President Carter's Most Endearing Habit
Jimmy Carter flies frequently on commercial airlines. When he does, he flies, as he should, in First Class. Since he still has Secret Service protection, normally he boards the plane after all other passengers have been seated, so most people on the plane don't even know he's on board.
His habit is to, at some point during the flight, walk down the aisle of the plane and shake hands with all passengers. I've been on a flight, from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, where he did that. Our takeoff was delayed while he boarded the plane, but the announcement was just that the flight was delayed briefly.
I settled in my seat, next to my wife and took out the book I was reading. At one point during the flight, I looked up and remarked to my wife, "I think that's Jimmy Carter up there." Sure enough, he was near the front of the plane, working his way back, shaking hands and exchanging a few words with each row of passengers.
Finally, he got to our row and turned toward us. He had a smile on his face as he extended his hand. I said, "Thank you for your service, Mr. President" and took his hand. He replied, "It has been my pleasure." Then after shaking the hand of my wife and the other passenger in that row, he moved farther back in the plane.
When we landed at LAX, deplaning was delayed to allow him to leave and he was whisked off to wherever he was speaking in a motorcade that had driven up alongside the airliner.
He is a truly gracious, kind gentleman. That is his legacy. He was a President of the people. He showed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve on that flight by greeting people, whether they had supported him or not.
Thank you for your service, Mr. President!
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and not get political at all.
The closest I ever got to being "political" was helping a Japanese admiral (who had a good command of the English language despite never studying at a foreign war college) with the definition and pronunciation of the word "unusual." He was struggling with it, and he asked me if this was the correct use of the word in a sentence (these are his exact words): "Do you think it is UNUSUAL for Americans to elect actor for President?" After I stopped laughing, I said "Yes, it is VERY UNUSUAL~!"
Fortunately, in the case of Nixon, he did not offer his hand, so I was spared that contact. He stayed in the room for about 15 minutes, with some Admiral explaining the exercise that was underway. I was the Russian translator in the room during the exercise, and was tasked with watching some teletype machine for anything that might appear in that language, which I was expected to translate aloud immediately. I had little to do, and don't really know why I was selected for that task. I was far from the most experienced translator in that building. But, oh well...
The entire exercise was surreal, really. More than that I can't say. Just surreal.
uniform/physical appearance and military bearing.
Far be it from the brass to have the Commander in Chief encounter some lard-bellied, pimpled soul, even if they might be brilliant at their work!
In my very junior years, when very high level dignitaries were visiting, I'd be tasked with doing the "pre-inspection" and picking out the slobs who were likely to be gigged, removing them from the formation, and giving them alternate tasks ("Lucky you, Smith, you're directing traffic today....you, Jones, you're guarding the gate at the far end of the field!"
. If you don't want the dignitary to actually "inspect" you've got to make 'em all look as alike as possible!
Jimmy Carter Flies Into MSP, Greets Passengers On Plane
March 6, 2015 11:19 AM
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Former President Jimmy Carter was in the Twin Cities Friday afternoon to moderate a discussion on human rights and democracy as part of a Nobel Peace Prize forum.
He’ll start his visit by speaking to a group of students at Augsburg College, then attend a question and answer session at the Raddison Blu in downtown Minneapolis.
Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.
He was the 39th President of the United States, taking office in 1977, succeeding Gerald Ford and being defeated in the 1980 election by Ronald Reagan.
A WCCO viewer submitted a photo of Carter aboard his plane to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
According to the viewer, “He went and shook everyone’s hand.”
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told him how much his mother admired him. 
