🏆A gold standard for ex-Presidents.🏆
#39 and First Lady Rosalynn Carter embodied the greatest human traits: kindness, patience, and a commitment to global prosperity. Their achievements, to name a few:
☮️ The 1978 Camp David Accords, leading to the historic Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979.
🌏 The Carter Center, supporting democratic elections and health initiatives worldwide since 1982.
🏡🔨 Their stewardship with Habitat for Humanity International since 1976, spreading the work of housing dignity to millions of low-income residents and eager volunteers. Personally, they worked on over 4,300 homes across 14 countries.
Carter’s presidency was turbulent, of course. The Iranian hostage crisis and skyrocketing oil prices of 1979 were hard ones, indeed. Not to mention being challenged by Ted Kennedy for the Democratic nomination, and …
… an attack by a killer rabbit on his own farm, caught on camera!
A true story, recently re-told by the NYTimes:
My father, Brooks Jackson, broke the “Killer Rabbit” story for the AP wire in 1979. My dad was a serious and accomplished investigative journalist, but this was a slow news day in August. The rest is history. My parents delighted in telling Courtney Jackson Blair, MD and me the whole story, pulling out the scrapbook, curated by Mom, filled with clippings of the syndicated story from around the world.
The Killer Rabbit was a sneak preview of viral news to come and would have made a fantastic meme (not too late?). It may have also been an emblem of Carter’s waning presidency, but not to me. As with Dan Aykroyd’s great SNL portrayal of Carter, lovingly talking down a fellow American from a bad acid trip, the Killer Rabbit highlights Carter’s serenity and humanity. POTUS fishing alone in a johnboat, fending off a furious attacker with just a paddle, no need for the Secret Service, is its own zen.
One more personal note – I owe the Carters a personal debt of gratitude, as Habitat for Humanity International shaped my life profoundly. Working on HFH home repairs in rural West Virginia as a kid, and then on projects in the Bronx during college, taught me many things. It showed me how fulfilling it is to help others. It made me more curious about my neighbors and comfortable traveling to new communities. This, no doubt, led me to volunteer with the Peace Corps in Honduras after graduation, which led to the rest of my career. For all of that, I thank Jimmy and Rosalynn.
As we mourn this loss, I’m looking forward to hearing others’ impressions of this American great. A gentle giant. And for me, the Iron Man of US Presidents.
Rest in Peace, Mr and Mrs Carter.
MDJ Law Blog 
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