Remembering Jimmy Carter: a Music-Loving President
Bored on a plane Sunday as I came home from a Christmas trip to the Midwest, I scrolled through dozens of movie and documentary options offered me by Delta airlines and finally decided on one that looked interesting: Jimmy Carter, Rock & Roll President.
When I learned, about four hours later, that the 100-year-old former U.S. President had died that very day - probably as I was watching that documentary, I marveled at the coincidence.
The documentary that I watched (and highly recommend) illustrates Carter's close relationships with musicians Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, and his love for rock, country, folk, gospel and more. It shows how Carter's successful presidential campaign was bolstered very publicly by groups such as the Allman Brothers Band, by Dylan, Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, John Denver, and others.
But it is worth nothing that Carter's musical affinities ran much deeper, that he truly embraced all music.
Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter with a Suzuki student in Nov. 1977. They were at their daughter Amy's violin recital. Image courtesy of the Carter Presidential Library.
The documentary does not discuss Carter's relationship with classical music, which ran very deep. This was a man who met Shinichi Suzuki, and who by his own estimation listened to classical music up to 10 hours a day while working in the White House. This was reflected in his policies - the National Endowment for the Arts budget was doubled during his administration.
Famously, during his first month in office, Carter installed a high-fidelity sound system in the inner White House office. While he didn't ever play an instrument, he listened to music almost constantly. And he didn't turn his nose up at any genre.
The New York Times expressed astonishment that this Southern peanut farmer who liked country and rock music seemed to also have an abiding and authentic love for classical music, saying in a 1977 article that "it came as something of a surprise that, soon after assuming office, President Carter took his family to the Kennedy Center for a performance of Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly'; that he asked Rudolf Serkin, the distinguished pianist, to play sonatas by Beethoven and Mendelssohn at his first state dinner, and that by his own account he listens to classical music eight to 10 hours a day. While such a heavy musical diet might be quite suitable for a professional critic, it is hardly what one expects from a President of the United States."
Why not?
Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 - the same year I started taking violin lessons, at age nine, at my public school in Colorado. It was also the same year that Amy Carter - his nine-year-old daughter - started taking violin lessons, learning through the Suzuki method with teacher Ronda Cole. (Amy also went to public school in Washington D.C. - causing a great bru-ha-ha back then.)
"Rosalynn and Amy Carter played the violin together and bonded as mother and daughter," according to The White House Historical Association. "At the 1978 Suzuki International Children's Festival, Amy performed with 200 American and Japanese children at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. President Carter and Shinichi Suzuki himself attended, and the president greeted Amy’s fellow performers afterwards backstage."
A beautiful thought, that the Carter family was right there, supporting musical diplomacy among the next generation. Somehow he made the time to show up in person.
"One of the things that have held America together," he says in the documentary, "is the music we share and love. I think music is the best proof that people have one thing in common, no matter where they live, no matter what language they speak."
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Replies
I absolutely love this, Laurie! And the photo is precious!
I'm pretty sure one of violinist.com's members, Elisabeth Matesky, played for Jimmy Carter at a White House dinner:
See the program for September 9, 1977: Elizabeth Matesky is an American-born violin virtuoso. She will be playing the Mozart Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano in G Major K. 301 and the Ysaye Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin in D Minor and 'Ballade'"
By all accounts Carter had well-rounded musical tastes. Vladimir Horowitz, as well as the Bluegrass band, the Seldom Scene, were among the many that performed at the White House during his term.
Thanks for sharing, Laurie, these recollections. Yesterday we were talking about Carter’s famous “Moderation” speech during the fuel crisis—not exactly the direction our country took! Your comments only deepen my respect for Citizen Carter.
The 'citizen' concept is key: if those in authority are not evidently citizens themselves, or fail to respect the citizenship of the populace, the nation starts on a downward slope. President Carter's love of so many musical genres is symbolic of his commitment to serve America's, and the world's, citizens.
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December 31, 2024 at 03:32 AM · Thank you for this beautiful tribute.