Jimmy Carter taught my class. His is a legacy of peace and service beyond presidency | Opinion

The post-presidency of Jimmy Carter will go down in history as the most successful and effective in American history, including earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for championing human rights. His efforts toward peacekeeping around the globe both during and after his presidency are legend.

As president he invited Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Camp David in Maryland to negotiate a peace agreement, which became the Camp David Accords, often described as the most significant diplomatic accomplishment by a president in modern history.

His and Rosalynn Carter’s work with Habitat for Humanity offered hope to those searching for a decent place to live, and it also established a legacy of volunteering for folks to follow. He was, in many respects, America’s first informal president, choosing to use Jimmy instead of James, and dressing as president like he was still tending to his peanut farm in Georgia. There was that smile that projected a humility not often found in the presidency — certainly not in the man about to be inaugurated.

It’s not often citizens get to see presidents up close and personal, but back when I was teaching in Illinois’ capital city of Springfield, I did. The graduate course was Public Finance and Budgeting. Many of my students were state government employees working on a master’s degree in public administration. I had assigned a book written by Peter Phyrr on zero-base budgeting that Phyrr had implemented at Texas Instruments, and then was asked to help then-Gov. Carter implement it across Georgia state government.

Zero-base budgeting was a financial tool that examined not just the incremental increase an agency requested, but also reviewed the base of the budget with the intent to eliminate historic wasteful spending built into the budget over the years. When my class studied public finance and budgeting in the mid-’70s, Carter as Georgia governor had popularized zero-base budgeting in the states, and he would later as president attempt its introduction in the federal government, but it never took hold.

As I entered the building the evening of my class, I noticed a considerable buzz and asked what the fuss was all about. “Oh,” said one of the organizers of the event, “Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia is upstairs where he is speaking about his candidacy for president.”

Immediately, I realized the coincidence of my teaching zero-base budgeting, and here was the guy making it a household word in budgeting circles. During a class break, I found Carter’s aide and asked if the governor could come down to my class after his campaign appearance and talk about zero-base budgeting. As good staffers do, he told me it was a very long day, and they were headed for Chicago early in the morning. He didn’t think it was possible.

I met with my class and informed them of Carter’s presence upstairs. I remember having to explain just who this guy was, an unknown commodity on the presidential campaign circuit at the time and unlikely to survive the primary gauntlet, much less the general election. About halfway through the remaining time in class, in walks Carter.

As he approached the front of the class, he spotted Phyrr’s book and exclaimed, “Oh, you have Peter’s book.” He moved the book to the edge of the table, sat on its edge, rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to explain exactly how he had implemented zero-base budgeting in Georgia.

What surprised and impressed us was how obvious it was that this governor was hands-on. It was clear he knew the details of his administration’s work in finance and budgeting.

In retrospect, we would not have been surprised by Carter’s intelligent command of details had we known at the time that this largely unknown Georgia governor graduated 10th in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy and was chosen for elite nuclear submarine duty under Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the Nuclear Navy. Throughout his career, Carter would credit Rickover for inspiring him to give his best in all he accomplished.

When I think back on that moment when my class and I met a future president, I can’t help thinking what a decent man he was. So kind and considerate to give of his time to students interested in government administration. “Kind and considerate.” Those words are absent without leave in the Trump world, especially at his MAGA rallies, where he rejoices in bringing his vicious and vengeful pronouncements to crowds that feast on his every word.

Without a doubt, Carter’s presidency was a troubled one, beset by an oil crisis, outrageous interest rates and the Iranian hostage crisis that occurred just a year before his reelection campaign, in which he was defeated by President Ronald Reagan.

But, way ahead of his time, he is largely forgotten for installing those solar panels on the White House roof — which Reagan removed in his devotion to oil. Thomas Friedman reminded us in a recent New York Times column that one of those solar panels wound up in China’s Solar Science and Technology Museum in Dezhou. Today China controls roughly 80% of the world’s photovoltaic solar panels. Reagan missed a bet that China won big-time.

Assessments of the man and his presidency have flooded the airwaves and digital spaces, but it’s a quote I read on YouTube that sums it up nicely, considering all aspects of his presidency and his life. It’s particularly appropriate for those who might look at the man and his presidency through a narrow, partisan lens that blurs their vision of the big picture.

“I was never a fan of Carter, but I’ve got to hand it to him, looking at this life as a sort of a boot camp before the afterlife, he was more successful than I’ve been. My hat’s off to him. It seems to have been a life well lived.”

A life well lived, indeed.