History will most likely record Jimmy Carter as one of our
country's most important statesmen and greatest peacemakers. Known as a
man of mighty moral fiber, the 39th president of the United States has
spent his years out of office building homes with Habitat for Humanity,
maintaining his peanut farm in Plains, Georgia, and chairing the Carter
Center in Atlanta. There, he and his wife, Rosalynn, work closely
together much as they did during his administration—promoting democracy,
health, peace and human rights in more than 50 countries around the
world. The Center also has an innovative mental health program, which,
among other things, offers fellowships to journalists who write about
mental health issues.
Robert Epstein [RE]: You were selling
peanuts at age 5, hunting with your dog at age 6, setting up your
first business at age 8 and driving a pick-up truck by age 12. Kids
aren't allowed to do such things anymore. Do you think that's a
mistake?
Jimmy Carter [JC]: Well, I learned in a hurry because, first of
all, my daddy needed help on the farm. Second, he believed that I should
learn the principles of being an entrepreneur at an early age. Third, it
was during the Depression years, when any income was helpful, although
not crucial in our case. And I think that my father looked at me as a
kind of partner. Remember, this was a time when an isolated farm
community gave you protection against the outside world. And I was
driving a pick-up truck at the age of 12, but I started driving earlier,
just hauling stuff from the barn to the field—seed peanuts, corn, cotton
or fertilizer. It wasn't long before my father let me take the pick-up
truck down to Plains, which is two-and-a-half miles away. So what I did
was not extraordinary at all for the times and the environment.
RE: Do you think, though, that we underestimate our children? We
seem to treat them as children for a very, very long time.
JC: I think so. In a rural community, even in these modern days, a
lot of the farm boys and girls begin to drive a vehicle on the field
roads and off the main highways at a very early age. And it's still
common around here for young boys to get acquainted with firearms for
hunting. But I think in an urban or suburban environment, it would be out
of the question to have young kids with firearms and children under the
age of 16 attempting to drive a vehicle. So I think it's mainly the
environment rather than the time.
RE: There's a person who emerges as a powerful human being
throughout your book. And that, of course, is your father, Earl Carter.
Can you tell us about him?
JC: We had a unique relationship. I was Daddy's only son at that
time; Billy came 13 years after I did. Daddy was my hero in every way,
and deservedly so. He was the best tennis player in the community and an
outstanding baseball player. The days he didn't pitch on the American
Legion team, he taught baseball. He was a fine diver, an excellent
fisherman, a hunter, as well as a hardworking and successful businessman.
So I looked on my Father with something of idolatry, in that whatever my
daddy did was what I wanted to do someday. My mother was a different
influence on my life. She was a registered nurse, and in those days
private duty was 20 hours per day. She only had four hours to come home,
change clothes, take a bath and buy groceries. Daddy was a very strict
disciplinarian. Mother was much more easygoing and benevolent in her
attitude. I would say that they had a dual and somewhat different
influence on me as a child, but both were very beneficial.
RE: I was struck by a passage in one of your books that had to do with your
father's death in 1953. You were at your father's deathbed. At this point
you were in the Navy, and your life was about to change. You wrote, "I
felt besieged by an unwelcome comparison of the ultimate value of my life
with his. I could not escape a startling and disturbing question: whether
I wanted to resign my commission and try to follow in his footsteps in
this tiny rural community. Rosalynn was shocked and furious a few days
later when I told her that I had decided to do just that."
