The consensus among historians, journalists, and analysts has long been that President Jimmy Carter’s four-year presidency was a low point in a decent man’s century-long life. In fact, the implicit rap on Carter was that he brought a naïvete to public office that, at best, required a certain moral flexibility. Now that Carter has passed at the age of 100, this simplistic and conventional narrative of his presidency should be reassessed.

Let’s not forget that the voters chose Carter’s principled approach in the 1976 election because of the long national disillusionment surrounding the JFK and MLK assassinations, LBJ and Nixon’s dishonest debacle in Vietnam, Nixon’s criminal activities during Watergate, and Gerald Ford’s trashing the rule of law by pardoning his predecessor even before charges were filed. Voters yearned to bring back some semblance of morality and honesty to government.

Upon arriving in office, Carter was so squeaky clean that he refused to intimidate lawmakers or horse-trade with Congress to adopt policies on his agenda. If Republican Richard Nixon is regarded as the last progressive president before Barack Obama, Democrat Carter was the first conservative president since Calvin Coolidge. Carter laid the basis for more conservative policies before Ronald Reagan perfected the sales pitch. In addition to opposing interest groups feeding at the public trough, Carter championed limiting the federal government, cutting the federal budget, deregulating industries, and greater local and personal responsibility. He........

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