FEATURE
Charm, Conviction and, Yes, Controversy ot content to live the life of a quiet and benign elder statesman, former President Jimmy Carter ’47 founded an activist organization firmly rooted in scholarly research. At The Carter Center, he is intimately involved with day-to-day operations and spends at least one week each month at the headquarters in Atlanta, GA. In the week Shipmate visited the Center, the 90-year-old Carter had just returned from a 10-day trip to Beijing, Qingdao, Xian and Shanghai, China; was on tap to meet with students at Emory University for the 33rd Annual Town Hall, where he is a distinguished professor; was scheduled to speak with guests at the Center at “A Conversation with the Carters” event; and attended the Atlanta Falcons game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In what many call his fourth career— the first three being farmer, naval officer and politician, President Carter, along with his wife Rosalynn Carter, founded The Carter Center in 1982. “We concentrate on two main issues—peace and human rights,” explained Carter. “We interpret human
N
Former President Jimmy Carter addresses sailors and guests in the hangar bay during a visit aboard the aircraft carrier CARL VINSON (CVN 70) as part of The Carter Center visit in February 2013. Photo by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Timothy A. Hazel
24
SHIPMATE
rights in the broadest way possible. At The Carter Center, we believe that a human right is a home in which to live, food to eat, medical care, adequate education as well as the right for freedom and electing your own officials.” The Carter Center has observed nearly 100 elections around the world and is dedicated to promoting democracy and freedom. Carter tied his current work to his past by describing it as “doing the same thing that I learned as a Naval Academy midshipman and later in public life.” Born in 1924 in Plains, GA, Jimmy Carter’s humble beginnings on a peanut farm are well documented as was his rise to be the first, and only, Naval Academy graduate to serve as president. He was the first in his family to finish high school and have ambitions for college. As a child of the Great Depression, he knew he needed to attend a school for free. He had two choices—the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Naval Academy. “If anybody asked me ‘what do you want to do when you grow up?’ I didn’t