I read with interest A Full Life - Reflections At Ninety (#553) by former president Jimmy Carter. I've always felt that President Carter was a man done in by his honest intentions and integrity, and after reading this memoir, I'm more convinced of that than ever.
What an enormous number of hats Jimmy Carter has worn over the course of his well-lived life! I've seen his home in Plains, Georgia from beyond the Secret Service gate, and been invited to attend one of his Bible Classes at his Baptist Church, but I had no idea about the journey that led him away from Plains to the Naval Academy and beyond, and then back again.
To be honest, what interested me most were the years prior to the White House - his boyhood memories, his naval career, and his decision to return to Plains to take over the family business after his father's death.
I can remember a number of the incidents he describes during his campaign for the Presidency and his time in office and beyond; I was old enough to vote for him when he ran, so it was easy to recall the personalities of the people involved in many of the events he includes in this small volume. The hardest thing about it is wrapping my mind around the idea that it all took place so long ago!
I admired him then, and I still admire him now as a shining example of how to spend your retirement years as a productive (senior) citizen. A Full Life is a brief and fascinating encounter with Jimmy Carter.
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