How Jimmy Carter integrated his evangelical Christian faith into his political work, despite mockery and misunderstanding

Jimmy Carter meets with news editors at the White House on April 15, 1977. AP Photo/Charles Bennett

BY LORI AMBER ROESSNER

ā€œI am a farmer, an engineer, a businessman, a planner, a scientist, a governor, and a Christian,ā€ Jimmy Carter said while introducing himself to national political reporters when he announced his campaign to be the 39th president of the United States in December 1974.

As journalists and historians consider Carterā€™s legacy, this prelude to Carterā€™s campaign offers insight into how he wanted to be known and how he might like to be remembered.

After studying Carterā€™s presidential campaign, presidency and post-presidency for years, which included examining more than 25,000 archival documents, media sources, oral histories and interviews, I wrote ā€œJimmy Carter and the Birth of the Marathon Media Campaign.ā€ Along the way, I had the opportunity to interview former President Carter in October 2014, when we discussed his life, his presidency and his legacy.

Based upon this experience, one observation is certain ā€“ Carter was a man of faith committed to a vision of the nation that aligned with his views of Jesusā€™ teachings.
A campaign cloaked in a message of love and justice

In the fall of 1975, after his initial announcement failed to elicit much national attention for his candidacy, the still relatively unknown Georgia governor published the campaign biography, ā€œWhy Not the Best?ā€

Within the book, he told the story of his wholesome childhood on his familyā€™s peanut farm in Archery, Georgia, and of achieving his childhood dream through his appointment to the Naval Academy in 1943.

He wrote of his dedication to his family as a loyal son, husband and father and his duty-bound career transition to manage his family-owned peanut farm, warehouse and store after his father Earl Carterā€™s premature death from pancreatic cancer in 1953. He also shared his lifelong commitment to community and public service.

Moreover, he offered himself as a public servant who could bridge the chasm between the American people and the government that had emerged after the revelations of presidential corruption amid Vietnam and Watergate.

ā€œOur government can and must represent the best and the highest ideals of those of us who voluntarily submit to its authority. In our third century, we must meet these simple, but crucial standards,ā€ he wrote in the campaign biography.

Though Carter cloaked his campaign in Jesusā€™ teachings about love and justice, most national reporters did not give Carterā€™s faith much attention until he became the Democratic Partyā€™s front-runner in advance of the North Carolina primary in 1976.
ā€˜Lust in my heartā€™

When national reporters finally turned their attention to his faith, what campaign director Hamilton Jordan referred to as Carterā€™s ā€œweirdo factor,ā€ the evangelical politician acknowledged that he had ā€œspent more time on my knees in the four years I was governor ā€¦ than I did in all the rest of my life.ā€

Carter continued to share his understanding of the gospel with journalists and their audiences in a plain-spoken manner, even though it was not always advantageous to his political fortunes. For instance, after continued probes about his faith that summer from Playboy Magazine correspondent Robert Scheer, Carter launched into a sermon on pride, lust and lying that would haunt him later.

ā€œI try not to commit a deliberate sin. I recognize that Iā€™m going to do it anyhow, because Iā€™m human and Iā€™m tempted ā€¦ Iā€™ve looked on a lot of women with lust,ā€ Carter, believing he was off the record, said in attempting to clarify his religious views. ā€œIā€™ve committed adultery in my heart many times.ā€

Carter referred to Matthew 5:28, the biblical passage in which Jesus shares this interpretation of the Seventh Commandment, with the words: ā€œBut I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.ā€

Uninterrupted, Carter continued his salty explanation of the verse: ā€œChrist says donā€™t consider yourself better than someone else because one guy screws a whole bunch of women while the other guy is loyal to his wife.ā€

ā€œWe have heard Jesusā€™ words all our lives ever since we were 3, 4 years old, and we knew what it meant,ā€ Carter later explained to me. ā€œBut, obviously, the general public, when I said, ā€˜lust in my heart,ā€™ that was a top headline, it looked like I was ā€“ like I spent my time trying to seduce other women. Rosa(lynn) knew that wasnā€™t true.ā€

Though Carterā€™s comments were ā€œon solid theological ground,ā€ according to many people of faith, up-and-coming leaders of the religious right, such as televangelist Jerry Falwell, castigated Carter. And, in the end, many folks agreed with well-regarded columnist Mary McGrory ā€“ the interview ā€œshould have been an off-the-record conversation with God, not one taped by Playboy.ā€
Crisis of confidence

Despite the erosion of support among the emerging religious right after the Playboy gaffe, Carter remained steadfast in his commitment to his Christian values and a faith-inspired vision for the nation that advanced human rights at home and abroad. He called it a ā€œnew beginning.ā€

Carter beseeched his American brethren to chart a new course during his inaugural address in January 1977: ā€œOur commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved; the powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.ā€

Carter had achieved what Time magazine hailed as one of the most astonishing ā€œpolitical miraclesā€ in the nationā€™s history because of his rapid ascension from a virtual unknown politician to the presidency. But many citizens, suffering from an emerging crisis of confidence in the American dream and faith in its institutions and leaders, had already begun to tune out Carterā€™s political sermons about the looming energy crisis, stagflation and international conflicts.

Moreover, in the coming years, they would become indignant toward the man who had condemned the corruption of his predecessors and promised to never tell a lie on the campaign trail, yet remained loyal to one of his oldest advisers, the Office of Management and Budget Director Bert Lance, who was accused of unethical banking practices.
Long-lasting commitment to public service

In the end, Carter stood accused of failing to live up to his campaign promises from the vantage point of many American citizens amid domestic crises and foreign conflicts.

Amid news coverage of these events and his dwindling public support, Carter lost his reelection campaign, and his administration was hailed by many journalists, political insiders and average Americans alike as a ā€œfailed presidency.ā€

Nevertheless, Carter remained committed to his religious convictions. ā€œI have spoken many times of love, but love must be aggressively translated into simple justice,ā€ he invoked his audience when he accepted the Democratic nomination in July 1976.

For the remainder of his life, he attempted to model the translation of Jesusā€™ love into action through his life of public service. His post-presidential commitments involved The Carter Centerā€™s initiatives of fighting disease and seeking international peace and his private efforts of building homes for Habitat for Humanity and teaching Sunday school.

In the end, Carter will leave this world with only one acknowledged regret: ā€œI wish Iā€™d sent one more helicopter to get the hostages and we would have rescued them and I would have been re-elected,ā€ he said referring to the April 1980 military rescue attempt of the 53 U.S. hostages held by Iranian revolutionaries.

In Carterā€™s final days, his words from his presidential farewell address, which remain true today, are worth remembering:

ā€œThe battle for human rights ā€“ at home and abroad ā€“ is far from over. ā€¦ If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights, we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and values which we espouse around the world: A decent education for our children, adequate medical care for all Americans, an end to discrimination against minorities and women, a job for all those able to work, and freedom from injustice and religious intolerance.ā€

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