Release No. 0400.00

by
Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
Dedication of the Carter Boyhood Home
November 17, 2000 - Plains, Georgia

[As prepared for delivery]

      "Thank you very much, Congressman Bishop, for that kind introduction and for your leadership on behalf of southwestern Georgia.

      "Thanks to Fred Boyles, Pat Hooks and everyone at the Park Service for all the effort that's gone into the Boyhood Home and the entire Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. Long after all of us are gone, future generations will have the opportunity to learn from the life of this extraordinary man...and it will be because of your hard work.

      "In some sense, I owe the launch of my political career to President Carter. I was first elected to Congress in 1976, the same year he won the Presidency. Even though a Kansas favorite son, Bob Dole, was the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, the Carter-Mondale ticket came very close to carrying Kansas, a surge that carried me to the House of Representatives. My victory surprised all the pundits, since I had defeated a Republican incumbent in perhaps the most Republican state in the nation. My victory also surprised me. I wasn't convinced until I received a congratulatory note the next morning, which caused me to exclaim to my family: "Do you believe it...Jimmy Carter sent me a telegram!"

      "But I'm here today not just as a general admirer of President Carter. I'm here as the Secretary of Agriculture, to honor a man whose life was shaped by his childhood experiences on a farm in a small rural community. Jimmy Carter has always understood the risks and hardships associated with family farm agriculture and small-town America because he lived them. We're talking about a man who saw a scorching drought all but destroy his family farm in the 1950s. One hundred eighty-seven dollars -- that was the net profit of his farm business in 1954. It reminds me of that old line -- sad but too often true -- about the farmer who says: "I sure hope we break even this year. We could really use the money."

      "President Carter's background in agriculture drives his work to this day, as the Carter Center's Global 2000 program helps farmers in the developing world adopt the techniques they need to boost productivity and achieve self-sufficiency. President Carter understands that abundant, sustainable agriculture is one of the keys to defeating the plague of world hunger. He understands the role of agriculture in foreign policy. He understands that farm commodities -- as a human essential -- are unique among all the goods and services traded in the global marketplace. He understands that they are a tool of humanitarianism.

      "And President Carter's work in agriculture is local as well as global. Two years ago, when a disastrous drop in hog prices threatened the livelihoods of thousands of Georgia farmers, President Carter personally weighed in with me and President Clinton. And his input helped us put together an assistance package that helped hog producers weather the storm.

      "You know, when you consider his hands-on farm experience...his efforts in agriculture...his dedication to rural homeownership through Habitat for Humanity...his commitment to nutrition programs both at home and abroad...his belief in land conservation and stewardship...it occurs to me that Jimmy Carter would've made an outstanding Secretary of Agriculture. But I guess he shot just a little higher than that. But, you know Mr. President, the job is opening up in a few months, and I'd be happy to put in a good word for you.

      "I believe that the family farm is more than an economic unit. It's a place where values are taught and learned - values like community, integrity, compassion and faith. As Jimmy Carter ascended to the very pinnacle of American political life, he not only didn't forget those values... he made them an integral part of his leadership style and governing philosophy.

      "The Bible reminds us that a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. So it was in Jimmy Carter's boyhood home, which was spiritually -- if not materially -- rich. When President Carter was very young, there wasn't even electricity or running water. But there was compassion; there was decency; there was love; and there was hard work.

      "Was there ever hard work. An Hour Before Daylight is the title of President Carter's new book, because that's when young Jimmy Carter would wake up to the sound of an iron bell, which signaled the beginning of the day and the beginning of arduous farm chores.

      "That work ethic also instilled in President Carter a strong entrepreneurial drive. As a boy, he would bring farm goods into Plains on a wagon and sell them for profit. He actually saved enough money to buy and then rent five houses whose prices had been driven down by the Depression. As an adult, President Carter developed a successful peanut shelling and warehousing operation and eventually expanded into cotton and the fertilizer business.

      "This rural community where Jimmy Carter grew up was, at the time, a rigidly segregated one. But thanks in part to a strong-willed mother who rejected the mores of the time, Jimmy Carter reached out across racial divides from an early age. He forged friendships with young African-American children like Johnny Raven, who delivered our invocation this morning. He developed a special relationship with Jack and Rachael Clark, who worked on the Carter farm and acted almost as surrogate parents to young Jimmy.

      "Inclusion and racial justice have been tireless causes for President Carter throughout his adult life. In the military, when his submarine docked in Bermuda, local British officials invited the crew to a party...the white members of the crew, that is. Jimmy Carter was instrumental in persuading the entire crew to decline the invitation.

      "Back home in Georgia, when many in the community joined the segregationist White Citizens Council, Jimmy Carter refused...even though it led to a brief boycott of the family business.

      "When their church wouldn't admit African-Americans to the congregation, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were lonely voices of dissent. Just after being sworn in as Governor, Jimmy Carter boldly declared in his inaugural speech that the time for segregation was over. That, of course, is a no-brainer today, but it was a startling and courageous statement in 1971.

      "Jimmy Carter's life is one to be emulated. He has had a loving marriage - a true friendship and partnership - that has lasted more than half a century. He pursued power, not for its own sake but as a means to advance the human condition. He is a modern-day Renaissance man - a statesman, a sportsman and a Sunday School teacher...a poet, a professor and a public servant.

      "He was a proud soldier, working on a nuclear submarine no less, who turned out to be one of the great peacemakers of his time.

      "He is a philanthropist, but he does more than write the check and leave it to someone else to solve the problem. He gets his own hands dirty. He wears out his own shoe-leather. He was there personally to monitor elections everywhere from Jamaica to Zambia. He was there to help negotiate the peaceful abdication of power by Haitian dictators. He was there in Africa to help people battle Guinea worm disease and river blindness.

      "Oh, and of course, he was also the 39^th President of the United States. Only in a life truly remarkable could the leadership of the free world be just one of many noteworthy highlights.

      "And now he's "retired," if you can call it that. I recently read an interview President Carter gave about his book, The Virtues of Aging, in which he discusses the pleasures of retirement. Now, first of all, only a man with most of the original hair on his head could write a book called "The Virtues of Aging." Secondly, what Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter have done for the last 20 years can hardly be called "retirement." Even if he has taken up downhill skiing and bird-watching, the truth is President Carter has done ten times more in retirement than most people accomplish in their entire professional lives.

      "Jimmy Carter has shown that a lifetime of good work doesn't have to end when you lose an election. He has shown that there is life after public service, that the end of public service doesn't have to mean the end of service to humanity.

      "I find myself today where President Carter was in 1980 - in my mid-50s, dropping the curtain on a career in government. As I contemplate my next step in life's journey, I can only hope to meet the standard he has set.

      "There is a Hebrew prayer that asks us to "live as if all life depended on you. Do your share to add some improvement, to supply some one thing that is missing, and to leave the world a little better for your stay in it." Jimmy Carter has done all that and more.

      "Ladies and gentlemen...it gives me great pleasure to present a friend and hero...President Jimmy Carter."

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