By near universal opinion, Jimmy Carter has proven the most successful of the United States’ former presidents. His work on behalf of people in need both here at home and in other countries has won him an acclaim much more broadly based than what he received while in the White House. That’s why I looked forward to meeting him.

My encounter with President Carter took place recently at a press conference sponsored by the American Society on Aging. Before giving the keynote address to ASA’s annual meeting in Orlando, he had agreed to answer questions about his new book, The Virtues of Aging.

Jimmy Carter’s middle 70s become him well. Like so many other people in later life, the former president looks more distinguished than in earlier years. He’s physically trim, well groomed, and white-haired. In this session, he seemed thoroughly relaxed and was quick to smile as he talked about growing older.

But first Carter spoke bluntly of his mood and that of his wife Rosalynn after he found himself ejected from the presidency: “We were in the depths of despair. I was 56 years old, one of the youngest to survive the White House.” They also discovered themselves to be more than a million dollars in debt.

Thus, Carter was forced to face some difficult realities and to plan activities both fulfilling and revenue-producing for the many years of retirement ahead.

By all indications, Carter has met the challenge remarkably well. In the words of his gerontologist friend, Ken Dychtwald, “he has endeavored to build himself into a new man.” In doing so, “he is setting a new role model for what we might be.”

At the press conference questions were supposed to be limited to issues covered in Carter’s new book. Some questions, however, veered away from these ground rules. One of my colleagues, for instance, asked Carter about his opinion of Bill Clinton’s personal behavior.

In response, the former president pointed to Clinton’s public policies, such as health care coverage, as the best way to judge the current president. By comparison, what he called Clinton’s “peccadilloes” count for little.

Like many other public figures, Jimmy Carter knows how to use a press conference to his own advantage. I was impressed with his skill at answering, not so much the questions asked, but rather the questions he might have wanted asked.

Also, almost everything he said was already in his book. Drawing on that material, he spoke much like an author starting a book marketing tour.

Another colleague asked Carter how he felt about discounts for the elderly at a time when the economic pressures on many thirty-year-olds are heavier than on many elders. The former president charmed his way through his response saying with a smile, “I don’t deplore it at all,” a remark that drew sympathetic laughter. He then detailed his own use of discounts.

Similarly, when another scribe objected that there may not be many “virtues of aging” available to poor people, Carter claimed that “the things we enjoy really don’t cost that much.” To back that up he mentioned such pleasures as the internet, email, and bird walks.

Jimmy Carter, it seems, cannot quite avoid seeing life from the viewpoint of a privileged person. By reason of his exalted status, he enjoys ready access to prestigious people all over this country and, in fact, the world. And he has many other perks as well, including a protective entourage that accompanies him everywhere he goes.

Yet, he shows the good effects of a vibrant spiritual life. The question I asked him, “Do you find as an older person that your ideas about God have changed in any way?” got him to talk about some aspects of his spirituality, though again he did not quite come to grips with the question itself.

He has made some wise concessions to advancing years. For example, he runs with Rosalynn only three miles a day now instead of the seven he ran each day when president! He also has learned not to ski the most difficult slopes and to run the softball base paths more cautiously.

Family looms large in his thinking. Among other personal items, he revealed with pride that his daughter Amy is expecting her first child. For people who remember her as a child in the White House, this announcement served as yet another indication of the passage of time.

On balance, Carter has accomplished a remake of self that is indeed impressive. He has learned to appreciate his own life and to share with others the joy of living. It is easy to understand his continuing pride at the answer he gave four years ago to Barbara Walters in a television interview.

When she asked him what was the greatest time of his life, the former president answered in a single word – – “now.”

Richard Griffin