Carter Center Director: Carter was 'an everyday guy that just happened to run the country'

Caption

Dr. Meredith Evans speaks with GPB's Peter Biello at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum on Oct. 1, 2024.

Credit: Caio Jardim

On Oct. 1, 1986, former President Jimmy Carter spoke at the formal dedication of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Nearly 40 years later, the museum is filled with more than artifacts of his four years as president. It is chock full of evidence of a life well-lived. Dr. Meredith Evans, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, spoke with GPB's Peter Biello at the museum during a live broadcast of All Things Considered marking Carter's 100th birthday.

Peter Biello: So tell us a little bit about where we are right now. We are in a gallery featuring 100 portraits for the 100th birthday. How did this come together?

Dr. Meredith Evans: Our curator is fantastic. She thought it up. We have hundreds more of these types of portraits that are hidden in storage because we care for all the artifacts that we received during the [Carter] administration and beyond. And so she chose 100 of them. Some are professional artists. Some are amateur artists, but made from all kinds of things. Some are patty seeds and yarn and some are oil, some are finger paints and pencil. I mean, it's just really fantastic. And a lot of them are gifts to the president during the administration. So it's the public's perception of him, which is also fascinating. So there's really neat things in this space.

Peter Biello: So fascinating to think that some of these are just unsolicited things that showed up in the mail.

Dr. Meredith Evans: Completely unsolicited, from children and from adults. Right? A nice mix.

Peter Biello: Okay. So how did you go about — or how did your curator go about selecting the final 100, I guess, out of all those things that were sent to him?

Dr. Meredith Evans: We really wanted to make sure that you saw the gamut from across the country and across the world, but all different age groups. And there's actually one in particular where the artist actually came to the library before we even put this exhibit up. And he wanted to see the portrait that he made. And we actually had it and we were able to show it to him. He cried. We cried. It's meaningful when people see their work and know that it's not done in vain.

Peter Biello: And at least one of these has a caption on it. And I think it says "he has an honest face." And I guess that's what the artist was trying to capture.

Dr. Meredith Evans: Yes. Yes.

Peter Biello: Yeah. And we're in a special section speaking next to not just a portrait by Chris DiDomizio, but also the sketches that he made in advance. Right? To figure out how they wanted to portray the president. Why show the work?

Dr. Meredith Evans: Because DiDomizio is not only a local artist in Roswell, in Georgia. It's interesting to show the work because young people want to see the work and it helps people be better. It takes time to do this work. It was very thoughtful. It shows his ideas, what he thought about to create the portraits and his initial sketchings to the final product. And so you get a really good understanding of his work and why he did what he did and how long it took him to do. So it's a really fascinating thing. It's always good to show technique and the story behind the scenes because I think people want to know. I think people think artists just throw things up or they, you know, do it at a whim. But it's a thoughtful process. And we really want to make sure — particularly young people, we cater heavily to K-12 audiences, and it's really important for them to see the length of time it takes, the technique it takes, and the work that people put in to make such beautiful work.

Peter Biello: So you've been director here at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum for eight years now,

Eight years.

But your relationship with the Carters goes back some time. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Dr. Meredith Evans: Sure. It's full circle for me. I was very, very, very, very young when I sent a letter to the president inviting myself to the White House for my birthday party. And I threw in a dollar for my sister and a penny that I had.

Peter Biello: So you're like 4 or 5?

Dr. Meredith Evans: About 4, yeah. And drew these interesting drawings that I say are not really drawings, but they are. And he sent me a declination back and my money back saying that I could not have my party. And I have a book from the White House — and I still have those things. I should have known I was an archivist all along. But the reality is, he responded. And that's amazing. And my letter is actually in the collection, the archival collection. So while that's joyful to me, it's a reminder to the American public to be careful what you send to a politician or to a government official because it becomes public record. But it's a joy. It's full circle to meet him. He was my last interview for this job. The library's part of the National Archives. And the first question he asked me is if I had ever been a federal employee before. And I said no. And he started to laugh. And then he asked me if I ever wrote a president. And I said, "Yes, I wrote you." And so we laughed about that. And he said, "Do you have the letter?" I said, "You guys might have the letter." And sure enough, when I found the letter, I took it to him and I said, "This was the letter." And he's like, "These drawings is the letter?" But then he met my mother and he was like, "Thank you for translating your daughter's drawings." So it's been amazing, full circle for me to have this job but have an encounter with him. I'm probably the last director that will really sit and meet with him and hear his understanding of what this museum means to — not really to him: He's more about what it means to the public. He is a very humble man, and he, although you need to have an ego to be president, it was never his intention to have a space only about him. So a lot of the space talks about the issues that not only that he's grown up with, but the ways he's decided to make changes in the world.

Peter Biello: Yeah. What does he want it to mean to the public?

Dr. Meredith Evans: I think he wants it to be a place for people to take action. ... I think he wants you to be inspired or knowledgeable about what we can do as citizens to make this a better place. So I did a tour today, and I really wanted to point out to people that his mother was a nurse. So he has a focus on health care. He grew up in segregation where it wasn't appropriate or welcomed for him to have African-American friends or people that worked with him or raised him. And he fights for human rights to this day so that people don't experience that anymore. And then there was a point where they stuffed the ballot box when he tried to run for state senate and he appealed to the state and won. And so he does election monitoring. Everything he does is based on his life experiences, but also to make the world globally a better place. And I think that's amazing.

Peter Biello: You can really see a story unfold as you walk through here.

Dr. Meredith Evans: Every day. Every day. Even his brief time in the Navy, which really isn't brief, it was a solid five years, that exposure to the rest of the world. He went out of the country with the Navy. And, you know, Mrs. Carter loved it. She was not happy when she had to return home, at first; she really enjoyed traveling. And I think their perspective on the world is so much bigger than the small town in which they grew up in and which they, you know, which he still resides. And I think that should tell the American public that it's OK to travel and OK to see things from different perspectives. Right?

Peter Biello: Well, we heard earlier with Dot Padgett that when Carter came to the museum and looked at the Peanut Brigade exhibit, he kind of learn more about his own past. I'm wondering if there are other examples about that, that when he came to this museum and saw new exhibits, new things that were presented, he realized things about his past that he hadn't before, or maybe there was something surprising to him.

Dr. Meredith Evans: I think it's surprising when people think that he's met Martin Luther King Jr. and he never did. But he was good friends with Daddy King. And I think having that perspective as an elder matters. I think when he sees his own artwork in the museum, he was always sort of humbled by that. Like, "why is this in here? That's just my hobby." And we were just like, "No, it's fantastic work." But also: Why? Why he paints or why Mrs. Carter painted. It was a relaxing moment for them. They use their, what people would consider hobbies, as ways to relax and disconnect, but oftentimes drew things that were about their family or drew portraits of each other or their family. And then the woodcutting he's been doing since he was a little boy. So that's just something he continued to do because it keeps his mind at ease, right? And so those things that are in the museum that he was like, "Why is this in here?" And then he reflected on it. I think he realizes how important it is to show people that he's really an everyday guy that just happened to run the country, right? Happened to run the free world.

Peter Biello: Well, you had a fondness for him as a child. Then you ended up being interviewed by him for a job. So, yeah, they say you should never meet your heroes, right? But you met one of yours, and it seemed to work out fine. What was the side of him that you finally get to see? And you said, "Good. He is what I thought he was." Or more maybe he was more than just what you thought he was.

Dr. Meredith Evans: It's interesting because I think it took me maybe six months to see the politician Carter because he seemed so everyday and normal. But then there was a moment where somebody asked a question. I can't remember the question now, but he kind of didn't respond. And that's sort of had this look. And I was like, "Oh, that's the politician!" He also was super smart and read everything. So I realized that you had to be very clear with your spellcheck because he would correct your memos and send them back to you and ask you questions. So he's just thoughtful and fun to be around. But be on your toes.