By Jim.
Atlanta was always going to be on our trip itinerary, because it’s the site of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum (the seventh official Presidential Library of the trip, with six to go). Then we got lucky when we could time that leg of the trip for the same weekend that Alabama and Georgia were in town to play in the SEC Championship Game. Ginny decided to stay in Charleston to spend some extra time with Coley, so one of my best friends from law school, Woody Sanderson, was able to juggle his work schedule (it wouldn’t be fair to let loose a retirement zinger right now) and join me.
The Carter Library and Museum also includes the Carter Center, which is dedicated to providing facilities and services to resolve conflicts, advance democracy and human rights, prevent diseases and improve mental health care.
The Carter Center sets this one apart from all other Presidential Libraries, and exemplifies why Jimmy Carter is America’s greatest ex-President.
The buildings housing the Museum, Library and Center are unpretentious and understated, just like President Carter.
The Library’s exhibits on the Carter Administration caused me a nearly-overwhelming sense of nostalgia and sadness. I passionately supported Carter’s out-of-nowhere run to the White House in 1976, which I mostly experienced in Alabama, having moved there that summer to start law school after living in California and Oregon for 12 years. Carter personified what was then called The New South – the success of racial desegregation made the region seem receptive to other forms of progressivism. Reagan’s defeat of Carter in 1980 snuffed out that spirit, with ramifications that went beyond the South. For example, one of Reagan’s first acts as President was to remove the solar panels Carter had installed at the White House.
Jimmy Carter’s life story is the American dream come true. Born in a small town in rural Georgia, he served his country by going to the Naval Academy, then earning an assignment to Admiral Hyman Rickover’s elite nuclear submarine program. However, Carter’s sense of family was stronger than his ambition. When his father died, young Lieutenant Carter resigned his commission to return to Plains, GA and rescue his family’s farming business. A few years later, he entered politics, first as a state senator and then as Governor of Georgia. After one term in the statehouse, he ran for President, prompting a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution headlined, “Jimmy Carter Is Running for WHAT?”
President Carter started the tradition of newly-inaugurated Presidents walking from Capitol Hill down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House after taking the oath of office. January 20, 1977 was an exhilarating day, filled with hope and goodwill. But Carter inherited a lousy economy (remember Gerald Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now” buttons?) and an even worse national mood (the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate). He still achieved important legislative victories, such as creating the Department of Energy, establishing the environmental Super Fund and deregulating the transportation, media and banking industries. His greatest triumphs were as a diplomat – the SALT II arms limitations agreement, the treaty implementing our decades-old commitment to return control of the Panama Canal to Panama and, most importantly, the Camp David Accords and the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty.
Ultimately, the Carter Presidency was doomed by the Iran hostage crisis, which lasted 444 days, including the entire year of 1980 when Carter was running for reelection. Carter got the blame for a long-shot military rescue operation that failed in April, 1980, but not nearly enough credit for his gritty, patient diplomacy and tough, pragmatic seizure of billions of dollars of Iranian assets that punished Iran’s outrageous behavior and created negotiating leverage. His tireless efforts culminated in the return of the hostages – with no loss of life – on the day Reagan, his successor, was inaugurated. In recognition of Carter’s achievement, Reagan asked him to travel to Germany to greet the hostages on their return to freedom.
In the 37 years since he left office, Jimmy Carter has devoted his life to humanitarian causes worldwide. He has overseen elections in foreign countries. He has brokered peace accords. He has written 31 books. Rosalyn has advocated tirelessly for the mentally ill. As a couple, they have been the faces of Habitat For Humanity and raised funds and awareness for public health initiatives – one of which is the distribution by the Carter Center of a drug preventing onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, a triumph commemorated by a statue of the grounds of the Museum. 
Jimmy and Rosalyn both received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. He even won Grammy Awards for narrations of his audiobooks. These achievements are displayed at the Museum and should make every citizen proud of how our country has been served by this honorable man and the splendid wife who has been at his side during 72 years of marriage.
I regard it as a supreme irony that the two U.S. Presidents whose hands I’ve shaken are Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump – polar opposites in morality and character.
After my time at the Library, I headed into nearby downtown Atlanta and started counting down to kickoff for the SEC Championship Game being played the following day at Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta’s new $1.6 billion sporting pleasure palace.
I rode a Ferris wheel that provided an interesting perspective on Centennial Park (of 1996 Olympics fame) and not much else…
and walked over to the remarkable stadium. 
After meeting up with Woody and having a nice dinner in town, we went back to The Big T, which was parked on Stonewall Jackson Drive, near Robert E. Lee Blvd. at Stone Mountain State Park in Stone Mountain, GA. The New South hasn’t fully taken root yet, even in Atlanta. 
Championship GameDay was rainy and tense. After a noon-time get-together with our classmate and good friend Scott Phelps, Woody and I got to the stadium well before kickoff. As luck would have it, recently-elected Alabama Senator Doug Jones was sitting three rows behind us. He agreed to a picture and was as gracious and classy as could be. 
The game was epic. For Alabama fans, the mood swings included (in order) confidence, surprise, shock, disbelief, terror, hope and redemption.
The storyline of Jalen Hurts was too implausible for a Hollywood script. He lost his job as Alabama quarterback on this same field against this same team in last year’s National Championship game; then he came off the bench Saturday in the 4th quarter when his replacement, Tua Tagovailoa, got injured; he passed for the tying touchdown and ran for the winning score with one minute left in the game. It’s why sports is the greatest form of entertainment – reality can be more amazing than fantasy. 
By the end of the game, all the Bama fans around us had become our new best friends. We’d shared a lot in four hours, and there were multiple high-fives and hugs when it was over. College football at its best. 
Roll Tide!