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The question

How would you want people to remember you?

Originally asked

Vogue, to one guest at a time, on camera, 73 Questions

A recurring legacy prompt in Vogue's 73 Questions, appearing with only minor wording changes.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Jimmy Carter

39th President of the United States, 1977–1981; Governor of Georgia 1971–1975

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Well, the best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn. That's the pinnacle of my life. And we've had 69 years together. Still together. And so that's the best thing that happened to me. But I think getting involved in politics and going up, you know, as a state senator, then governor, and then president of the United States is, obviously a glorious event. So - and we have a growing family. We have 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren now and they're coming every year. So - so we have a good, harmonious family.

News conference at the Carter Center, Atlanta, as transcribed by CNN, 20 August 2015 source ↗

Others on this question

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Louis Walsh Irish music manager and television personality
I’d like people to say, “Well, he was a bit odd, he was a bit funny.”
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2017 source ↗

More from Jimmy Carter

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Question Which book reshaped how you think, and in what way? Taste & recommendation
When I was a young boy, [my schoolteacher Julia Coleman] introduced me to Leo Tolstoy's novel, "War and Peace." She interpreted that powerful narrative as a reminder that the simple human attributes of goodness and truth can overcome great power. She also taught us that an individual is not swept along on a tide of inevitability but can influence even the greatest human events.
Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2002 source ↗
Question What became visible only after your working life slowed down or ended? Time & hindsight
I'm the only president that's ever visited Africa south of the Sahara Desert. I went to two (African) countries while I was president, and I didn't know the potential of that continent, nor the challenges that faced those people. Now I do. To a much greater extent I didn't understand the [widespread] problems in our own country, from a personal point of view. I was dealing with billions of dollars that would be allocated for education or health or welfare or housing, or whatever. But I didn't know from a personal point of view the people that actually were in need or that were the recipients of those quite often inadequate and ill-designed programs.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Atlanta, Georgia, 25 October 1991 source ↗
Question Does the thought of dying frighten you? Death & what remains
At first I - I felt that it was confined to my liver and that they had - the operation had completely removed it. And so I felt quite relieved. And then that same afternoon we had an MRI of my head and neck and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. So I would say that night and the next day, until I came back up to Emory, I just thought I had a few weeks left. But I was surprisingly at ease. You know, I've had a wonderful life. I've had thousands of friends and I've had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence. So I was surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife was.
Recorded News conference at the Carter Center, Atlanta, as transcribed by CNN, 20 August 2015 source ↗
Question What counsel has proved most valuable to you? Time & hindsight
And my sister, whose name is Ruth Stapleton, was a famous evangelist. She wrote four or five books, and she would give lectures to 50,000 people at a time. She and I had a long walk in the woods on my farm, and she said, "Jimmy, quite often, when you have a blow to your pride and a horrible defeat, you can either give up, or you can look on it as a way that God opens to you to do different and even better things."
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Atlanta, Georgia, 25 October 1991 source ↗

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