Dear friends,
When I heard the news of Jimmy Carter’s death, I immediately thought back to election night 1976. I was a junior at the University of Georgia, and features editor of the student newspaper, The Red and Black. My assignment for election night was to go to Plains and cover what was happening there. The picture below shows how sophisticated press credentials were. Surprisingly, being from The R&B had some cachet, since many of those in Carter’s press office had attended UGA and worked on the paper. But what really gave me access was my longtime mentor Celestine Sibley, who was there for the Atlanta Constitution. She knew everyone and let me tag along with her. It was a heady night for a 20-year-old reporter. I saved the press pass, but I didn’t have a copy of my story. But a few weeks ago I was going through a box of stuff from my parents’ house and found they had saved a copy of that day’s paper. Here is what I wrote:
Plains Welcomes Carter’s Return
By Patricia Templeton
Feature Editor
PLAINS — The sign here used to say “Jimmy Carter for President.” Now is says “Jimmy Carter IS President.
By 4 a.m. Wednesday there was not a person in Plains who did not know that Jimmy Carter had won the presidential election.
By 5:15 a.m. Plains was sold out of “Jimmy Won!” T-shirts.
And as the sun rose over the town at 7 a.m., all of Plains was at the train depot, waiting for the man who was their relative, their neighbor, their friend, and their next president to come home.
As the high school band played numerous verses of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” Carter hugged his mother, Miss Lillian, and his brother, Billy.
“I told you I didn’t intend to lose,” Carter said as he held a newspaper with the headline “Carter Wins” over his head.
Carter teared up as he told the crowd he had been through 22 months of campaigning without getting choked up “until I turned the corner and saw you standing there; you people who were foolish enough to wait up all night.
“It’s been a long night, but I guarantee it’s been worth it to all of us.”
Carter promised to return laughter to the United States and to make the country “as proud of me as I am of you.”
He gave much of the credit for his victory to his family and to the people of Plains. “I had the best organization any candidate has ever had; the best family any candidate has ever had; and the best home community any candidate has ever had. The only reason the election was close was that the candidate was not quite a good enough campaigner.
“We can all be proud we were up all night. And now the sun is rising in the east on a beautiful new day, a beautiful new spirit in our country, and a beautiful new commitment,” he said.
Most of the people in Plains had indeed been up all night, joined by their neighbors from Americus and Albany, journalists from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, and tourists from as far away as Salt Lake City and Denver.
* * *
Townspeople say that in the days before Jimmy Carter was a presidential candidate a dog could sleep in the middle of Main Street in Plains all day without being disturbed.
The dogs in Plains had to find someplace else to sleep Tuesday night. Main Street, which was blocked to traffic on Monday, was a bustle of activity from the performance of the Americus High School Band at one end of the street to huge television screens projecting returns on building walls at the other end.
Downtown Plains was relatively quiet as people anxiously awaited election returns. Things were considerably livelier at Billy Carter’s house two blocks from Main Street.
“The food’s inside. Get what you want and come watch TV,” Billy announced to anyone who wandered up to his front porch.
Billy, dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt, beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, sat on the floor in front of three television sets, nervously watching the returns as they came in on all three networks.
Billy’s wife, Sybil, was in the kitchen feeding their month-old son, Earl Gordy Carter. “People are always welcome here,” she said. “When this food runs out (the kitchen table was sagging) I’ll start cooking some more, and when that runs out we’ll start eating what the neighbors have.”
Members of the Peanut Brigade, the group of Georgians who canvassed the country campaigning for Carter, were also at Billy’s, anxiously awaiting the results from states where they had campaigned, cheering when it was obvious their efforts had helped Carter.
Over at the depot, Miss Lillian entertained the crowd gathered there to watch the returns. She signed autographs, threw Carter buttons into the crowd, and led a group of Auburn students in a “War Eagle” cheer. (She was once a house mother at Auburn.)
After Carter’s victory was certain, she announced she was glad the campaign was over because “I’m tired of being nice. I’ve smiled for 22 months.”
As the late night turned into early morning and the temperature dropped considerably, the crowds dwindled. People were confident of a Carter victory. The question was when was it going to be official. A few diehards remained by the depot watching returns, but most people went home to catch a few hours sleep and warmth before coming back out at 6 a.m. to greet Jimmy.
A few dedicated Plains citizens took on the monumental task of cleaning up the town before Carter’s arrival. The streets and sidewalks were a carpet of litter and beer cans and bottles, which were swept up and thrown away.
Those who did not have anywhere else to go took the opportunity to tour the Peanut Museum, which was mainly for northerners and city folk who are ignorant of the fine art of peanut growing. The museum featured tools used for cultivating the peanut crop, bags of Plains-grown peanuts, Plains peanut butter, T-shirts proclaiming the wonders of peanut power, bronzed peanut jewelry, and bags of salted, boiled, and spiced peanuts.
A tourist looking for souvenirs from Plains could also buy numerous variations of Carter shirts and buttons, bumper stickers, and even a map of Plains.
It has been quite a year for Plains, going from a town not even found on many maps to a town known all over the world. But most of the people there Tuesday night and Wednesday morning were taking the changes in stride. “We’re exuberant over Jimmy Carter’s success. We’ve seen all of the vice presidential hopefuls and visiting dignitaries.
“And we enjoy seeing other people come to town and share their excitement and enthusiasm. We’ve just never seen anything like it in Plains before,” one resident said.
After the results of Tuesday’s election, the residents of Plains had best get used to at least four more years of change. And the dogs had better find someplace else to sleep.
