JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Outpourings of support for Jimmy Carter continue nationally and here locally.
News4Jax spoke with two longtime political powerhouses in Jacksonville who really got their start serving under President Carter: Mike Hightower and Martha Barrett.
Hightower eventually became a Republican and led the Duval County Republican Party for a time, but he was a Democrat in the 1970s. He first met Jimmy Carter 50 years ago when Carter was first running in the Democratic Primary.
“He just reached out and took my hand and said ‘Hi I’m Jimmy Carter'. I said well ‘Hi I’m Mike Hightower’. He said ‘I’m the outgoing Governor of Georgia and running for President of the United States,‘” Hightower recalled.
Eventually, he said Carter brought him onto the campaign to help him run their Jacksonville office and keep them competitive with George Wallace who was also running in the primary. Wallace had run third party in the past and Carter believed if he could remain competitive in Jacksonville he would take Florida. Florida was an important state in the primary, maybe the most important.
“I said ‘Jimmy, this was George Wallace’s headquarters in ’68 and ’72…he didn’t blink and said ‘If you can get me within 10 points, I can win," said Hightower.
Carter overperformed in Jacksonville and then went on to win Florida and the Democratic nomination.
Along the way, he recruited another Jacksonville local to his team, Martha Barrett. Barrett has been a fixture in Jacksonville politics for decades serving in the mayor’s office and on the school board. But it all started with her work for Carter.
“He was wonderful,” Barrett said. “A few times I was able to ride in a car with him in Jacksonville and several other places...He was just one of the nicest men in America. What you see is what you got.”
Barrett said the country was longing for decency following the scandal with President Richard Nixon.
“He was elected after the whole Watergate issue. People were longing for a very honest, good man. And that’s what Jimmy Carter was,” said Barrett.
Following his loss to Ronald Reagan, Hightower said Carter had to figure out what to do with the rest of his life and turned into one of the world’s greatest humanitarians.
“Those first couple years trying to get his life together having been beaten, hell of a thing to go through. So I think there was a catharsis but he was still Jimmy Carter,” said Hightower.