Jimmy Carter Just Got Better With Age

In 2006, Jimmy Carter published a controversial and best-selling book on Palestine with the word “apartheid” in the title. Then he went on a whirlwind book tour, captured on film by Jonathan Demme, to promote it. Carter spoke, signed books and calmly rebutted criticism and attacks with his trademark Sunday-school demeanor. Allies, including Nancy Pelosi, then on the verge of becoming Speaker of the House, were annoyed. Enemies were livid. As for Carter, he was 82 years old and itching for a fight that mattered.

Then again, everything seemed to matter to Carter, who died Sunday at age 100. In addition to writing a best-selling book on a foreign conflict, Carter wrote poetry and sermons, memoirs, advice, a novel and reflections on faith. He was a Georgia farmer, Navy submariner and a politician who bravely preached, and practiced, racial reconciliation — but gave himself a moral mulligan when necessary. “I ran for Congress and then shifted to Governor to fill a competitive urge,” he wrote, skipping the traditional pablum about public service, “and then really enjoyed making decisions as a top government executive.”