Why Jimmy Carter was the rock 'n' roll feminist president

The 39th president hung out with rock stars, signed the ERA and introduced the world to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Madeleine Albright

The Carters were known for hosting musicians including Dolly Parton to the White House. Photo: National Archives

After the presidency, Jimmy Carter dedicated his life to building houses with Habitat for Humanity, eradicating the world of guinea worm and promoting global human rights, earning him the nickname of the “best former president America ever had”.

Written off by many as a hayseed peanut farmer, Mr Carter was overlooked as quite possibly the most liberal and feminist person to hold the highest office in the land.

A champion of civil rights, as Georgia’s governor, Mr Carter spoke out against his own lieutenant governor, segregationist Lester Maddox. The first thing he did as governor was hang a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr in the Capitol statehouse.

It was this breath of fresh air that caught the attention of many performers, most of whom landed on Mr Carter’s radar through his children.

Mr Carter was introduced to the music of Bob Dylan by his sons, and said the folk singer’s songs “permeated” the governor’s mansion in Atlanta. And when Dylan played a concert in the city, Mr Carter invited him to pay a visit.

“The first thing he did was quote my songs back to me and it was the first time that I realised that my songs had reached into the establishment,” Dylan said in the 2020 documentary, Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President.

“He put my mind at ease by not talking down to me and showing me that he had a sincere appreciation of the songs that I had written.”

Mr Carter and Dylan formed a lifelong friendship, which led to many others in the rock 'n' roll community, including with the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, the Marshall Tucker Band, and Johnny and June Carter Cash.

Carter and folk singer Willie Nelson became fast friends when he ran for president. Photo: Carter Presidential Library

Jimmy who?

When the popular Georgia governor threw his cap into the 1976 presidential race, the refrain of “Jimmy who?” echoed throughout the state and across the US. To help him gain traction and raise funds, Phil Walden, the founder of Capricorn Records, called on his label’s artists to hit the campaign trail on his behalf.

The Allmans, John Denver and Charlie Daniels were just a few artists answering the call. And when crowds in the Pacific North-West were small, Mr Carter phoned in a favour from Jimmy Buffett, who drew 15,000 supporters to an Oregon campaign event.

Mr Carter would soon gain an endorsement from Rolling Stone journalist Hunter S Thompson, with whom he also developed a close friendship.

Producer and musician Nile Rodgers, who was at the time a member of the Black Panther party, said that Mr Carter made him feel like there was finally candidate who saw the world the way he did.

39th president

Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and Linda Ronstadt were among the performers at Mr Carter’s inauguration concert.

It was attended by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Warren Beatty, Cher and Gregg Allman, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Muhammed Ali, Saturday Night Live stars Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, Jack Nicholson, Shirley MacLaine and Atlanta Braves baseball player Hank Aaron.

Musicians such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were also known to drop by the White House while others were extended invitations to dinner or to perform – including Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Muddy Waters and Nelson.

Jazz barbeques held on the South Lawn featured performances by Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, George Benson and Chick Corea.

Carter the feminist

In his life after the presidency, Mr Carter said that the biggest human rights issue was the world’s treatment of women and girls, which he addressed in his 2014 book A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power. During a 2015 TedTalk, he dedicated his entire time to speaking out against the mistreatment of women and girls.

"Our overall commitment at the Carter Centre is to promote human rights, and knowing the world as I do, I can tell you without any equivocation that the number one abuse of human rights on Earth, strangely not addressed quite often, is the abuse of women and girls," he said.

By appointing her to the US Court of Appeals, Jimmy Carter paved the way for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photo: Carter Library

Mr Carter often urged the public to support and recognise the contributions of women to the nation's heritage and brought many women into positions of power.

In 1978, Congress passed and he signed a joint resolution with the intent of extending the ratification deadline of the Equal Rights Amendment to June 30, 1982.

The National Organisation for Women and ERAmerica, a coalition of almost 80 organisations, led the pro-ERA efforts. Key feminists such as Gloria Steinem and congresswoman Bella Abzug spoke out in favour of the amendment.

Carter's legacy

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Mr Carter as president introduced the world to Madeleine Albright, who was hired to help negotiate the historic peace accords between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin.

He also appointed five times more women to the federal bench than all his predecessors combined, in a landmark commitment to women’s equality and merit selection.

In his first month in office, Mr Carter issued an executive order to establish panels to look for judges “whose character, experience, ability and commitment to equal justice under law fully qualify them to serve in the federal judiciary”.

Jimmy Carter signs the Equal Rights Amendment in October 1978. Photo: US National Archives

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was only one of them. Mr Carter appointed her to the US Court of Appeals in 1980, paving her path to the Supreme Court.

“A powerful legal mind and a staunch advocate for gender equality, she has been a beacon of justice during her long and remarkable career," he said after her death in 2020.

By the time Mr Carter left office in 1981, an unprecedented one in six of his 259 judicial appointments were women, as compared with less than one per cent of each of his predecessors’ appointments.

He concluded his 2015 talk by saying: "I have four children, 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, and I think often about them and about the plight that they will face – whether they live in America or Egypt or another foreign country – in having equal rights.

"I hope that all of you will join me in being a champion for women and girls around the world and protect their human rights."

The former president, who was elected in 1976, died on Sunday, his family said. He was 100.