Presidential historian Jane Hampton Cook reflects on the professional and personal life of America’s 39th president after his death at 100 years old. 

Nearly every tribute to Jimmy Carter is necessarily encumbered with caveats about Carter, the president. While it is true that the "Reagan revolution" provided America with needed jolts of patriotic and economic strength, Carter, our 39th president, consistently exhibited traits that public figures of our own times would do well to model.  

Much about the infamous "Carter years" is rightly remembered with disdain. Those alive during the late 1970s will remember mortgage rates in the teens, the Iranian hostage crisis and long lines at the gas pumps. As has been well documented, many of Carter’s policies and his handling of many issues during his presidency failed to improve the country’s economy or the zeitgeist of its people. Name the issue (energy, the economy, welfare, international relations, terrorism, bipartisanship, et. al) and President Carter struggled with it.

But many — including myself — deeply admired him as a human being, respected him as our president and fondly remember his earnest smile and friendly wave. I believe he was a genuinely good human being and because of his generally virtuous nature, Carter was a politician who didn’t like to play politics. Washington insiders didn’t like working with him and international leaders didn’t seem to respect him.

JIMMY CARTER, 39TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DEAD AT 100

Today, our nation suffers under another "naive in chief" (though President 39 was, I believe, a man of vastly superior character to 46). The late-night comics have gotten some easy laughs riffing on how Jimmy Carter must........

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