Former President Jimmy Carter is being remembered after passing away Sunday at age 100.
Former White House Correspondent & Carter Historian Peter Maer spent time in Maine covering President George H.W. Bush, who vacationed in Kennebunkport.
Maer described Carter as a complex public figure, noting his tenacity, stubbornness, and modesty, which helped him rise from political obscurity to the White House.
He says Carter was nearly impossible to categorize politically. “To some, he was seen as a liberal, ” said Maer. “And he was liberal on many social issues, especially when it came to a women’s rights, and race. He was also pro-business. But even while he was pro-business, he was concerned about the environment, so just a very difficult guy to label, indeed.”
Maer made the comment while appearing Monday on the WGAN Morning News with Matt Gagnon.
He also said Carter passed away in his very modest, ranch style home in Plains Georgia, that he and his wife, Rosalynn, built. “Unlike other presidents who moved to big cities and lived in big houses and in condos and so forth, and nothing against them, of course,” Maer said. “Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter moved back to Plains to that house that they kept, even during their White House years. So, he was to say the least, consistently modest”
Former Maine State Senator and child advocate Bill Diamond says Carter called him back in 1980 to get his vote as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
“The funny thing was, here is some little nobody like me sitting in a North Windham Fire, fire meeting, a rescue meeting, and we get a call from the from the President United States,” said Diamond. “So, it was kind of exciting in many ways, but in other ways it was one of those things like you probably figured never would happen, but it did.”
Carter was being challenged for the Democratic Presidential nomination by Ted Kennedy at the time.
Diamond told the WGAN Morning News Monday he was overwhelmed by President Carter’s call and followed directions to vote for Carter at the convention.
