WASHINGTON — Thousands of mourners gathered in Washington this week to honor the life and legacy of the nation’s 39th President Jimmy Carter.

Carter arrived in the capital city on Tuesday after a service in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Once arriving at Joint Base Andrews, Carter’s remains visited the U.S. Navy Memorial.

Throughout the week, legislators, including Representatives Frank Lucas (R-Cheyenne) and Tom Cole (R-Moore) reflected on the impact of Carter’s presidency, his humility and his connections to their home states.

But Carter’s connection to Oklahoma bled into his State Funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. Oklahoma icon, Garth Brooks and his wife Tricia Yearwood, a native of Georgia, combined to sing, “Imagine.”

In an Instagram post honoring Carter, Brooks said “President Carter, the legacy you and Rosalynn have left us is as beautiful as the life you lived.”

Lucas, in a statement issued shortly after Carter’s passing, said, “While he faced a number of political challenges throughout his time in office, it was President Carter’s generosity, honesty, and deep religious roots that characterized his life.”

Cole wrote in his statement: “Jimmy Carter led an extraordinary life and he loved America. That alone is a worthy legacy for any man.”

Carter’s final journey to the Capitol by horse-drawn carriage echoed his choice to become the first president to walk in the inaugural parade from the Capitol to the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Lucas, a young man during Carter’s term in office, in his statement, talked of a 1979 visit the president made to Elk City. Carter had promised during the 1976 campaign to return to Elk City if the county voted for him and he won the election. Although Carter narrowly lost Oklahoma by 13,266 votes, the promise was a move that Lucas said characterized the former president’s integrity.

The 1979 visit included a greeting by then-Governor George Nigh. Nigh, in a 2009 interview with the Oklahoma History Center, said “he had a hands-on philosophy and he wanted to be involved in everything. That was difficult for him as president, but he was a good human being.”

The visit – a big deal for any town – was attended by thousands including then-future Governor David Walters who traveled from his hometown Canute which is just outside of Elk City.

“We spent the night before (because) there was going to be a parade through the town, and my kids worked to make signs that evening,” Walters told Gaylord News. “We mounted them on sticks and big cardboard signs (that said) welcome to Elk City.”

The signs they made almost didn’t see any use as the Secret Service at the event thought they could be used as weapons, but Walters eased their concern.

“These kids worked really hard on these things, and so we struck a deal that if I’d lay the signs down when the president passed, kids could pick them up and wave them otherwise,” Walters said.

Carter launched a project while in office to meet with every state’s governor and first lady, and because of his friendship with Governor Nigh, Oklahoma became the first state to receive an official invite.

In 1991, shortly after Walters’ inauguration as governor, Walters and Carter met at the Carter Center in Georgia.

“He’s like talking to your pastor, he was completely attentive to you,” Walters said. “Very soft-spoken, very smart and just very gracious.”

There is little disagreement that Carter was a gracious, good man, even among his partisan foes.

Shortly after Carter’s death, Cole said in a statement that while he disagreed with Carter politically, he never doubted his decency, character, or patriotism.

“Was he a decent man? Absolutely. Honest as the day is long? Absolutely,” Lucas said. “His work for Habitat for Humanity and a variety of other causes after he left the presidency is admirable, he didn’t just go out, trying to make money in speeches and live a high grand lifestyle.”

While there is little disagreement about his character, many disagree about the success of his presidency. According to Gallup, Carter had the third-lowest approval rating, 45.5%, of all presidents since World War II. In retrospective polling, his approval rating now stands at 57%.

“I think all that retrospective says Jimmy Carter was a good president, very solid president, very accomplished president,” Walters said.

Walters and Lucas both mentioned the challenges Carter faced as president, such as the Iran Hostage Crisis, the 1979 oil crisis and deteriorating relations with the Soviet Union following their invasion of Afghanistan.

“It could be argued that President Carter, the relations challenges he had dealing with the Ayatollah and the Iranians, the challenges he had dealing with the old Russian Soviet Union, the economic issues of the day, everything kind of unwound on him in his administration as president,” Lucas said.

During his presidency, Carter’s biggest accomplishments were in international affairs – specifically the Camp David Accords and the normalization of relations with China – and human rights.

“Up until his service, it was, you have to deal with despots and authoritarian leaders and others on their own turf,” Walters said. “I think he changed the equation to say no, we’re going to set a standard. The standard is going to be respecting human rights whether they’re our citizens or others.”

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net