| Dear Readers: As the nation remembers Jimmy Carter, Larry Sabato shares some brief thoughts on the former president, who told us long ago that he was a Crystal Ball reader and who spoke to Sabato’s class in 1986 (pictured below).
Bryan McKenzie of UVA Today also recently explored Carter’s connections to the university. — The Editors |
Everyone has a Jimmy Carter story. He must have met millions, individually. After all, has any other ex-president flown commercial airlines, while going up and down the aisle to greet and chat with each passenger?
I was lucky to have had some encounters with Carter over the years. One was at his 1976 Democratic National Convention, then at his Inauguration on Jan. 20, 1977, and at the White House on occasion. (The most memorable was for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979.)
But nothing in my experience compares to former President Carter’s lecture and Q&A at my Introduction to American Politics class in March 1986. Wilson Auditorium seats about 350 students, yet somehow about double that number managed to squeeze in for the event. (The fire marshal wasn’t happy, and neither were the Secret Service agents.)
When Carter entered, there was an explosion of cheers and applause as loud as any I’ve ever heard at a sporting match. The former president was delighted and gave his famous grin. He mainly took questions from the students, and answered directly and honestly, whether about his failure to rescue the American hostages in Iran or even painful family matters. President Carter encouraged them all to get involved and stay involved in politics, win or lose.
To this day, I still have students from that special class tell me how much Carter’s visit and words affected them. In meetings and interviews in the decades that followed, Carter never failed to mention to me the exuberance of that University of Virginia class.
Whatever your age, or your politics or ideology, you can’t go wrong following President Carter’s advice. He inspired his UVA audience then, and his life of stunning accomplishment and pure public service will forever give good example to all Americans. Thank you, Mr. President.