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Iowans remember former President Jimmy Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter.
John Amis
/
AP
Former President Jimmy Carter died on Dec. 29 at age 100.

The death of former President Jimmy Carter is stirring up memories of his time campaigning in Iowa ahead of the 1976 Iowa caucuses, as well as his campaign for reelection in 1980. IPR's Joyce Russell spoke with Iowans who remembered Carter as a smart and gracious man who broke through anonymity to victory.

Prominent Des Moines Democrat Mike Mauro was low on the party’s totem pole in August of 1975. Party leaders asked him to attend a Jimmy Carter appearance at a local hotel.

"Nobody was excited. They didn’t know who the hell this guy was," Mauro said.

After his speech, Carter wanted to go out to the state fair, but no one wanted to take him. Mauro became Carter’s driver, a role that gave him a literal front row seat to his surprise victory in the 1976 caucuses. National media began to pay attention, which in turn, launched the prominence of the Iowa caucuses as we knew them.

Carter appeared on Iowa Press on Iowa PBS — then called Iowa Public Television — and on any other program that would have him as he outhustled all other contenders.

"I have scheduled this calendar year 250 working days outside the state of Georgia to learn about this country, its people, fears, doubts and confusions,” Carter said.

"I remember him talking about his peanut farm. I think that was one of the first things he mentioned."
Barbara Ching

Now-retired Iowa State University professor Barbara Ching was a senior at Dowling High School in West Des Moines in the fall of 1975 when Carter came to campaign. She said she could clearly remember Carter's voice.

"It was meaningful to me because I was going to be able to vote for the first time. I remember him talking about his peanut farm. I think that was one of the first things he mentioned," she said.

Others also recall talk of the peanut farm, as well as the lack of media at Carter events. David Yepsen, a Des Moines Register cub reporter in 1975, recalls being the only reporter who showed up to a Carter press conference.

Former Des Moines Register editor Michael Gartner remembers Carter as smart and humble, a religious man who didn’t wear it on his sleeve and all business before the editorial board — unlike other candidates who might crack jokes.

Gartner’s favorite memory came years later, when he once asked Carter about being the only president of the 20th century who made no appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Surely you must have had a list," he recalled asking. "And he said, 'I did.' And his wife was there. He turned around and said 'Rosalynn, what was the name of my secretary of education?'"

It was a former circuit court judge named Shirley Hufstedler, who might have become the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mauro’s support of Carter extended to the 1980 campaign, when Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy challenged the incumbent. Carter handily defeated Kennedy in the caucuses, but later fell out of favor with the Des Moines Register. He pulled out of a Register debate. The paper went on to call for Carter to get out of the race.

"I think people wanted their president to be more than one of the people. He didn’t have any airs about him. And it worked to his advantage and disadvantage."
Prominent Des Moines Democrat Mike Mauro

"You have to remember, this was after the hostage-taking and the campaign, and the world was upended by that," Yepsen said.

Mauro believed something besides the Iranian hostage crisis worked against Carter in the 1980 campaign.

"I think people wanted their president to be more than one of the people. He didn’t have any airs about him. And it worked to his advantage and disadvantage," Mauro said.

Mauro said Carter will be remembered as a great humanitarian, especially for his decades of work after leaving office.

Joyce Russell was IPR’s state government reporter until her retirement in 2018.