(Pictured: Jimmy Carter visited Washington twice between 1976 and 1980. Photo credit: Plains Historical Preservation Trust).
By Josh Cohen
CascadePBS.org
Before Jimmy Carter died Dec. 29, 2024 at 100, the 39th president made two memorable visits to Washington, one before and one after he was elected to the White House.
The peanut farmer and former Navy officer entered politics in 1963, winning election to a seat in the Georgia state Senate. In 1970, he was elected as Georgia’s governor.
Seattle for a speech at the American Legion convention at Seattle Center Coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena). Carter had already beaten Washington’s then-U.S. Sen. Henry M. Jackson in the Democratic primary and was now facing Republican incumbent Gerald Ford. Speaking to about 25,000 veterans just a year after the end of the Vietnam War, Carter said he wanted to pardon Vietnam draft dodgers in an effort to move past the divisiveness of the war.
According to reporting by KIRO-7, the suggestion was met with boos and shouts from the audience. Carter followed through with a presidential pardon of draft dodgers on his second day in office. Carter won the national election, but 52 percent of Washington voters chose Ford in ’76.
Some of Carter’s priorities in office would mirror Washington’s contemporary policy direction. For example, despite his reputation for austerity, Carter proposed welfare reforms that included guaranteed basic income and a federal jobs guarantee. But the idea never received a vote in Congress.
Carter returned to Washington near the end of his presidency in the wake of the Mt. Saint Helens eruption. On May 23, 1980, five days after the volcano erupted, Carter took a helicopter flight out of Portland to survey the damage. After the flight landed at the Kelso, airport, Carter, told reporters, “I don’t know if there is anything like (the volcanic devastation) in the world. There’s nothing left but massive piles of mud and what used to be mountain. It’s an unbelievable sight.”
Source: Cascade PBS, a journalism site covering the Pacific Northwest.