Fond Memories of President Jimmy Carter

Many people around the world and in the United States are remembering former President Jimmy Carter including Kansas City's Geoff Jolley, Executive Director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation Greater Kansas City.

“As an Emory University student, I had the good fortune of meeting former President Carter on a handful of occasions. With the Carter Center just down the street, he was a “regular” on campus. He hosted his annual Carter Town Hall on campus, where he took questions from students, and would often hold book signings when he published a new book.

The photo above was from a dinner I was invited to attend with the former President and about 25 other Emory student leaders ahead of one of the Town Halls. The love that he and Mrs. Carter had was palpable, as they were often together during his visits, smiling and laughing, and walking hand-in- hand to and from the events.

A couple of these interactions stood out the most for me. First, during one of the Town Halls, a student asked him if he could have done anything differently as President, what would it have been. He thought carefully, and finally stated, “I wish I would have sent one more helicopter.” He then went on to explain the reference to the failed rescue mission in April 1980 of 53 U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran. The mission had to be aborted when only 5 of the initial 8 helicopters deployed were still operational. They had pre-determined to abort if less than 6 were operational. You could tell that still weighed heavily on him, more than 15 years later.

The second, and more light-hearted interaction was at one of his book signings. He was sitting at a table, signing the books as students walked up one at a time. He caught me off-guard when I walked up to his table. He paused his signing and looked up and asked if I played basketball. I indicated I did, but only for fun, not on the Emory team. He then proceeded to ask how tall I was. When I mentioned 6’4”, he responded with a quick chuckle and said, “I wish I was that tall” before resuming his signings.

President Carter’s post-Presidency activities thru the Carter Center and with Habitat for Humanity are legendary, and set an incredibly high standard for former Presidents
to continue to give back to our communities. At 100 years-old, he lived a very full life. But he always enjoyed “just” being a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia who happened to also be our 39th President. His kindness and candor will certainly be missed.

Please keep the Carter family, friends, former colleagues, and all those whose lives were impacted by President Carter in your thoughts and prayers tonight.
Our country lost a true servant leader.”

- KC Hispanic News Jan 2, 2025