Editor’s note: Former President Jimmy Carter died on Dec. 29, 2024, at the age of 100 after spending more than a year in hospice care. Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years, preceded him in death at the age of 96 on Nov. 19, 2023.
Jimmy Carter put a new face on Southern Baptists, one that Southern Baptists weren’t always comfortable with. Elected in 1976, he came into office as the Evangelical wave was rising. Billy Graham was the defining father of the movement. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Jim and Tammy Bakker were beginning their ascent, and the Moral Majority hadn’t yet been named.
For America, Carter bore the promise of peace after Vietnam and trust after Watergate. He was down to earth, literally, a Georgia peanut farmer who downplayed his education as a nuclear engineer. He was an outsider to a Washington that had lowland character long before the Potomac basin was called a swamp. Most important, he was a man of faith. With Jimmy Carter, America would have opportunity to see how a born-again Christian would be governed in his leadership by his personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Carters dancing at an Inaugural Ball.
Carter, the 39th president, wasn’t the first Southern Baptist in the Oval Office. Harry Truman identified as Baptist, although he had connections to two other denominations. In his later years, he supported First Baptist Church of Grandview, Missouri, attending their building dedication in 1960. Truman lamented that he couldn’t attend worship more often, but felt he was a bit of a spectacle and a distraction when he showed up in the congregation.
And, of course, Bill Clinton identified as Southern Baptist. He attended a couple of the large National Baptist churches in D.C. on occasion, and he went with his wife to Foundry United Methodist sometimes. But some of his political positions and moral choices put him at odds with many Southern Baptists. So Carter, in my mind, stands as the Southern Baptist President.
Until he wasn’t.
After President Carter took the oath, he danced with his wife, Rosalynn, at the inaugural balls. There was much talk about a dancing Baptist at the time. Then he said he would allow wine to be served at state dinners, but to his credit, no hard liquor. Teetotaling Baptists were glad to hear that about whiskey, even if wine seemed a compromise.
And some of the Carter family was comical. His brother, Billy, if not a black sheep, was a speckled one, with a beer brand named for him. His mother, Miz Lillian, was the opinionated, hard-edged deep South grandmother many of us knew. There was a sitcom called Carter Country about a small-town sheriff in rural Georgia that played the Carter brand of Southernism for laughs. Even Lucille Ball returned for a TV special as Lucy Carter, who learned she was related to the president.
But Jimmy Carter was serious. He was genial, affable, and pleasant, often seen smiling, but he was serious about peace in the Middle East and the implications of his faith on his work. He also wrestled unsuccessfully with the economy. And when he was unable to free the U.S. hostages in Iran, America wanted a new direction. Southern Baptists, in the main, were with them.
The former president teaching Sunday school.
It is Carter’s work after his presidency that is best remembered and celebrated at the time of his passing. Carter cast the model for former presidents, advocating for peace and combatting homelessness. How many videos have we seen across 40 years of Jimmy and Rosalynn on worksites for Habitat for Humanity, encouraging others to help build houses and opportunity for poor people? Carter put feet to his faith. And hands and nails.
After returning to Plains, he taught Sunday School every weekend he was in town, often filling the sanctuary at Maranatha Baptist Church with tourists. It should be noted that Maranatha, built in 1978, supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. And the church declares its adherence to 1963 version of the Baptist Faith and Message, rather than BF&M (2000). And as Carter has moved in one direction while the Convention moved in another, some have asked how Southern Baptist this president was.
But today, how much does that matter? Our Baptist brother and president led by faith, in and out of office, and set a high standard for us all.