How America’s humble president Jimmy Carter shunned greed to live modestly

From humble beginnings to the White House and back, the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, eschewed greed to live in a modest $223,000 home, take commercial flights and teach Sunday school.

Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, was dubbed the “unfamous president” and grew up in Plains, Georgia.

The son of a peanut farmer, he returned to his two-bedroom farm after his term in office rather than cash in on political fortunes.

The modest property — whose décor would be charming, if dated — is theoretically worth $223,000, according to a Zillow estimate.

But the ties to Carter mean the real value is much higher – although the property will never hit the open market, as he and his wife Rosalynn planned to leave it to the National Parks Service.

Carter’s successors all made tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars writing books, giving speeches and doing consulting work after leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — but Carter said that avenue has never appealed to him.

It was not the first time he returned to his hometown. He left his Navy career behind after his father, James Earl Carter Sr., died of pancreatic cancer in 1953 at the age of 58. The decision proved to be a catalyst for his political career.

But after his loss to Ronald Reagan in 1980, he and his beloved wife Rosalynn packed up and moved back to the city where they fell in love — and lived there until they died.

In a 2018 glimpse into the Carters’ daily lives, the WashingtonPost describes the ‘fairly normal’ life of the childhood sweethearts in the town of Plains that you will miss.

Jimmy and Rosalynn often ate with the neighbors. On one such occasion, they reportedly enjoyed a salmon and broccoli casserole on paper plates at their friend Jill Stuckey’s home.

In sharp contrast to his successors, Carter borrowed his unpretentious character from his farming youth during the Great Depression, which also reinforced his no-nonsense sensibility and beliefs about racial equality.

Stuart E. Eizenstat, Carter’s assistant and biographer, told the Washington Post that Carter “didn’t feel qualified for grandeur.

‘Plains is really in his DNA. He carried it into the White House, and he carried it out of the White House,” he said.

Even for those who didn’t start out rich, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, making tens of millions of dollars from private sector opportunities has been a rite of passage for most who have been president.

But for Carter, the goal was not to make money speaking in the corporate world and joining the boards of major companies – as his predecessor Gerald Ford had done.

Instead, he planned to return to the town where he was born and revive his career as a peanut farmer.

But when the Democrat returned home, his finances were in tatters and the family’s peanut business had racked up $1 million in debt.

He was forced to sell it and took pen to paper to repair his finances. He wrote 33 books on a variety of topics, although not as successfully as some other presidents. In addition to his writing income, Carter also received an annual pension of $210,700, received by all past presidents.

But if you met him, you wouldn’t know it. Carter is the the only president in modern times to return full-time to the house where he lived before entering politics. The modest $223,000 home features just two bedrooms.

“He doesn’t like big names, and he doesn’t think he’s a big player,” his former White House communications director Gerald Rafshoon told the Washington Post.

According to the American newspaper, Carter has cost the American taxpayer the least money of any former president General services administration.

The total bill for him in the last fiscal year was $496,000, covering pensions, an office, security staff and other expenses.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton cost $1.27 million and George W. Bush $1.21 million as the top two expenses for taxpayers. He beat Donald Trump with $1.04 million and Barack Obama with $1.18 million.

Carter told the Washington Post in 2018 that he didn’t want to pursue wealth and that he just wanted to go home.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it, I don’t blame other people for doing it,” he said.

“It was just never my ambition to become rich.”

While many ex-presidents fly in private jets, sometimes lent by wealthy friends, Carter continued to fly commercially.

Footage as he boarded a Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles on June 8, 2017, went viral as the then 93-year-old walked down the aisle to shake hands with passengers and smile for selfies.

The heartwarming video showed the former president enthusiastically greeting passengers as his fans shouted at him, “You are my favorite president!” and “I love you, Jimmy Carter.”

Flying advertising was just one of many ways he lived a simple life after his 1977 to 1981 term in the White House.

In addition to his modest home life, Carter taught Sunday school every two weeks at Maranatha Baptist Church on the outskirts of town, but was forced to quit when his health deteriorated.

According to locals, lines of worshipers formed around the block the night before to listen to his Bible studies.

“We feel at home here,” Carter said in the 2018 interview. “The people in town take care of us when we need it.”

While it remains unclear where the former US president will be buried, Carter told the Washington Post in 2018 that he hoped to be buried at his home near a willow tree near a pond he helped dig, next to his beloved Rosalynn. .

The hope was to attract tourism to Plains and boost the small town’s economy even after his death.