The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

It was a scorcher of a day in the summer of 1975, more than a year before the presidential election to determine whether Jerry Ford could withstand public contempt for his decision to pardon Richard Nixon and win a four-year term on his own. Foot traffic in Concord, New Hampshire was subdued under the blazing sun. The sole signs of life were a handful of people and a trim, tanned fellow in a grey suit and tie, big toothy grin, smile crinkles around his bright blue eyes. In and out of the shops he went, followed by two young reporters from the Boston Phoenix.

Next stop, the mom-and-pop general store. “Hi,” he said, extending his hand and flashing his now-famous smile. ”Jimmeh’s the name. Jimmeh Cawta from Geo-gia.” And then, “I’m runnin’ for Prehzident.” A little chit-chat followed. ”Hope you’ll consider me.” And out he went.

I hung back, overhearing the wife of the proprietor turn to her husband and say, “Well, that’s nice. But, president of what?” ”I dunno,” replied her husband, shrugging his shoulders. “Probably president of the tannery.”

It was the first of dozens of times I was in his presence, often taken with the nuance with which he deeply explained a range of complex issues. I covered Jimmy Carter from Jimmy Who? to President Jimmy Carter, from Plains, GA to the Oval Office.

He was a former governor, a scientist, a nuclear engineer, and the face of the “New South.” He was a born-again Christian and Sunday school teacher, and a peanut farmer. Mostly, he ambitiously saw himself, post Nixon and Watergate, as a healer. He promised the people of the United States a government as good as they were. (More of that for another day.) He promised never to lie to the people. Those baby blues were piercing and strategic.

Carter had to deal with rising unemployment, slow economic growth and, at the same time, runaway inflation. He wanted both environmental protection and industrial growth. He had budget woes but sought social welfare expansion. He made symbolic gestures like cutting the number of White House limos and curating staff time on the White House tennis courts. While he micro-managed staff, neither they nor he could develop meaningful relationships with members of Congress. He pushed for deregulation in the trucking, railroad and airline industries. Carter himself wrote later that he felt a greater kinship with conservatives in Congress than with liberals. Critics found him to be sanctimonious. A year in, polls showed 75 percent of support for him personally, but not for his performance on specific issues.

He believed that human rights should guide our foreign policy, angering those who believed cynical realpolitik should always come first. Nevertheless, he successfully negotiated a strategic arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union, two treaties with Panama, and brokered the Camp David Accords. It was his hospitality to the recently deposed and dying Shah of Iran that did him in. In November of 1979, Iran revolutionaries retaliated by seizing 60 American hostages at the U.S. Embassy there, and that was it. His already-shrinking favorability ratings would drop to 37 percent.

In the energy crisis, Carter donned a cardigan sweater and gave fireside chats. He lamented the malaise of the people. In the end, he was no match for Ronald Reagan’s sunny optimism. Reagan’s original use of the Make America Great Again slogan sent Jimmy back to Georgia. Iran released the hostages four hours after Reagan was sworn in. Jimmy Carter was quickly gone but surely not forgotten.

As a former President, he was outstanding. He never lost his basic decency. Instead of cashing in on his speaking fee potential and joining powerful corporate boards, he went back to his farm, living in a two-bedroom ranch house, teaching Sunday school and supporting human rights causes. He and wife Rosalynn not only supported Habitat for Humanity; every year they worked construction jobs helping build homes for poor people. He was often called upon to negotiate solutions to international problems and to monitor elections in nascent democracies. He, with Rosalynn, started the Carter Center to fight diseases in under-developed nations and promote mental health programs. He deservedly was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Compared to Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln or FDR, Carter’s is remembered as a failed Presidency. Serendipity often plays an important role in presidential success, and he was an unlucky president. But he was far from a failed human being. The oldest living former President, Jimmy Carter was probably the most effective ex ever. I can think of more than a few former powerful officials who could take a lesson from that peanut farmer from Georgia. His was a life well lived.