Atlanta — Dr. Meredith Evans was simply 4 years outdated when she wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter.
“Expensive Jimmy Carter…here is some cash that will help you be president,” Evans wrote on the time, sending a greenback and a penny.
Evans finally acquired her a refund and far more. She now serves as director of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, the place a memorial service was held for the late president Saturday as a part of his six-day state funeral following his dying final weekend on the age of 100.
“Once I met President Carter for the primary time, I advised him in regards to the letter, we each laughed about it,” Evans advised CBS Information.
Meredith Evans, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, left, and Paige Alexander, CEO of The Carter Heart, place a wreath throughout a service for former President Jimmy Carter on the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, on Jan. 4, 2025.
ALEX BRANDON/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Evans says Carter’s compassion and authenticity are woven all through the museum, beginning together with his childhood within the rural farm communities of Plains and close by Archery.
“It was an African American neighborhood,” Evans mentioned of Plains. “I do not assume it was till Plains that he realized how troublesome segregation was for individuals of colour.”
It was the individuals of Plains who helped catapult the small-town peanut farmer to the governorship of Georgia and finally the White Home. Evans mentioned Carter overcame the dearth of title recognition to win the presidency.
“No one had any concept,” Evans mentioned of Carter within the early portion of each races. “And among the marketing campaign movies discuss Carter who? Who’s that? After which there’s this dialog about who he’s and what he stands for.”
Carter defeated President Gerald Ford in 1976, placing his personal stamp on the inauguration when he turned the primary president to get out of the limo and stroll at his Inaugural Parade.
“He was the primary to get out of the automotive,” Evans mentioned. “And I assumed, have a look at this — he is a trailblazer and did not even understand he was a trailblazer.”
The museum highlights the Camp David Accords through which Carter negotiated a peace settlement between the leaders of Israel and Egypt in 1978.
“I’d argue, it’s in all probability one of many biggest issues he ever did,” Evans mentioned. “He introduced two arch enemies collectively and had a treaty signed. Not many presidents can say they did that.”
However Carter’s presidency was mired with controversies, from file inflation to the Iran hostage disaster, finally sealing his defeat towards President Ronald Reagan. The thirty ninth president went on to determine the Carter Heart, specializing in humanitarian work, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
In response to Evans, Carter obtained the Nobel with “pleasure and humility.”
“He would not see himself higher than anybody.”
Nikole Killion
