I ran the story below on Jimmy Carter flying Delta Air Lines on June 12, 2017. In honor of the former US President, I am re-running it this morning. I’ll have more to say about the former POTUS in a future post.
I do my best to keep this blog non-partisan and believe me, I have strong opinions that are hard to keep silent sometimes. But I will say this: I have a certain admiration for all men who have been part of the exclusive club of U.S. Presidents. It’s why I intend to visit every Presidential Library. It’s also why I love this story on Jimmy Carter flying Delta.
Whatever your political viewpoint on the Carter years in the White House or his work in the 3.5 decades after, there is no denying the man is gracious and sincere.
Last night passengers boarded a Delta flight from Washington National to Atlanta. Just as the door was about to close, one more passenger appeared: the former president. When a flight delay was announced, he made his way down the aisle and extended a handshake to every passenger onboard.
The ex-President joked that it wasn’t his fault the plane was late.
Delta was happy to heap praises on the former president–
Delta is always proud to fly former President Carter. His taking the time to shake hands with fellow customers is a magnanimous gesture consistent with his decades of public and philanthropic service.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, however, suggests an ulterior motive for proactively shaking the hands of every passenger prior to takeoff: avoiding a crowd around him during the flight.
That’s actually a genius move.
CONCLUSION
This story resonates because we have been inundated with so many horrible onboard stories lately…on United, Delta, and American. This was just a nice break from the bad news, a small gesture of kindness that should cause us all to smile and try to likewise show kindness to others.
Nice. I’ve like Jimmy Carter since I was a kid. I don’t think he was a very effective President but he is a true gentleman.
I think if there was a list of presidents that have done the most good after leaving office Jimmy Carter would be pretty close to the top.
When Calvin Coolidge took over , he gave America the Jazz Age . That was effective for fun and happiness .
Must have been a real treat for the passengers to have the opportunity to shake the hand of a US President.
I hope that’s sarcastic.
Calvin Coolidge was the best , and he would never climb aboard an airplane because he understood gravity .
I sat in the seat in front of 1st lady Barbara Bush once in 1st class from Maine. Only one person approached her. I did not, but I got to overhear her opinions on Nancy Reagan!
On my next flight overseas I sat next to a lady and told her my experience. She knew Barbara as she was the wife of one of the ambassadors (to Hungary I think).
Seems more like a publicity stunt then a genius move for me.
I very much doubt he’d be approached by every passenger in flight, and I doubt that a hand shake before take off would discourage anyone who’d like to take up a couple minutes of his time later on (rather even encourage it).
Sourpuss.
You sound like a bitter little girl who no one likes….including their family.
Go back to MAGA world where you belong and your miserable meaningless life and the other tragic losers like yourself.
I respectfully disagree. He was not a very good president and I did not vote for him. However, I met the gentleman several times as he and my Grandfather taught Sunday school together when he was governor of Georgia. He genuinely liked people and warmly greeted them. Many years later, after he lost reelection, he was the grand marshal at a parade. My volunteer group was helping in the parade and I was assigned to the parade director. When President Carter’s car pulled up, he got out of the car and was introduced to those standing near the director. When I was introduced, “Oh, aren’t you XXX’s grandson?” “Yes Mr. President.” “You know, your grandfather was such a great gentleman and I appreciated his help in teaching Sunday school.” “Thank you Mr. President. He was pretty special to me, too!” I thought…’WOW…this many years later and he remembered my Grandfather’. One also never heard any scandals involving his family, dealings with foreign countries, bribes, payoffs and blow***s.
As an introvert, it is hard for me to even imagine the thought process that says, “hey, we’re delayed, why don’t I get up and shake everyones hand to help pass the time”. Obviously, we have elected very few introverts as President, so my thought process is very different from an extrovert and natural politician.
Secret Service doing a nice job covering him down the aisle….
I read that when he was President, Carter treated the U.S. Secret Service, in a very rude, and condescending manner; he was not at all nice to them. One time, he and Mrs. Carter, actually had the nerve ask the Secret Service, to remove their guns inside the White House, “as Amy didn’t like them”. The Secret Service ignored their ridiculous request.
Incidentally, there was one time, when a sitting U.S. President, actually rode on board a scheduled commercial flight in the USA. During the energy crisis of 1973-74, Richard Nixon (in December, 1973), took a commercial flight to California, and chose not to fly on Air Force One, to save fuel. The passengers were shocked when they saw him coming down the aisle to greet passengers.
He did the same in March 2015
I was on that flight and he showed up and shook our hands. Cool guy
Let’s be honest. He was really crop dusting.
President Carter, from the other side of the pond was the second last decent US president who understood right from wrong and lived by principles that others are expected to.
How far the US has fallen from those days when you now elect a convicted criminal as president and expect his to be palatable to decent people, or maybe you just don’t care.
BWAHAHA Prince Andrew,Nigel Farage,etc ad nauseum,Brit lecturing Yanks on indecent people at the top.
Right! People can call Trump whatever they want. Just put President in front of it.
Why? You didn’t.
So much more appropriate to put Convict.
You could also replace the title of queen with “unrepentant adulterer “for Camilla,LOL.
He sounded like someone who really cared about people and things going on. It’s too bad he put his faith in this world.
I was on a United flight when he did the same thing. The flight was on time, actually he probably delayed it a minute going though the cabin but it was certainly appreciated by probably everyone. A nice touch. he didn’t have to do it.
I met Jimmy Carter at a Charity Concert in Americus, GA, that I helped organize. I shook hands, made small talk and took pictures with President Carter. The highlight for me was spending 2 hours during the concert standing a couple of feet behind him (he was seated) with no Secret Service in sight. He was gracious, friendly and humble throughout the evening. Stood in line for the buffet and got his own food. Gave a standing ovation to the artists. Praised everyone and everything. Spoke eloquently. An all star.
Jimmy Carter was reported to be very disrespectful to Secret Service agents. He also threatened his lieutenant governor if he opposed Carter in any way.
In terms of politics, he hurt America’s reliability by cutting diplomatic relations with the Republic of China in Taiwan and breaking the mutual defense treaty with them. So far, the US hasn’t broken the NATO mutual defense treaty but America has run away from Afghanistan, run away from Vietnam, run away from Iraq, etc.
Carter was successful in manipulating the press to make him look like a nice guy.
“Reported” by whom? This is like the usual “some people say” preface to what is just usually a falsehood (or simple guess). A fact like this would be qu9ite sensational, so there ought not be any shortage of attributable, serious reporting on it. Please share.
How many republican presidents have won the Nobel Prize for Peace? One – and he’d really be a Democrat today.