Remembering Jimmy Carter, from his environmentalism to his literature

Although Jimmy Carter only served one term as president and was much maligned, since his Dec. 29 death at age 100, the nation has been reminded of his lifelong commitment to humanity. Early in his term, Carter made a speech proclaiming that Americans should wear sweaters to save energy in response to the oil crisis.

Wearing a yellow-tan cardigan and sitting in front of a roaring fire, Carter said, “The real problem — our failure to plan for the future or to take energy conservation seriously — started long before this winter, and it will take much longer to solve. I realize that many of you have not believed that we really have an energy problem. But this winter has made all of us realize that we have to act.”

Carter outlined steps toward a national energy policy that would “emphasize conservation” as well as “research on solar energy and other renewable energy sources.”

During the Detroit conference, Carter sat between Graciela Olivarez, an attorney and civil rights activist, and Lawrence Hall, an unemployed …

He said, “All of us must learn to waste less energy. Simply by keeping our thermostats, for instance, at 65 degrees in the daytime and 55 degrees at night, we could save half the current shortage of natural gas.”

During the speech, Carter also promoted solar energy, the efficacy of which we’re still debating nearly 50 years later. It’s easily forgotten that Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House and was featured in a Marvel comic alongside Captain America promoting energy conservation.

Soon, thermostats at home and work were dialed back, and men especially began to wear sweaters to work in place of suits. An argument can be made that Carter gave a thumbs-up to the casual workplaces of today.

Carter may have also been the first president to be seen in Wrangler jeans and a denim jacket. He was as much at home with world leaders as he was with Elvis Presley, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan and the Allman brothers. He even quoted Dylan in his acceptance speech at the 1976 Democratic National Convention. It would be fitting to call him the first rock ‘n’ roll president. At his inauguration, Aretha Franklin sang “God Bless America.”

I’m also pretty certain he was the only president who lived in public housing as a child. That might be the reason he became a voice for the poor. In October 1977, he traveled to Detroit to attend a conference on the needs of the nation’s poor. It was sponsored by the Community Services Administration, which was a program of President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty.”

I was working for the Michigan Department of Labor, which oversaw the program statewide, and I was asked to photograph the event. I was amazed at how close I could get to the president. Numerous Detroit luminaries were present, including then-Mayor Coleman Young and members of Detroit’s Common Council. Photos accompany this article.

After his term ended, Carter and his late wife, Rosalynn, dedicated their lives to programs like Habitat for Humanity. Along the way, he became a prolific author, writing 32 books over his lifetime, many of them about the presidency and his failures and successes. Theodore Roosevelt is the only president to surpass Carter’s literary output, with around 45 books. Carter, like Roosevelt, wrote about pretty much everything, from fishing and hunting to family matters.

Protesters gathered outside the conference to raise their voices about poverty-related issues.

Carter wrote in a variety of genres, including several memoirs; a children’s book, “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer,” which was illustrated by his daughter, Amy; a book on women’s rights, “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power”; and a fiction novel, “The Hornet’s Nest,” set in the Revolutionary War-era South. He also authored a coffee-table book showcasing his woodworking skills, “The Craftsmanship of Jimmy Carter.”

He wrote several books about his faith, including his final release, 2018’s “Faith: A Journey for All.” Some of his more interesting books are “A Remarkable Mother,” about his mother, Lillian, and his memories of his outdoorsy upbringing in rural Georgia, and “Christmas in Plains,” about his boyhood Christmases.

Carter was also a voracious reader of everyone from William Faulkner to Dylan Thomas. One little tidbit I learned from the recent news coverage is that he was a fanboy of Erica Jong, author of the semi-erotic 1973 novel “Fear of Flying,” and even wrote a fan letter to her.