# Jimmy Carter **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748 "2015-08-13T15:39:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/1 "2015-08-13T15:39:25Z")
President Carter is 90 years old and [has just been diagnosed](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/12/431967529/former-president-jimmy-carter-reveals-cancer-diagnosis) with metastasized cancer. It’s a good time to thank him for being one of the greatest and most decent men of our time. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/2 "2015-08-13T16:10:25Z")
They’re trying to put a brave face on it, but it sounds pretty grim. This is what they call “Stage 4” cancer, right? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/3 "2015-08-13T16:28:50Z")
History will be kind to him and I’ll always think he’s the most underrated president in history. I’m sorry to see such a terrible disease strike such a good person. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/4 "2015-08-13T16:34:10Z")
He’s a good person, but not too good as a _president_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/5 "2015-08-13T16:40:49Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > They’re trying to put a brave face on it, but it sounds pretty grim. I heard this on the radio yesterday. They said that the cancer ‘had spread’. President Obama sent Carter his wishes for a complete and speedy recovery. I thought, ‘If it metastasised, he’s a goner.’ Carter was President during a rough time in American history. America’s involvement in the war in Vietnam had recently ended, South Vietnam had more recently fallen, Nixon had disgraced the country (and, I think, really started the ball rolling on the ideological problems we’re having today), OPEC embargoed oil in 1973, and would again in 1979. Carter spoke truth to the American people, telling us we need to conserve energy. ‘Put on a sweater.’ But we didn’t want to hear it. Carter allowed the Shah of Iran to come to the United States for medical treatment. Regardless of how ‘evil’ the Shah may have been, it was the Christian thing to do. He failed to solve the Hostage Crisis diplomatically, refusing to send a dying man back to the country that hated him. It would have been politically expedient, but in his Christian view it would have been morally wrong. He _did_ try to rescue the hostages; but people only remember that the mission failed, and blamed Carter for the collision that caused it to fail. Jimmy Carter may not have been the best president we’ve had. Many people would say he’s one of the worst. I think he’s somewhere in the middle, and was beset by problems – some of which I’ve enumerated – that were beyond his control. In my opinion he’s had the best after-presidency of anyone. He’s a good egg. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/6 "2015-08-13T16:41:34Z")
I think Carter was the greatest ex-president in US history. He’s done more with his status as an ex-president than most presidents were able to achieve while in office (himself included). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/7 "2015-08-13T16:53:32Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > He’s a good person, but not too good as a _president_. That’s okay. There are some great people who weren’t particularly great as President. At least Carter is remembered with more respect and fondness than Herbert Hoover, whose entire [legacy as a humanitarian](http://www.hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/Hooverstory/gallery02/index.html) has been completely overlooked because he was the wrong President at the wrong time. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/8 "2015-08-13T16:56:22Z")
There have been worse presidents. He’s had a good life, but he’s not gone quite yet. Unfortunately he’ll be remembered in vastly different ways depending on one’s political orientation. There was an organized smear campaign by the Reagan administration against Carter. He had to take the heat as the representative of liberal democrats since LBJ and JFK were long gone. It was a their way of ignoring how much better a president he was than the two that preceded him. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/9 "2015-08-13T17:05:54Z")
His only failing as president is that he was too honest, which turns out to be not all that compatible with being a good politician. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/10 "2015-08-13T17:59:12Z")
I didn’t like him because he took the USA out of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because the Evil Empire had invaded. . . Afghanistan. Then the Evil Empire, and most of their cohorts, boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. After the 1980 boycott, at first, they had said that they still planned to be in Los Angeles in 1984, but apparently they changed their mind. Other than that, I feel kinda ‘meh’ about him–but still sad to hear he has metastasized cancer. Most people probably know he had two siblings that died of pancreatic cancer in their 50s. They haven’t disclosed the source yet, so far as I know, only that the mass he had treatment for was on his liver. I suspect his treatment options will be somewhat limited. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/11 "2015-08-13T18:02:24Z")
He brought peace to Israel and Egypt. That’s enough for anyone to claim. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/12 "2015-08-13T18:03:54Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I didn’t like him because he took the USA out of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because the Evil Empire had invaded. . . Afghanistan. That was one of the best things he did. It sent the Soviet Union into a tailspin that only Reagan could pull them out of. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/13 "2015-08-13T18:04:20Z")
One reason I really don’t like Iran is because they waited until just after Ronald Reagan took the oath of office to release the American hostages they were holding. That way, even though the work had been done, and the atrocity of kidnapping had been committed during Carter’s term, the release would come, technically speaking, while Reagan was POTUS. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/14 "2015-08-13T18:07:22Z")
My wife and I figured that (if we’re correct) he’s had the longest post-presidential career in the country’s history: This January will be the 35th anniversary of his leaving office. He’s done a lifetime of good work in those 35 years. In fact, we decided that Carter has had the longest post-presidential life, and that George HW Bush has lived the longest overall. It’s amazing that they’re both kicking around. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/15 "2015-08-13T18:42:31Z")
He’s had great run especially considering that pancreatic cancer killed his siblings at a premature age, two of them in their 50’s, one in her 60’s. I got to see him speak at a Georgia State University commencement speech just a few years back. He seems like a genuinely good person that cares a lot about his fellow man. I can’t comment much about his presidency as I wasn’t alive then, but it seemed like it was a trying time for the country as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/16 "2015-08-13T19:58:38Z")
Mr. Carter was not a successful president, although he was not without victories during his tenure. But he was upright, honest, truthful and trustworthy when the country badly needed that in its leader. What he has done since his presidency is the true measure of this man. He has touched innumerable lives for the better, and he has done it leading by example. When he was here in Denver working for Habitat, he was swinging a hammer as vigorously as men half his age, and was unfailingly kind and courteous to everyone, graciously posing for picture and signing autographs without ever indicating it was an interruption or imposition. He’s sometimes come across in the media as a bit of a grumpy old man, and he’d probably want you off his lawn 🙂 , but he has lived his beliefs honestly and with integrity, and I admire him for that. Best of luck to you, Mr. Carter, in the fight of your life. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/17 "2015-08-13T20:09:09Z")
I thought Bush 41 would be the next President to kick the bucket, and he still might. Carter is a tough cookie but you don’t recover from metasticized cancer very well at any age, much less 90. The Carters have been married almost 70 years. That’s incredible. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/18 "2015-08-13T20:18:19Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > In fact, we decided that Carter has had the longest post-presidential life, and that George HW Bush has lived the longest overall. It’s amazing that they’re both kicking around. Assuming you’re limiting it to those who are still living, that’s correct. They still have two to three years to go to catch up to Ford’s and Reagan’s lifespan. (Coming in fifth for longest-lived president is John Adams, who held the record for a long time.) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/19 "2015-08-13T20:23:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Assuming you’re limiting it to those who are still living, that’s correct. They still have two to three years to go to catch up to Ford’s and Reagan’s lifespan. (Coming in fifth for longest-lived president is John Adams, who held the record for a long time.) And only this year did Adams get bumped from #3 to #5 by both Bush and Carter. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748/20 "2015-08-13T20:31:08Z")
God’s grace to him and to his wife and family. Regards, Shodan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter/727748.md?page=2)