Jimmy Carter’s selfless work for the poor and sick after he left office serves as a stinging rebuke to the venality of Blair and Cameron

Published by The Daily Mail (31st December, 2024)

When Jimmy Carter left the White House in 1981, he was one of the most reviled United States presidents in modern times after four difficult years at the helm of a troubled nation.

Having failed to restore faith in Washington following the traumas of Vietnam and Watergate, he was seen as a naive country bumpkin and crushed by the former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, who promised a fresh dawn for America.

Carter slunk back to Georgia, humiliated by the Iranian hostage crisis in which 53 US diplomats and citizens were held hostage in Iran for almost 15 months, from November 1979 to January 1981.

He was 56 years old, so deeply in debt he had to sell his beloved peanut farm and the butt of jokes by comedians about cardigans and his confession of looking at ‘a lot of women with lust’.

Yet almost half a century later, he has died with a very different legacy – as a man whose humanity, morality and simplicity stand in stark contrast with so many other politicians who besmirch democracies after leaving office with their pursuit of wealth and influence.

Carter’s reputation has been restored – partly due to fresh appraisal of his time in office, but largely down to his tireless efforts in retirement to help the poor, defeat devastating diseases, promote human rights and fight for peace.

Some are even hailing him as the greatest former president in US history after his death on Sunday at the age of 100, as he ensured millions of people around the planet can enjoy better lives as a result of his determination to do good.

He deserves such plaudits – especially at this time of a dangerous distrust in democracy.

His life offers a valuable reminder that people can remain decent and humble human beings in politics without allowing their souls to be corroded by power.

And his death should serve as a rebuke to leaders who leverage their time in high office into hard cash, oblivious to any mess or scandal left in their wake. Despite his financial struggles, Carter rejected the huge fees on offer for speeches or sitting on corporate boards. He refused to suck up to the billionaires, charlatans and dictators willing to pay hefty sums to recruit well-connected ex-politicians.

He lived modestly, saying he did not think it right to ‘capitalise financially on being in the White House’ and was never driven by a desire to become rich. So he did not pocket tens of millions of dollars like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama by exploiting some of the seductive private sector links on offer to ex-presidents, nor accumulate the great riches that flow so easily into the pockets of governors and senators.

And he did not attract the stench of opprobrium for advising repulsive dictatorships like Tony Blair, nor find himself embroiled, like David Cameron, in a grubby scandal by lobbying former colleagues on behalf of a spivvy financier.

Infamously, Blair built a major property empire valued at tens of millions of pounds with his opaque corporate earnings, while flitting around the world on private jets that have even been loaned by autocrats such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.

Blair is by far the most egregious British example of such contemptible behaviour – especially given his refusal to atone for the bloodshed and misery he helped inflict in the Middle East – but he is far from alone.

Cameron has cosied up to the Communist dictatorship in China. Theresa May, the vicar’s daughter who was such a dismal prime minister, manages to earn large sums for her infamously dull speeches – including a six-figure fee for one in Saudi Arabia. Even the calamitous Liz Truss has raked in handsome payments from such events.

Perhaps the most sickening Western example, however, is Gerhard Schroder, the former centre-Left leader of Germany, who is now a global pariah after taking highly-paid jobs on boards of Russian state enterprises doled out by his pal Vladimir Putin.

Instead the 39th President of the United States, who contented himself with commercial airline flights, returned with his wife Rosalynn to their two-bedroom bungalow sitting among the cotton and peanut fields of Plains, Georgia, and devoted himself to making the world a better place.

One journalist visiting seven years ago noted that the $167,000 house built by the couple themselves in 1961 was worth less than the cost of one of the armoured Secret Service vehicles parked outside. Carter’s study was in the converted garage.

Instead of strutting around the world to pontificate on global events and accumulate cash like Blair and so many other ousted Western politicians, the deeply religious Carter demonstrated his values with impressive deeds rather than smooth words.

He taught in his local Baptist Sunday school from his teens into his 90s, talking about the need to live a purposeful life. He gave one week a year to Habitat for Humanity, a charity building and renovating homes for poor families. Over 35 years he helped with 4,390 homes in 14 nations, working with his own hammer and tool belt alongside Rosalynn (who died last year).

Through his Carter Centre, set up in 1982, he became a dedicated advocate for peace and democracy, travelling the world to monitor 39 elections over his lifetime while holding peace talks and promoting human rights. Perhaps most impressively, he led the fight to wipe out some of the most horrible tropical diseases – most notably a disabling condition caused by the guinea worm, contracted when a person drinks water infected with the parasite’s larvae.

Dracunculiasis afflicted 3.5million of the world’s most marginalised people annually in Africa and Asia when he set out on this bold mission, speaking of his desire to live long enough to eradicate such cases. Incredibly, there were just 14 known incidents last year.

Like many in politics, Carter was ambitious. He could be calculating, leading to uncomfortable compromises, and seem sanctimonious. He also led the free world at a time of crisis, when it was beset by soaring inflation, recession and complex international problems.

Yet he clung more than most politicians to his principles and, despite rising to the most powerful job on the planet, never lost touch with his humble roots.

The achievements in his later life stand in contrast to all those other arrogant and self-serving politicians who seem to think electoral success elevates them above other mortals – and that a stint in power entitles them to great wealth.

Is it any wonder there is dwindling faith in politics when voters see politicians who preach earnestly about improving the world ditch their claimed values in retirement to stick their snouts in the trough or hobnob with despots?

Often they cling to the trappings of power and privilege as they strut around the world stage, demanding huge sums for banal speeches to feather their nests.

So yes, Jimmy Carter deserves admiration. Not so much for his achievements in office, although some undoubtedly merit applause, but for proving in retirement that some politicians really can achieve more after they leave office than when in power.

Categorised in: home feature, United States, World