by Bethany Hegedus, WB Founder and Creative Director
It’s hard to believe our 39th President, James Earl Carter Jr., otherwise known as Jimmy—has never had a picture book biography written about him…until now.
As a child, I’d watch him on the television speaking to our nation when I was five to nine. I adored President Carter. His even tone, his wide smile, his cardigan. In many ways, my childhood-self merged him and Mister Rogers into the perfect father figure: sensitive but strong, kind and compassionate, a middle-age face that appeared on my television screen in suburban Chicago. Our family, like all families in the 70s, was affected by the oil crisis. We walked everywhere, saving gas. We turned the heat to 62 and wore sweaters in our home. We clipped coupons, unplugged the appliances when not in use. Little did I know, President Carter and his wife, First Lady, Rosalyn Carter were doing the same, in their house–The White House.
I didn’t know, or understand, the far-reaching effects of Carter’s presidency. His brokerage of the Camp David Peace Accords, establishing the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. His pardoning of draft dodgers from the Vietnam War. It is hard to see history for what it is, while it is happening, especially when you are under ten.
So why write a biography on his life now? What is President Carter’s relevance to today’s readers under ten? To today’s families? To today’s classrooms?
That is for each of us to answer. But what I set out to show in Hard Work but It’s Worth It: The Life of Jimmy Carter, is how with a combination of hard work, a growing understanding of his white privilege, and a deep commitment to his faith Jimmy Carter worked to unite our country. How the list of Good Mental Habits he penned as a young man, and lives by, helped him to make strides in human rights, foreign policy, and more. At the age of ninety-four, he is our nation’s oldest living former President.
And these words from his inaugural address, have much relevance, even today:
The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit. Peoples more numerous and more politically aware are craving, and now demanding, their place in the sun–not just for the benefit of their own physical condition, but for basic human rights.
The passion for freedom is on the rise. Tapping this new spirit, there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful world that is truly humane.
Perhaps, it is more than time for a book that explores how a simple farm boy grew up to serve so many.
And how our own hard work can lead to changes for the good of all.
Not just for ourselves.
In early 2020, the year of our next Presidential election, Hard Work But It’s Worth It, The Life of Jimmy Carter, published by Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins hits shelves. It is my hope that this book drives more of us—young and old—to dig in the dirt, to build shelter for those who need it, and provide clean water for all, and eradicate disease and despair as we work for the lasting peace the President Carter believes is possible.
I believe it is.
Jimmy does.
Do you?
