What a Letter from Jimmy Carter Taught Me in College (Exclusive)

“Speak the truth and learn how to serve as many others as possible.”

These were words that Jimmy Carter – who died on Sunday, December 29th at the age of 100 – shared with me in 2017.

I never met the former president and was not alive when he was in office. But I’m here today to follow the online conversations surrounding his career over the past day, which focus largely on his life after leaving the White House in 1981 – particularly his humanitarian efforts.

As an entertainment journalist, my family and friends often ask me to describe the notable people I encounter. Well, although I never met Carter, we corresponded once. I don’t usually bring this up in conversation, but given the stories that come out about his character, I want to highlight the kindness he showed me, a then-aspiring writer, in his final years.

Before the spring semester of my freshman year in January 2017, as an 18-year-old staff writer for my student newspaper, I wrote a letter to the Carter Center requesting an interview with the former president. Months later, he responded and taught me a valuable lesson about what it means to give courage to those who seek it.

At the beginning of 2017, I was new to journalism. I joined the University at Buffalo’s independent, student-edited publication. The spectrumthe semester before as a contributing author. I had barely published anything. But like everything, the more I worked at it, the better my writing got. Just before the spring semester began, after a few interviews with men on the street on campus, I decided that the natural next step was to try my luck at an interview with a former U.S. president.

A ridiculous foresight.

The process was not entirely foreign to me. In elementary school, I sent questions on index cards to fan email addresses of my favorite musicians and actors. Some responded occasionally, including Betty White, who I consider to be the first person I ever interviewed – another story for another day.

As for Carter, however, I don’t know what motivated me to send this letter. The chances of a former commander in chief receiving an interview request from an 18-year-old kid over 800 miles away were incredibly slim. And he found it impossible to answer.

Nevertheless, I decided to write to the 39th US President, attaching a separate document with four questions for him and sending it to the address of the Carter Center in his home state of Georgia.

I can’t remember how long it took for Carter to get back to me – the envelope with the return date is scattered somewhere in my personal archives – but I vaguely remember heading to the house for a break weeks later I returned to my grandparents and found a letter from Jimmy Carter sitting on my bed. He replied.

The questions I asked Carter were relatively brief, as were his answers. I asked him about his favorite memories in office, his life as a former president, his thoughts on Donald Trump’s first weeks in the White House and, of course, if he had any advice for students who want to become politicians.

When I opened the envelope, I found the document hand-signed by Carter in blue pen. A few months later, I had it authenticated by the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) and confirmed that he was indeed answering my questions on his own initiative.

One answer still comes to mind when he described his life after the presidency: “I consider these to be the best years of my life.”

Aside from his answers, what really struck me about our exchange was the fact that 40 years after he took office, Jimmy Carter still took the time to answer his emails, give a young journalist a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and him To give advice to future generations.

I honestly can’t tell you how common it is for former presidents to open up to young writers. What I can attest to, however, is that Carter’s letter showed me the value of giving encouragement to those who seek it.

Even when I put down the pad and pen decades from now, I still want to be an active member of society and, as Carter told me nearly eight years ago, continue to serve as many others as possible.