Jimmy Carter in An Hour Before Daylight. by Jimmy Carter
On Principles & Values:
Grew up in Archery, GA; no longer exists except for church
Just beyond the town [of Plains, Georgia] there is a place called Archery, where the topography begins to change for the first time since Savannah, from flat plains to rolling hills and poorer soils that extend on to the Chatahoochee River, which divides
Georgia from Alabama. Archery is no longer there, except on the old maps, but it's where I grew up and lived from when I was 4 years old in 1928 until the very end of the Great Depression, when I left for college and the US Navy in 1941.
190 miles west of Savannah, Plains is located exactly 120 miles due south of Atlanta. It is surrounded by productive farms, and seems to have citizens who are exceptionally inclined to resist moving away to distant places.
Archery, on the other hand, was never quite a real town. Except for the church, which is still vibrant and active, all the rest is gone.
Source: An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter, p. 14-15
Dec 16, 2001
On Civil Rights:
Childhood Civil War view: whites conquered; blacks liberated
There is a strong tie to the Civil War, or, as we called it, the War Between the States. Although I was born more than half a century after the war was over, it was a living reality in my life. I grew up in one of the families whose people could
not forget that we had been conquered, while most of our neighbors were black people whose grandparents had been liberated in the same conflict. Our two races, although inseparable in our daily lives, were kept apart by social custom,
misinterpreting of Holy Scriptures, and the unchallenged law of the land.It seemed natural for white folks to cherish our Southern heritage and cling to our way of life. We were bound together by blood kinship as well as by
lingering resentment against those who had defeated us. A frequent subject of discussion around my grandparents' homes was the damage the "damn Yankees" had done to the South during Reconstruction years.
Source: An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter, p. 17-18
Dec 16, 2001
On Civil Rights:
1930s South: elders resented Reconstruction; but not youth
Many older Georgians still remembered vividly the anger and embarrassment of their parents, who had to live under the domination of carpetbaggers and their Southern allies. My grandfather Gordy was 13 years old when what he saw as the
Northern oppressors finally relinquished political and economic control of the state in 1876. My mother was the only one in her family who ever spoke up to defend Abraham Lincoln. I don't remember ever hearing slavery mentioned, only the unwarranted
violation of states' rights and the intrusion of the federal government in the private lives of citizens. Folks never considered that the real tragedy of Reconstruction was its failure to establish social justice for the former slaves.
The intense bitterness was mostly confined to our older relatives, who couldn't understand the desire of some of us younger ones to look more into the future--or at least the present--instead of just the past.
Source: An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter, p. 18
Dec 16, 2001
On Drugs:
Never smoked; parents and siblings all died of cancer
My father's independent nature rebelled against an addiction that controlled him, though, and this brought about one of my most memorable conversations with him. One day, about the time I became a teenager, he said, "Jimmy,
I need to talk to you about something important. There is something I want you to promise me.""Yes, sir, Daddy."
"I don't want you to smoke a cigarettes until you are 21 years old."
"No, sir, Daddy, I won't."
He then made an unnecessary commitment. "When the time comes, I'll give you a gold watch."
I kept my promise, and so did he. I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy when I reached legal maturity, and
I bought a package of cigarettes. I took one puff, didn't like it, and never smoked another. Unfortunately, my mother and my three siblings took up Daddy's habit, and all died of cancer.
Source: An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter, p.204
Dec 16, 2001
Page last updated: May 27, 2013