Saying goodbye to Jimmy Carter: He left the world — and Atlanta — a better place

Former President Jimmy Carter defied the odds in life.

On Aug. 20, 2015, Carter held a news conference to announce how melanoma had spread to his brain. For ordinary human beings, that would have been a death sentence. 

But Carter was no ordinary human being. 

Thanks to receiving treatment with a ground-breaking immunotherapy drug, Carter lived nearly another decade after his diagnosis.

Attending that press conference was eye-opening. Instead of hiding in the shadows, Carter gracefully answered questions from reporters – often injecting humor in what could have been a somber occasion.

Toward the end of the press conference, I asked him what he would most like to see accomplished before he died.  His answer on the international front was peace in the Middle East. 

For the Carter Center, he said: “I would like to see the guinea worm completely eradicated before I die. I would like for the last guinea worm to die before I do.”

On Sunday, as the former president lay in repose at the Carter Center, I had the opportunity to reflect on that moment with CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield on her weekend show. Carter died Dec. 29, nearly three months after he turned 100 on Oct. 1.

Doing the CNN interview gave me a time to reflect on what Carter has meant to Georgia, to Atlanta and to me.

Media coverage of his life has been inspirational and comprehensive — covering the many facets of his life, before, during and after his presidency. 

Instead of trying to capture all the amazing work Carter did for the world during his 100 years on Earth, I thought I would share a few personal stories and insights.

The first time I met Carter was in 1974 when he was governor. I was working as an intern for Creative Loafing, covering the “Save the Fox” efforts underway. At the time, Southern Bell was proposing to demolish the ornate Fox Theatre and build its company headquarters on the site. I used my platform as a journalist to do all I could to save the Fox.

So I attended a Gov. Carter press conference at the state capitol, where I asked what the state could do to save the Fox Theatre. Carter’s answer was disappointing to me. He said it was not a state issue but a local one. 

I also asked then-Mayor Maynard Jackson what he would do to save the Fox, and he admitted that he had bitter memories of taking a date to the movie theater and having to enter by the outdoor stairs to the balcony because Blacks weren’t allowed to enter from the Peachtree Street entrance. Jackson ultimately denied the demolition permit, which is why we are still able to relish the architectural marvel today.

When Carter was running for president in 1976, I was living in Massachusetts. That summer, I traveled around the South reading his book “Why Not the Best?” and Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi.” Surprisingly, Carter won — against all odds.

As president, Carter put Atlanta, Georgia and the South in the forefront. I loved how he partnered with rock and roll bands and folk artists to help catapult his presidential campaign. A documentary, “Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President,” helped tell that story. I later got to know Macon’s own Phil Walden of Walden Records, who was so proud of how the Allman Brothers and other acts had helped elect the only president from Georgia.

While president, Carter helped change the course of Atlanta. He helped make sure Atlanta was designated as an international gateway, allowing European and international carriers to fly directly to what is now Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Interestingly enough, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines opposed that designation. At the time, Delta’s most profitable flights were between Atlanta and New York for passengers flying to and from Europe. Providing direct connection from Atlanta to European cities would negate the need to fly to and from New York. 

Fortunately, Atlanta got the international designation thanks to lobbying from then-Gov. George Busbee and the Metro Atlanta Chamber, an effort led by economic development chief Roy Cooper.

I personally benefited from that designation. During the 1980s, I covered international business for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — a time when Andrew Young was mayor, when Delta was opening international gateways all over Europe and when the AJC had money.

When Carter returned to Atlanta and established the Carter Center and the Carter Library, there were many occasions when I witnessed his work up close.

In 1991 he launched “The Atlanta Project,” an ambitious five-year effort to reverse urban poverty by taking on homelessness, unemployment, teen pregnancy, health care crime and drugs. 

Again, Carter was motivated to leave the world — and Atlanta — a better place. 

In 2002, Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. The only other Georgian who has received the Nobel Peace Prize is Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964. 

Both men have been the bookends in the definition of Atlanta — a nexus for civil (King) and human rights (Carter). A geographic and spiritual axis exists between the Carter Center, the King Center and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Atlanta won the 1996 Summer Olympic Games because of its civil and human rights history.

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young was a key link between King, Carter and the Olympics. He played an important part in helping define the best of our city, and, in 2012, Young produced an hour-long documentary called “The Carter Legacy.” It’s worth watching. 

Lastly, I want to spotlight the work Carter did to help make Atlanta a center for global health and development. Bill Foege, an unsung hero in our city and world, became executive director of the Carter Center after serving as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Carter and Foege developed the life-saving efforts to provide health care, vaccines and medicines to people living in countries mired in poverty, civil war and disease.

That brings us back to the guinea worm.

No, Carter did not outlive the last guinea worm. But under the leadership of the Carter Center, the number of people afflicted with the debilitating infection has gone from nearly 3.6 million in 1986 to 14 in 2023. It’s possible that the number of people infected by the guinea worm in 2024 (we’ll know in March) will be in single digits.

But Carter’s work will live on — through the Carter Center primarily, and through so many of his other endeavors, such as Habitat for Humanity.

Yes, Carter left the world — and Atlanta — a better place.

Kelly Jordan of SaportaReport shares his photos of Jimmy Carter and remembrances of the former president.