Former President Jimmy Carter’s 77-year marriage with former first lady Rosalynn Carter was a defining feature of his life, spanning Carter’s career from a south Georgia peanut farmer to state senator, governor and president, as well as his post-presidency humanitarian work.
But, those who knew him say, there was another relationship that was just as enduring and central to his legacy: The one he had with the mail.
“It was postcards from his uncle that inspired a young Jimmy Carter to join the Navy and explore the world outside of rural Georgia,” said Beth Davis, the chief operating officer for the Carter Center who once worked as Carter’s scheduler. “It was love letters sent between a midshipman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and the light of his life in Plains, Georgia that sustained the beginnings of the most enduring love story I have ever heard, and it was missives from his mother during her time with the Peace Corps in India after she retired as a nurse that set the example that a life of purpose and service doesn’t have to end because your career changes.”
Davis said Carter preferred mailed correspondence over phone calls and emails for almost every matter during the years she worked for him.
Now, Americans will have a new way to commemorate his legacy. During a Wednesday event at the Carter Center, the U. S. Postal Service unveiled a new Forever stamp featuring Carter’s portrait.
For many attendees, including Davis, a postage stamp is a fitting tribute to the former president, who died last December after spending over a year in hospice care. Wednesday would have been Carter’s 101st birthday.
The art used in the stamp comes from an oil painting by Herbert E. Abrams, which was painted in 1982 in preparation for Carter’s official White House portrait. The Carter Center also released a new documentary Wednesday called “The President and The Dragon,” which chronicles the former president’s campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease.
Thomas Marshall, who serves as general counsel and executive vice president for the U.S. Postal Service, highlighted Carter’s political accomplishments, as well as his commitment to human rights and willingness to unite with those who were different from him, during a speech at the stamp’s unveiling ceremony.
“President Carter’s legacy challenges us to think differently about success and leadership in a world that often measures worth by wealth and power,” Marshall said. “He reminded us that true greatness lies in service to others.”
Jason Carter, the president’s grandson and board chair of the Carter Center, also celebrated his grandfather’s legacy of bridging divides with others during Wednesday’s event.
“My grandfather sought connection in places where you would think you could not find it,” he said. “His goal in life, almost, was to prevent this us-versus-them mentality.”
But the celebration was not immune to the impact of present-day partisan politics. Carter’s birthday also marked the first day of the federal government shutdown that could furlough roughly 750,000 federal workers, and force others to continue working without pay. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, which sits next to the Carter Center and houses documents and other artifacts from Carter’s life, remained closed Wednesday due to the federal government shutdown. The former president’s childhood home and gravesite in Plains are also currently closed to the public.
“The situation that we have in our current politics is one of extreme division and extreme polarization,” Jason Carter said. “And I think part of celebrating my grandfather, I hope, is to celebrate the idea that it doesn’t have to be this way. We have the ability to elect leaders and to have leaders that can bring people together, and we just have to do it.”
This story comes to 229 Life through a reporting partnership with Georgia Recorder, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.
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