atlanta. The Dean of my seminary, the Rev. Dr. Jim Waits, the first director of the Carter Center, was also from Mississippi, and he was aware that then-Governor William Winter was my cousin and mentor, and knew that I was interested in politics. So he kindly connected me to the Center.
While I served as an intern, I had the opportunity to meet President Carter. I was so taken by his intellect, graciousness and candor. Because no decision had been made yet about what the mission of the Carter Center was going to be, we interns were given various topics to research that held an interest to President Carter. I was asked to write two working papers focused upon Energy and the Environment. During his administration (1977 to ‘81), President Carter proposed policies that promoted energy efficiency and sought to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil. And for those reasons, he supported American manufacturers moving toward building smaller cars and decreasing the interstate speed limit to 55 mph from 70. Both of these policies were met with strenuous public disapproval. (It seems to me that Americans in the ‘70s forgot about President Kennedy’s challenge in the previous decade to make personal sacrifices by not asking what the country could do for its citizens, but by asking what we could do for our country.) After a time of discernment, Health and Peace were chosen as the mission directives for the Carter Center. I was disappointed that neither Energy nor the Environment were selected, but I wholeheartedly supported the chosen focus of the Center.
It was during this time period that I started to become less politically idealistic and developed a more clear-eyed sense of how people’s opinions are formed. For instance, I learned that facts aren’t often the prime determinants for popular understanding, and if one stated a non-fact frequently enough, many people would believe that this is true. Case in point, the consistent, popular refrain at the time was that Ronald Reagan was the fiscal conservative, and Jimmy Carter was the big-spending liberal. This was contrary to the evidence. In the Carter administration’s last budget, the fiscal year ended with an $80 billion deficit. President Reagan’s budgets quickly jumped to having over $200 billion in deficits.
During this period of mourning President Carter’s death, I’ve been reflecting on his legacy. He’s the only person I can think of for whom the presidency was a stepping-stone to continuing and expanding his service to the country and to the world. For many others who have occupied that office, their tenure was by far the high point of their career. For Mr. Carter, I see in his four years as President the seeds of what continued to blossom and grow throughout the rest of his life, as evidenced by his lifelong work to seek peaceful solutions to conflict, advance human rights, fight and heal disease, and to promote democracy through the monitoring of elections. For his commitment and service to all peoples of the world, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
After serving as an intern, my personal connection with President Carter became less direct. My consulting firm assisted the Carter Center with its fundraising. And my business partner, Calder Sinclair, served on both the Board of Councilors and the Philanthropy Council for the Center.
A kindness that I will always cherish was President Carter signing a blessing to our newborn son on his stationery carrying the Presidential seal that welcomed Robert Buehler Townes “to a wonderful family, a fine state, and a great nation.” Lynnsay and I had the letter framed and placed it in Robert’s room.
I’m so very grateful for the life of Jimmy Carter, his dedication to living his Christian faith, and his life of integrity - ever-expanding his heart to include all peoples as worthy of attention and care. He helped make our nation and the world a better place in which to live.
Robert Townes is from Grenada and often visits Jackson.
