Op-Ed
A Boost for the American Dream
By Charlene Crowell
NNPA Columnist
About 800,000 homeowners whose mortgages were backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could save $900 annually on mortgage costs, due to a small reduction in mortgage insurance (MI) premiums. President Barack Obama made the announcement in a recent speech in Phoenix, one of the cities hardest hit by the nation’s housing crisis.
By reducing the MI rate by only a half-percent, the move is also expected to enable 250,000 new homebuyers to afford an FHA mortgage. Administration officials predict that in coming years, the fee reduction will save borrowers with similarly-financed mortgages billions of dollars and also boost the housing market’s long-term recovery.
In his address, the president connected the financial concerns of everyday people to his new initiative designed to spur broader housing recovery.
“It’s not just the economy turning around,” said President Obama. “It’s turning around the lives of hardworking people. . . . Buying a home has always been about more than owning a roof and four walls. It’s about investing savings, and building a family.”
The move is also likely to benefit consumers of color who tend to secure FHA-backed mortgages far more than private, conventional ones.
In 2013, the most recent mortgage data available from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, although conventional mortgage originations rose slightly from the previous year, 2012, Black consumers nationwide received only 2.3 percent or 36,903 loans. In 2012, the same data point was even smaller, with only 26,500 such loans.
To add some context to this low number of private, conventional mortgages, the Chicago suburb of Calumet City with a population of 37,240 is larger than the number of loans made to the nation’s Black homebuyers last year.
Typically, 30-year conventional mortgages are free from mortgage insurance premiums when home down payments are 20 percent or larger. Over the course of the loan, these are the mortgages that wind up costing borrowers less money.
By contrast, borrowers who can afford a monthly mortgage payment but only have a low down payment have frequently turned to FHA. One term on these government-backed loans is to charge a mortgage insurance premium.
Housing and consumer advocates were swift to praise the president’s announcement.
Mike Calhoun, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) president said, “This decision is financially sound, socially responsible, and good policy all at once. Homebuyers, homeowners and taxpayers will all benefit.”
Similarly, Julia Gordon, Director of Housing Finance and Policy at the Center for American Progress, noted, “The president correctly observes that owning a house is about far more than putting a roof over your head. It’s also about stability and community for you and your kids – creating a place to call home. What’s more, for many families, homeownership builds wealth that can be passed down for generations.”
Yet, not all housing stakeholders were in agreement. In a prepared statement issued on the heels of the president’s address, the U.S. Mortgage Insurers issued a statement that, in part, said, “Mortgage insurers putting their own capital at risk should be preferred to government risk taking, consistent with the principles put forward by the Administration for housing reform. The MI industry has the capacity and capability to further reduce taxpayer risk and lower costs for many home buyers while expanding access to mortgage credit.”
While this segment of the housing industry may have the capacity to lower costs for many prospective homebuyers, the post-recession consumer experience did not translate into more mortgage access. The combination of higher pricing for lower-wealth borrowers, along with historically-tight credit standards dramatically limited access to homeownership for low to moderate-income borrowers and continued to pose a serious challenge to the mortgage market as a whole.
Limiting home purchase opportunities also has larger economic consequences. New homeowners fuel consumer spending, especially on big-ticket appliances. These major purchases then enhance local governments’ ability to deliver services as a result of higher sales tax revenues.
Most importantly, lost opportunities for homeownership means fewer families will have the opportunity to have that investment build wealth to pass down across generations.
As President Obama observed, it is time to help “more families afford having their own piece of the American Dream.”
Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
###
Activism
OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same. It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.

By Albert L. Brooks MD
Special to The Post
Presidential administrations significantly impact the health and wellbeing of our patients and communities.
Through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the agencies within it, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health, this new administration will decide how financial resources are allocated, dictate the focus of federal research, and determine how our public health care insurance systems are managed, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Vaccines for Children program, Medicare, and Medicaid.
The decisions made over the next four years will impact all Americans but will be felt more acutely by those most underserved and vulnerable.
As physicians, we are greatly concerned by the nominations announced by President Trump to critical healthcare related positions. Many of their previous statements and positions are rooted in misinformation.
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same.
It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.
Vaccines, in particular, have been a target of disinformation by some HHS nominees. In fact, research continues to confirm that vaccines are safe and effective. Vaccines go through multiple rounds of clinical trials prior to being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for administration to the public.
Vaccines protect against life-threateningdiseasessuch as measles, polio, tetanus, and meningococcal disease and, when used effectively, have beenshowntoeliminateorsubstantiallyreducediseaseprevalenceand/orseverity.
Because of vaccine mis- and disinformation, there has been a resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough, endangering those who are too young or unable to be vaccinated.
Several nominees have spread disinformation alleging that fluoride in public drinking water is harmful. In fact, fluoride in drinking water at the recommended level of 0.7 parts per million, like we have in our EBMUD water, is safe and keeps teeth strong. Because of public health interventions dating back to the 1960s that have resulted in 72.3% of the U.S. population now having access to fluoridated water, there has been a reduction in cavities by about 25% in both children and adults.
We also encourage the next administration to invest in our public health infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of public health agencies in preventing and responding to health crises in our communities.
Health departments at the state and local levels rely on federal funding support and technical assistance to develop public health response plans, implement public health strategies, and work with on the ground organizations to serve hard to reach communities. Public health agencies are critical for protecting everyone in our communities, regardless of income-level, insurance status, or housing status.
Health officials should also work to protect the significant improvements in insurance coverage that have occurred since the passage of theACAin 2010.According to HHS, the numberofuninsuredAmericansfellfrom48millionin2010to25.6millionin2023.
California has led the way by investing in Medi-Cal and expanding eligibility for enrollment. In fact, it reached its lowest uninsured rate ever in 2022 at 6.2%. Voters affirmed this commitment to expanding and protecting access to care in November by passing Proposition 35, which significantly expanded funding for California’s Medi-Cal program. The administration should advance policies that strengthen the ACA, Medicaid, and Medicare and improve access to affordable health care.
Regardless of the president in power, physicians will always put the best interests of our patients and communities at the forefront. We will continue to be a resource to our patients, providing evidence-based and scientifically proven information and striving to better their lives and our community’s health. We urge the new Trump administration to do the same.
Albert L. Brooks MD is the immediate past president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association, which represents 6,000 East Bay physicians.
Activism
COMMENTARY: My Sunday School Lesson with President Jimmy Carter
When I saw him, Carter was spry, quick-witted, and kind. The former president wore a bolo string tie anchored by an eight-stone turquoise clasp that dangled below the neck, as he began the lesson on the subject of grief and the death of his 28-year-old grandson. Drawing from scripture (on this particular day, a passage on the persecution of the Thessalonians), Carter said such moments were simply tests of one’s faith, endurance, and hope.

By Emil Guillermo
President Jimmy Carter, at age 100, didn’t make it to the new year, nor the next presidential inaugural.
I’ve always been a big Carter fan, so the news of his passing brought me back to a happy place.
Plains, Georgia, 2016.
I was visiting family not far from the land of presidential peanut farmers. I found myself the only full-blooded Filipino in the room at Maranatha Baptist Church, the spiritual home base for the esteemed No. 39.
President Carter looked fine that Sunday in Plains. But especially fine for his job on that day– to give the Sunday school lesson on what coincidentally was the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
Carter’s health made headlines in 2015 when he disclosed having both brain and liver cancer. It was thought he had just two or three weeks to live.
Everyone’s always underestimating Carter. After treatments, Carter’s forecast turned out not to be true.
When I saw him, Carter was spry, quick-witted, and kind. The former president wore a bolo string tie anchored by an eight-stone turquoise clasp that dangled below the neck, as he began the lesson on the subject of grief and the death of his 28-year-old grandson. Drawing from scripture (on this particular day, a passage on the persecution of the Thessalonians), Carter said such moments were simply tests of one’s faith, endurance, and hope.
“We lack inspiration, we lack the idealism to set our goals high. We’ve been satisfied with mediocrity. And I include myself,” Carter said. People want an average life, instead of aspiring to be, “outstanding, or superb or brilliant or exceptional.”
“I’m afraid that our country and its effect on people of other nations has suffered from the aftermath of 9/11,” Carter said. He “didn’t want to brag,” but said his goal for the country was always to be “superb and be a country that promoted peace and human rights…While I was in office, we never dropped a bomb, lost a missile, or fired a bullet.”
“Since 9/11,” Carter said, “we’ve pretty much abandoned our commitment to human rights as we reacted to terrorism.” He lamented that Afghanistan had become the longest war in American history, a direct outcome of 9/11, as well as the invasion of Iraq, which Carter called “unnecessary.”
Carter, whose administration took us out of an energy crisis, also pointed out how the U.S. is still suffering from a financial crisis that has exposed a deep inequality that has divided us as a people.
“We’ve become distrustful of people who are different from us,” Carter said. “We used to be a proud heterogeneous nation…and now we are fearful…and we’ve become poorer as a country.”
Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002; a fact that belies how many conservatives view his efforts to find a peace in the Middle East as “anti-Semitic.”
Jimmy Carter’s worldview requires open minds to come together. Too often. these days, that seems nearly impossible.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator He was the first Filipino American to host a national news show in 1989 at NPR’s “All Things Considered.” See Emil Amok’s Takeout on www.patreon.com/emilamok Subscribe to him on YouTube.com/@emilamok1
Activism
In 1974, Then-Gov. Jimmy Carter Visited the Home of Oakland Black Black Political Activist Virtual Murrell While Running for President
civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

By Virtual T. Murrell
Special to The Post
On his way to seeking the presidency, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter visited the Bay Area in his capacity as campaign chairman of the Democratic National Committee in March of 1974.
A friend of mine, Bill Lynch, a Democrat from San Francisco, had been asked to host Carter, who was then relatively unknown. Seeking my advice on the matter, I immediately called my friend, civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, for his opinion.
Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.
Based on Julian’s comments, I agreed to host the governor. We picked him up at the San Francisco Airport. With his toothy smile, I could tell almost right away that he was like no other politician I had ever met. On his arrival, there was a message telling him to go to the VIP room, where he met then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown.
After leaving the airport, we went to a reception in his honor at the home of Paul “Red” Fay, who had served as the acting secretary of the Navy under President John Kennedy. (Carter, it turned out, had been himself a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a submariner in the 1950s.)
The following afternoon, the Niagara Movement Democratic Club hosted a reception for Carter, which was a major success. Carter indicated that he would be considering running for president and hoped for our support if he did so.
As the event was winding down, I witnessed the most amazing moment: Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, was in the kitchen with my former wife, Irene, wearing an apron and busting suds! You would have to have been there to see it: The first and last time a white woman cleaned up my kitchen.
A few months later, President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. He was succeeded by his vice president, Gerald Ford.
On the heels of that scandal, Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976 represented integrity and honesty at a point in America’s history when he was just what the nation needed to lead as president of the United States.
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Op-Ed
A Boost for the American Dream
By Charlene Crowell
NNPA Columnist
About 800,000 homeowners whose mortgages were backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could save $900 annually on mortgage costs, due to a small reduction in mortgage insurance (MI) premiums. President Barack Obama made the announcement in a recent speech in Phoenix, one of the cities hardest hit by the nation’s housing crisis.
By reducing the MI rate by only a half-percent, the move is also expected to enable 250,000 new homebuyers to afford an FHA mortgage. Administration officials predict that in coming years, the fee reduction will save borrowers with similarly-financed mortgages billions of dollars and also boost the housing market’s long-term recovery.
In his address, the president connected the financial concerns of everyday people to his new initiative designed to spur broader housing recovery.
“It’s not just the economy turning around,” said President Obama. “It’s turning around the lives of hardworking people. . . . Buying a home has always been about more than owning a roof and four walls. It’s about investing savings, and building a family.”
The move is also likely to benefit consumers of color who tend to secure FHA-backed mortgages far more than private, conventional ones.
In 2013, the most recent mortgage data available from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, although conventional mortgage originations rose slightly from the previous year, 2012, Black consumers nationwide received only 2.3 percent or 36,903 loans. In 2012, the same data point was even smaller, with only 26,500 such loans.
To add some context to this low number of private, conventional mortgages, the Chicago suburb of Calumet City with a population of 37,240 is larger than the number of loans made to the nation’s Black homebuyers last year.
Typically, 30-year conventional mortgages are free from mortgage insurance premiums when home down payments are 20 percent or larger. Over the course of the loan, these are the mortgages that wind up costing borrowers less money.
By contrast, borrowers who can afford a monthly mortgage payment but only have a low down payment have frequently turned to FHA. One term on these government-backed loans is to charge a mortgage insurance premium.
Housing and consumer advocates were swift to praise the president’s announcement.
Mike Calhoun, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) president said, “This decision is financially sound, socially responsible, and good policy all at once. Homebuyers, homeowners and taxpayers will all benefit.”
Similarly, Julia Gordon, Director of Housing Finance and Policy at the Center for American Progress, noted, “The president correctly observes that owning a house is about far more than putting a roof over your head. It’s also about stability and community for you and your kids – creating a place to call home. What’s more, for many families, homeownership builds wealth that can be passed down for generations.”
Yet, not all housing stakeholders were in agreement. In a prepared statement issued on the heels of the president’s address, the U.S. Mortgage Insurers issued a statement that, in part, said, “Mortgage insurers putting their own capital at risk should be preferred to government risk taking, consistent with the principles put forward by the Administration for housing reform. The MI industry has the capacity and capability to further reduce taxpayer risk and lower costs for many home buyers while expanding access to mortgage credit.”
While this segment of the housing industry may have the capacity to lower costs for many prospective homebuyers, the post-recession consumer experience did not translate into more mortgage access. The combination of higher pricing for lower-wealth borrowers, along with historically-tight credit standards dramatically limited access to homeownership for low to moderate-income borrowers and continued to pose a serious challenge to the mortgage market as a whole.
Limiting home purchase opportunities also has larger economic consequences. New homeowners fuel consumer spending, especially on big-ticket appliances. These major purchases then enhance local governments’ ability to deliver services as a result of higher sales tax revenues.
Most importantly, lost opportunities for homeownership means fewer families will have the opportunity to have that investment build wealth to pass down across generations.
As President Obama observed, it is time to help “more families afford having their own piece of the American Dream.”
Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
###
Activism
OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same. It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.

By Albert L. Brooks MD
Special to The Post
Presidential administrations significantly impact the health and wellbeing of our patients and communities.
Through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the agencies within it, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health, this new administration will decide how financial resources are allocated, dictate the focus of federal research, and determine how our public health care insurance systems are managed, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Vaccines for Children program, Medicare, and Medicaid.
The decisions made over the next four years will impact all Americans but will be felt more acutely by those most underserved and vulnerable.
As physicians, we are greatly concerned by the nominations announced by President Trump to critical healthcare related positions. Many of their previous statements and positions are rooted in misinformation.
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same.
It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.
Vaccines, in particular, have been a target of disinformation by some HHS nominees. In fact, research continues to confirm that vaccines are safe and effective. Vaccines go through multiple rounds of clinical trials prior to being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for administration to the public.
Vaccines protect against life-threateningdiseasessuch as measles, polio, tetanus, and meningococcal disease and, when used effectively, have beenshowntoeliminateorsubstantiallyreducediseaseprevalenceand/orseverity.
Because of vaccine mis- and disinformation, there has been a resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough, endangering those who are too young or unable to be vaccinated.
Several nominees have spread disinformation alleging that fluoride in public drinking water is harmful. In fact, fluoride in drinking water at the recommended level of 0.7 parts per million, like we have in our EBMUD water, is safe and keeps teeth strong. Because of public health interventions dating back to the 1960s that have resulted in 72.3% of the U.S. population now having access to fluoridated water, there has been a reduction in cavities by about 25% in both children and adults.
We also encourage the next administration to invest in our public health infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of public health agencies in preventing and responding to health crises in our communities.
Health departments at the state and local levels rely on federal funding support and technical assistance to develop public health response plans, implement public health strategies, and work with on the ground organizations to serve hard to reach communities. Public health agencies are critical for protecting everyone in our communities, regardless of income-level, insurance status, or housing status.
Health officials should also work to protect the significant improvements in insurance coverage that have occurred since the passage of theACAin 2010.According to HHS, the numberofuninsuredAmericansfellfrom48millionin2010to25.6millionin2023.
California has led the way by investing in Medi-Cal and expanding eligibility for enrollment. In fact, it reached its lowest uninsured rate ever in 2022 at 6.2%. Voters affirmed this commitment to expanding and protecting access to care in November by passing Proposition 35, which significantly expanded funding for California’s Medi-Cal program. The administration should advance policies that strengthen the ACA, Medicaid, and Medicare and improve access to affordable health care.
Regardless of the president in power, physicians will always put the best interests of our patients and communities at the forefront. We will continue to be a resource to our patients, providing evidence-based and scientifically proven information and striving to better their lives and our community’s health. We urge the new Trump administration to do the same.
Albert L. Brooks MD is the immediate past president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association, which represents 6,000 East Bay physicians.
Activism
COMMENTARY: My Sunday School Lesson with President Jimmy Carter
When I saw him, Carter was spry, quick-witted, and kind. The former president wore a bolo string tie anchored by an eight-stone turquoise clasp that dangled below the neck, as he began the lesson on the subject of grief and the death of his 28-year-old grandson. Drawing from scripture (on this particular day, a passage on the persecution of the Thessalonians), Carter said such moments were simply tests of one’s faith, endurance, and hope.

By Emil Guillermo
President Jimmy Carter, at age 100, didn’t make it to the new year, nor the next presidential inaugural.
I’ve always been a big Carter fan, so the news of his passing brought me back to a happy place.
Plains, Georgia, 2016.
I was visiting family not far from the land of presidential peanut farmers. I found myself the only full-blooded Filipino in the room at Maranatha Baptist Church, the spiritual home base for the esteemed No. 39.
President Carter looked fine that Sunday in Plains. But especially fine for his job on that day– to give the Sunday school lesson on what coincidentally was the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
Carter’s health made headlines in 2015 when he disclosed having both brain and liver cancer. It was thought he had just two or three weeks to live.
Everyone’s always underestimating Carter. After treatments, Carter’s forecast turned out not to be true.
When I saw him, Carter was spry, quick-witted, and kind. The former president wore a bolo string tie anchored by an eight-stone turquoise clasp that dangled below the neck, as he began the lesson on the subject of grief and the death of his 28-year-old grandson. Drawing from scripture (on this particular day, a passage on the persecution of the Thessalonians), Carter said such moments were simply tests of one’s faith, endurance, and hope.
“We lack inspiration, we lack the idealism to set our goals high. We’ve been satisfied with mediocrity. And I include myself,” Carter said. People want an average life, instead of aspiring to be, “outstanding, or superb or brilliant or exceptional.”
“I’m afraid that our country and its effect on people of other nations has suffered from the aftermath of 9/11,” Carter said. He “didn’t want to brag,” but said his goal for the country was always to be “superb and be a country that promoted peace and human rights…While I was in office, we never dropped a bomb, lost a missile, or fired a bullet.”
“Since 9/11,” Carter said, “we’ve pretty much abandoned our commitment to human rights as we reacted to terrorism.” He lamented that Afghanistan had become the longest war in American history, a direct outcome of 9/11, as well as the invasion of Iraq, which Carter called “unnecessary.”
Carter, whose administration took us out of an energy crisis, also pointed out how the U.S. is still suffering from a financial crisis that has exposed a deep inequality that has divided us as a people.
“We’ve become distrustful of people who are different from us,” Carter said. “We used to be a proud heterogeneous nation…and now we are fearful…and we’ve become poorer as a country.”
Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002; a fact that belies how many conservatives view his efforts to find a peace in the Middle East as “anti-Semitic.”
Jimmy Carter’s worldview requires open minds to come together. Too often. these days, that seems nearly impossible.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator He was the first Filipino American to host a national news show in 1989 at NPR’s “All Things Considered.” See Emil Amok’s Takeout on www.patreon.com/emilamok Subscribe to him on YouTube.com/@emilamok1
Activism
In 1974, Then-Gov. Jimmy Carter Visited the Home of Oakland Black Black Political Activist Virtual Murrell While Running for President
civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

By Virtual T. Murrell
Special to The Post
On his way to seeking the presidency, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter visited the Bay Area in his capacity as campaign chairman of the Democratic National Committee in March of 1974.
A friend of mine, Bill Lynch, a Democrat from San Francisco, had been asked to host Carter, who was then relatively unknown. Seeking my advice on the matter, I immediately called my friend, civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, for his opinion.
Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.
Based on Julian’s comments, I agreed to host the governor. We picked him up at the San Francisco Airport. With his toothy smile, I could tell almost right away that he was like no other politician I had ever met. On his arrival, there was a message telling him to go to the VIP room, where he met then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown.
After leaving the airport, we went to a reception in his honor at the home of Paul “Red” Fay, who had served as the acting secretary of the Navy under President John Kennedy. (Carter, it turned out, had been himself a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a submariner in the 1950s.)
The following afternoon, the Niagara Movement Democratic Club hosted a reception for Carter, which was a major success. Carter indicated that he would be considering running for president and hoped for our support if he did so.
As the event was winding down, I witnessed the most amazing moment: Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, was in the kitchen with my former wife, Irene, wearing an apron and busting suds! You would have to have been there to see it: The first and last time a white woman cleaned up my kitchen.
A few months later, President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. He was succeeded by his vice president, Gerald Ford.
On the heels of that scandal, Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976 represented integrity and honesty at a point in America’s history when he was just what the nation needed to lead as president of the United States.
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