When Jimmy Carter set out to forge a legacy in his post-White House years, he not only created the Carter Center, but also wrote stacks of books documenting his political and personal history.
He was not the most prolific U.S. president (Theodore Roosevelt authored about three dozen works), but Carter and his word processor galloped through a multitude of genres before his death at age 100 on Sunday.
His 32 books include personal histories, political memoirs, a novel, poems, spiritual lessons, guides to aging, Middle East critiques, lectures and a children’s book. Some became best sellers, all are valuable to historians. Many, especially those about his Georgia experiences, are rewarding reads.
Even so, Carter’s writing can be exasperating. The trained engineer was not prone to the creative phrase or an engaging narrative voice. In “Sources of Strength” (1997) he notes that while his evangelist sister Ruth Carter Stapleton prayed as though she was talking with a friend, “my prayers are usually more formal, as I speak somewhat cautiously to Almighty God.”
Jimmy Carter wrote like he prayed. Even in his personal memoirs, readers are often kept at a distance, as if an inner Secret Service agent were standing guard over his deepest self. New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani found that in “Always a Reckoning” (1995), Carter’s poems “plod earnestly from Point A to Point B without ever making the leap into emotional hyperspace.” Washington Post reviewer Jonathan Yardley declared Carter’s “White House Diary” (2010) to be “stupendously dull.” Many of his books repeat themselves or read like over-extended opinion pieces.
There are hints that Carter didn’t appreciate being edited. Peter Osnos, who says he worked closely with Carter on “Living Faith” (1996), read the first draft and made suggestions that led to “several very stiff exchanges.” When Carter co-authored “Everything to Gain” (1987) with wife Rosalynn, he wrote only half-jokingly that the process threatened “the stability of our marriage.”
Credit: Jemal Countess
Credit: Jemal Countess
It’s possible this disinclination to editorial input cost him in his peacemaking pursuits. “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” (2006) created a national and local furor. Some members of the Carter Center advisory board resigned and Jewish organizations bought ads to sharply protest Carter’s stance. In “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land” (2009), Carter blames much of the outrage on his use of “apartheid” in the title. Questions arise: Did no editor or colleague raise a red flag over the word? Would Carter have heeded their reservations?
The irony is that Carter’s books are valuable precisely because they are his own work and bespeak the earnestness Kakutani laments in his poetry. In “Sources of Strength,” perhaps the key piece in the jigsaw puzzle of his personality, Carter writes that “the most important goal most people share…is…to live in a truly meaningful way.” His written words also reveal the virtues, tics, talents and contradictions of the man. “White House Diary” attacks the late Sen. Ted Kennedy — with what seems disproportionate venom — for, among other things, condemning Carter’s health care plan. Yet in the earlier “Living Faith” (1996), the former president preaches forgiveness, then laments his own hypocrisy: “Most of my lingering resentments relate to our time in Washington. In some cases, I have said, ‘I can’t forgive that jerk!’”
Carter’s books, at bottom, are about struggle: to overcome his personal faults, to bring meaning to his life and legacy, to battle injustice, to free the hostages in Iran, to come to terms with losing the presidency, to negotiate peace, to harness slippery language.
The last struggle may have been the most challenging. William Zinsser, in his guide “On Writing Well,” cited President Carter for signing an executive order directing that federal regulations be written “simply and clearly.”
But as Carter mused in a post-White House poem: “Now when I seek efficient words / to say what I believe is true / or have a dream I want to share / the vagueness is still there.” Language in federal regulations was one thing; language in literature proved to be another.
RECOMMENDED READING
An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood (2001): The best seller traces Carter’s boyhood during the Depression in Georgia, is honest about Southern race issues and provides background on formation of his values.
Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age (1992): The story of Carter’s 1962 campaign for the Georgia Senate draws a shocking portrait of local politics. Oddly, Carter never wrote a book on his term as governor.
Living Faith (1996), Sources of Strength (1997): The closest we get to the inner man, Carter explains in the first book how his creed developed through life. The second contains 52 Sunday school lessons that provide eye-opening glimpses of a remarkable psyche.
Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope (2007): Describes the amazing scope of the Carter Center’s work, from negotiations in Haiti to eradicating Guinea worm in Ghana.
The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War (2003): This is flawed fiction about Deep South patriots in the Revolutionary War, but it deserves better than one snooty review headline: “Founding Bubbas.” As The Texas Observer noted, it is also “a studious reminder not to take the South for granted.”
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