On December 29th, when news arrived of the passing of Jimmy Carter at age 100, I wrote the following preamble on my Facebook timeline in reference to a letter I had written 30+ years ago:
"Today marked the end of the ONLY US POTUS I held with high regard in my entire time in this country. No one else even came close, and of course the Rs have been the absolute dregs of humanity's cauldron.
"30+ years ago I wrote a letter to Discovery Magazine in support of, and admiration for Jimmy Carter, then needlessly maligned as 'ineffective' in war-making, a virtue in my books. The letter received some attention, including many favorable ones from ordinary Americans who wrote to me personally. There were a few negative ones also, from especially avowed muscle-flexers from the Reagan brigade.
"I will have more to say later about a genuine, practicing 'Christian' who actually led a life guided by nobility and principles- a far cry from the religious whackos and charlatans polluting civilization and civility every single day. I will never forget JC declaring that he will 'remain alive in hospice care' only long enough that he could cast a vote for Kamala Harris in opposition to the orange monster and his dreadful, gutter-dwelling entourage. It is truly sad the monster was voted in, pushing the human world further towards self-destruction. JC was literally just around long enough to cast his vote- not too long after his devoted partner Rosalynn had also passed on."
And then, about a week later, I wrote the following on my timeline in remembrance of my 1991 letter to the TDC Editor:
"To add to my previous brief tribute to the dearly departed noble soul, Jimmy Carter, I am adding here a facsimile (in .jpg segments) of an older letter from me to The Discovery Channel (TDC) magazine, back in 1991, defending JC against needless slurs that appeared in the preceding edition of the magazine, describing him as an inept leader. I will attempt to combine this, along with a pro-Reagan, malignant letter that appeared in a follow-up issue of TDC ('he can be an effective carpenter for Habitat for Humanity', said the holy, muscular, manly American), with the previous tribute for a fuller version suitable for OpEdNews, I will post the negative rebuttal letter later" [ "2025 addendum: Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, I do not have that October issue of TDC to share that contrarian, anti-Carter letter- MRC"]
[From the August 1991 issue of the TDC Magazine, transcribed version of letter images affixed]
-- I take exception to the barrage of vicious epithets hurled at Jimmy Carter in the "Letters" section of your June issue. I found your "Carter debate" unmistakably biased against a man I consider the only American politician alive with noble and statesmanlike attributes.
It is sad enough that the last ten years have seen the overwhelming return of McCarthyism in the disguise of patriotism and strength administered by jaded brute force and circumvention of the democratic process ["2025 addendum: may I state here how pertinent these comments seem 34 years later to ring to mightily true, amplified 10-fold in the gruesome age of maga and DJT, where vileness and crudeness are the order of the day- MRC"]. What makes this rampant decline of political ethics and simple human decency is the extent of popular support afforded to devious political propagandists sowing the seeds of mistrust and hatred ["2025 addendum: once again, so tragically pertinent today- MRC "].
The letters that appeared in your June issue are a testimony of the meanness of spirit fostered by the mean and bigoted politics of the last decade, complete with name-calling and unrelenting glorification of force and military adventurism.
Jimmy Carter is a gentle humanitarian whose words come from the heart, who feels and cares deeply about ordinary human beings, not just here in America, not just in Hollywood's tinseltown, but everywhere. Jimmy Carter does not embark upon million-dollar speaking engagements, nor is he a trumped-up ["2025 addendum: note especially the relevance of the coincidental insertion of a properly reviled symbol of everything base- MRC "] "communicator" a la master showman sans an iota of substance.
Perhaps these are not the times for honest and caring leadership. After all, we are caught up in a time frame where a small coterie within a government defies the laws of the nation to run an arms-trade operation, and comes out of it virtually unscathed. In light of more recent revelations, it would appear that the threads of that operation may reach into the 1980 presidential election itself, if only the truth were ever revealed.
Compassionate and visionary Jimmy Carter may be vilified today (and history shows he is in pretty good company), but I have the utmost faith that in the centuries to come, Jimmy Carter will be fondly remembered and honored for his stand on human rights and dignity, his simple directness and honesty, his achievements at Camp David, and his sincere efforts to create a world at peace with itself, long after the misguided, feel-good years of Ronald Reagan have been forgotten. [signed] Monish Chatterjee, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York. ....
I must mention here that in the past, upon the passing of impactful human figures around the world, I have written narrative poems (a partial list would include Harry Belafonte, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Winnie Mandela and several others widely and not-so-widely known). For Jimmy Carter, I have much to say and write (as I have in the past for Howard Zinn, Gore Vidal and others), and hence this narrative text expressing my tribute. If I may mention here, there is a relatively small number of US Presidents I actually admire. They are essentially represented by these six: John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, Dwight D Eisenhower, John F Kennedy (with some minor reservations) and lastly, James E Carter, Jr.
Out of this list, JC genuinely represents a truly Christ-like figure walking the earth in our own time. The sparkle in his eyes and the pure transparency of his heart are unlike anything I have seen in a political figure (only Lal Bahadur Shastri from India comes to mind as a parallel). In a life of 100 years- it is unimaginable how he most unassumingly spent his years serving his fellow humans across the world. It was all hands-on, it was right there on the ground. I have followed and contributed to both the Carter Center and Habitats for Humanity for several decades now- spurred mainly by the inspiring example set by JC (along with his lifetime partner, Rosalynn). Being that he took on the mantle of POTUS in a highly imperial and aggressive political setup which is the history of the US, resulted understandably in issues and actions from JC's presidency I may not (and in some cases, do not agree with; however, he truly walked and worked as close to a prototype of the exemplar Jesus Christ whom he served through his words and actions throughout his life.
We cannot forget his courage in putting his thoughts regarding the oppression of the Palestinian people in a book, Palestine- Peace not Apartheid. This obviously did not endear him to many who (happily or by tacit nonchalance) vigorously support the genocide in Gaza and elsewhere in that artificially created pocket of conflict. Being popular or politically correct was not the code of life for Jimmy Carter. He went around the world monitoring the democratic electoral processes and offering advice. I simply cannot imagine how the absolute barbaric and crude flaunting of the rule of law, democracy and dignity in public life which has gone on in this country (beginning with Bush v. Gore, 2000, but turning into a frightful conflagration during the maga-DJT years) must have horrified this decent, humble, caring, learned and honest man who arrived to serve his country and the entire world.
I still remember back in 1977, when I was still in India, reading about JC's Mother Lillian Carter's time in India as a volunteer for the Peace Corps; her letters exchanged with JC ("you should try their chai- black tea boiled with milk and sugar; it is delicious"). I have only recently found out more remarkable stories of JC's 1977/78 visit to India shortly after being inaugurated as POTUS. His life's actions bear testament to a commitment towards human rights and security and peace for all humanity. In summary, he actually lived the life of Christ. And even with my overall agnostic leanings, I greatly admire him for the example he set- riding at stratospheric levels compared with the Lilliputians scurrying around in US politics, business and elsewhere.
Monish R Chatterjee, 2025
(Article changed on Jan 16, 2025 at 3:45 PM EST)
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