Jimmy Carter, as president and former president, had many connections with San Francisco. The city has many people who worked to help him get elected and some who served in his administration. But it was his role as president during a very turbulent time in the city’s history that created a special connection between Carter and the city by the bay.
Carter passed away Dec. 29 at the age of 100, preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at the age of 96. The bond between Carter and San Francisco was forged when the city was reeling from assassinations, crime, Jim Jones, and more.
In the current era when Americans have elected their first Black president, nearly elected two women to office, and have twice elected a reality TV antipolitician, it might be hard to understand how unlikely a Jimmy Carter election victory was in 1976. The country was still unsettled in the wake of Vietnam, Watergate, high inflation, and racial and economic upheaval.
Carter, a former Georgia governor and a peanut farmer, was so unknown nationally that the joke in his campaign was that its slogan might well have been “Jimmy who?” He was an evangelical Christian, a constituency that had not flipped to the GOP yet. That created unease among more secular Americans; nonetheless, he wore his faith on his sleeve. But he got elected, promising a more moral government after the chicaneries of Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson, and also promising to get tough with the Soviets, a position voters would associate with Ronald Reagan but that was a prominent part of the Carter campaign.
In office, he elevated issues such as the environment and human rights, while also becoming “the Great Deregulator,” something that even the free-marketeers at Reason praised following his death. Deregulation also became associated with Reagan, but that was not the case for environmental and human rights issues.
Friend of the city
On Nov. 27, 1978, Carter issued an official statement about the murders of San Francisco’s mayor and its first out-gay supervisor.
“I know I speak on behalf of the Nation when I express a sense of outrage and sadness at the senseless killings today of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk,” Carter wrote from the White House. “George Moscone had long and ably served the people of the San Francisco area . . . . In every conversation with Mayor Moscone, I always knew that the people of San Francisco and California were uppermost in his mind and heart. He was a good and kind man, and he will be sorely missed. Supervisor Milk was a hard-working and dedicated supervisor, a leader of San Francisco’s gay community who kept his promise to represent all his constituents. Rosalynn and I express our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of both men.”
It would be more than a decade before a U.S. president would utter the word “gay” in anything other than deprecatory terms.
The bond between Carter and San Francisco was forged when the city was reeling from assassinations, crime, Jim Jones, and more.
But Carter wasn’t just issuing a perfunctory nod to San Francisco voters. He was also here in person at the War Memorial Opera House for a May 4, 1979 evening speech at a memorial tribute for Moscone. In it, he name-tagged Lowell High School and celebrated Moscone. He also praised Dianne Feinstein, Moscone’s successor as mayor, “who, with her calm and compassionate leadership, preserved the precious attributes of this city during those trying days. It’s a magical city on the bay, which has the admiration and appreciation and love of the entire country. And you demonstrated again a special spirit by being able, during this event, to change grief and loss into love and hope.”
Five years later, Republicans would chant about evil “San Francisco values,” but Carter spoke kindly toward the city and its people. Carter didn’t forsake San Francisco, and he was back at the podium in 1984 when his party held its convention here at the convention center named for its slain mayor.
Public encomiums
Though “terrible president” trended on X following the announcement of Carter’s death, formal responses from public officials even on the right were filled with admiration.
Among Democrats, a party that downplayed Carter’s legacy during the height of the Reagan years but that later embraced him and his post-presidency, praise was widespread. And, as should be expected, politicians with San Francisco roots were full of kind words for the man.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “President Carter was a man of rare character — whose beliefs ran true and ran deep, whose moral compass never wavered. He saw the common humanity in all of us, building bridges between people of different faiths and factions abroad while working to meet the needs of those at home. Despite daunting challenges and trying times, his bright energy and spirit never faltered.”
California State Controller Malia Cohen called Carter “a true American treasure,” and credited his “belief in the power of democracy and peaceful resolution of conflicts” with inspiring her political work.
Congresswoman and Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi connected Carter’s faith with his actions. “At the heart of President Carter’s public service was his fervent commitment to honoring the spark of divinity within every person,” she wrote in a social media post. “He always defended that spark: whether teaching Sunday school in his beloved Maranatha Baptist Church, brokering the landmark Camp David Accords to pave the way to peace or building homes with Habitat for Humanity. As President, his work to restore integrity to the political arena during a difficult chapter in our history was a testament to his firm faith in the sanctity of the public good, which he always placed above his own. After leaving the White House, he carried on his service — leading perhaps the most impactful post-presidency in history.”
Mayor London Breed announced that the City Hall American flag would fly at half-staff for 30 days.
