Former
President Jimmy Carter
Grace
Episcopal
Church
Grand
Rapids,
Michigan
January
3, 2007
"For
myself and for our nation,
I want to thank my predecessor
for all he has done
to heal our land."
Those
were the first words
I spoke as president.
And I still hate to
admit that they received
more applause than any
other words in my inaugural
address.
You
learn a lot about a
man when you run against
him for president, and
when you stand in his
shoes, and assume the
responsibilities that
he has borne so well,
and perhaps even more
after you both lay down
the burdens of high
office and work together
in a nonpartisan spirit
of patriotism and service.
My
staff and my diary notes,
as I prepared for this
eulogy, reveal a list
of more than 25 different
projects on which Jerry
and I have shared leadership
responsibilities.
He
and I were both amused
by a "New
Yorker" cartoon
a couple years ago.
This little boy is looking
up at his father. And
he says, "Daddy,
when I grow up, I want
to be a former president."
Jerry
and
I frequently
agreed
that
one
of the
greatest
blessings
that
we had,
after
we left
the
White
House
during
the
last
quarter-century
was
the
intense
personal
friendship
that
bound
us together.
During
our closely contested
political campaign,
as Don just reminded
me, we habitually referred
to each other as "my
distinguished opponent." And,
for my own benefit,
while I was president,
I kept him fully informed
about everything that
I did in the domestic
or international arena.
In
fact, he was given a
thorough briefing almost
every month from the
head of my White House
staff or my national
security adviser. And
Jerry never came to
the Washington area
without being invited
to have lunch with me
at the White House.
We
always cherished those
memories of now perhaps
a long-lost bipartisan
interrelationship.
Jerry
Ford and I shared a
lot. We both served
in the U.S. Navy, he
on battleships, I on
submarines, as junior
officers. In fact, it
was my profession. And
we both enjoyed our
unexpected promotion
to commander in chief.
Each
of us had three sons.
And then our prayers
were answered... and
we had
a daughter.
And
we both married women
who were good-looking,
smart, and extremely
independent.
As
president,
I relished
his
sound
advice.
And
he often,
although,
I must
say,
reluctantly,
departed
from
the
prevailing
opinion
of his
political
party
to give
me support
on some
of my
most
difficult
challenges.
For
many of these, of course,
he had helped to lay
the foundation, including
the Panama Canal treaties,
nuclear armaments control
with the Soviet Union,
normalized diplomatic
relations with China,
and also the Camp David
accords.
In
fact, on a helicopter
in flight from Camp
David back to Washington,
President Anwar Sadat,
Prime Minister Menachem
Begin and I made one
telephone call, to Gerald
Ford, to tell him that
we had reached peace
between Israel and Egypt.
President
Ford and I also shared
a commitment to force
the Soviet Union to
comply with its promise
to respect human rights
within the Helsinki
agreement, which gave
strength to brave dissidents
behind the Iron Curtain,
and helped to undermine
Soviet tyranny from
within.
Our
mutual respect, which
I have described, blossomed
into a valued personal
friendship during our
shared trip to attend
the funeral of President
Anwar Sadat in Egypt.
We formed a personal
bond while lamenting
on the difficulty of
unexpectedly defeated
candidates trying to
raise money to build
presidential libraries.
That's
what bound us together
most firmly, I think,
for the rest of our
days.
In
the
early
days
of the
Carter
Center,
Jerry
joined
me as
co-chairman
in all
of our
important
conferences
and
projects.
And
I never
declined
an opportunity
to help
him
with
his
own
post-
presidential
plans.
We
enjoyed each other's
private company. And
he and I commented often
that, when we were traveling
somewhere in an automobile
or airplane, we hated
to reach our destination,
because we enjoyed the
private times that we
had together.
More
-- one of our most successful
and little-known joint
efforts, by the way,
was agreeing on how
to respond to the literally
hundreds of invitations
from people who claimed
that all the presidents
were going to participate
in an event. And, after
a private telephone
conversation, we would
quickly let them know
that at least two of
us would not be attending.
Yesterday,
on the
flight
here
from
Washington,
Rosalynn
and
I were
thrilled
when
one
of his
sons
came
to tell
us that
the
greatest
gift
he received
from
his
father
was
his
faith
in Jesus
Christ.
It
is true that Jerry and
I shared a common commitment
to our religious faith,
not just in worshipping
the same savior, but
in attempting, in our
own personal way, to
achieve reconciliation
within our respective
denominations.
We
took to heart the admonition
of the Apostle Paul
that Christians should
not be divided over
seemingly important,
but tangential issues,
including sexual preferences
and the role of women
in the church, things
like that.
We
both felt that Episcopalians,
Baptists and others
should live together
in harmony, within the
adequate and common
belief that we are saved
by the grace of God
through our faith in
Jesus Christ, that we
are saved by the grace
of God through our faith
in Jesus Christ.
One
of my proudest moments
was at the commemoration
of the 200th birthday
of the White House,
when two noted historians
both declared that the
Ford-Carter friendship
was the most intensely
personal between any
two presidents in history.
This
close relationship extended
to our spouses, as Betty
worked on drug and alcohol
abuse, and Rosalynn
addressed the challenges
of mental illness. And,
when those two women
descended on Washington
together, few members
of Congress could resist
their combined lobbying
assault.
The
four
of us
learned
to love
each
other.
In
closing, let me extend,
on behalf of Rosalynn
and me and Jack and
Chip and Jeffrey and
Amy, and our 11 grandchildren,
and one great- grandson,
our personal sympathy
and love to Betty and
Mike and Jack and Steve
and Susan, and all of
your extended family.
The
tens of thousands of
people who lined the
highway yesterday and
today were expressing
this mutual love which
we share for President
Jerry Ford.
I
still don't know any
better way to express
it than the words I
used almost exactly
30 years ago. For myself
and for our nation,
I want to thank my predecessor
for all he did to heal
our land.