Dorothy "Dot" Padgett, author of Jimmy Carter: Elected President with Pocket Change and Peanuts and assistant chief of Protocol at the State Department during the Carter administration, reflects on the former President and his 1993 talk at 92Y.

Jimmy Carter followed tradition by telling a joke at the beginning of a talk. He, by his own admission, had not been adept at telling jokes. One noted journalist had this to say about his joke telling. "Listening to Jimmy Carter tell a joke is not a laughing matter."

On the campaign trail and during his duties in public office, he was often stone-faced, tense and showed an absence of humor. The man at the podium at the 92nd Street Y on that date is not the same person that came home from the White House, tired, dejected and frustrated. He is now his own person, seeing whom he wants to see, saying what he wants to say and going where he wants to go. He has become skilled with one liners or funny stories.

Speaking about his newly published book, Turning Point, he writes about a time in his life that social injustice resounded. He was challenged by the old ways. Separate but equal. Gratefully, Turning Point sums up the feelings of injustice that had been building up in him since his days as a young boy growing up in the segregated South. It was an important time for him. The court’s decision, in 1962, the County Unit System of counting votes was eliminated. For years this system had been used to decide elections. This decision made each vote count. One man, one vote. Under the county unit system, the elections were dominated by white males.

I wrote my book, Jimmy Carter: Elected President with Pocket Change and Peanuts, to showcase the determination, discipline and tenacity of Jimmy Carter. This was demonstrated when he ran for office in his first political race. His opposition was declared a winner on election day. Upon investigation he discovered there was rampant fraud at one precinct. Jimmy Carter did not like to lose. He began a fight that would consume his life and take him into the offices of one of the largest law firms in Atlanta. I have written the statement he made after this election, "I think I would have died before I backed down from a stolen election challenge."

Georgia Secretary of State Ben Fortson said this about Jimmy, "[He] is like a South Georgia turtle. The turtle will come upon a limb in his path. He just keeps pushing and pushing and he keeps at it until, before you know it the limb is laying off to one side and he is heading down the same path he started out on." His speech, at the Inaugural Ceremony for Governor of Georgia in 1971, electrified the audience and the words swept over the country. One phrase marked a new era for the State of Georgia and a declaration of the New South. It gave Jimmy nationwide fame.

Jimmy Carter, on that day, after he was sworn in as Governor spoke these words, "I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over."

In 1993, the year of his speech at 92Y, The Carter Center was celebrating the introduction of The Atlanta Project. Jimmy had been concerned about the drug crime, unwed mothers and homeless population in the city. He organized a team of strong leaders, divided the city into sections and began a healing program. Unfortunately, he was not prepared for this to fail. He could not overcome the feelings of "You are on my turf" or "This is not how we have always done things."

When he sadly discontinued this program he immediately turned his attention and energy to another program. He was contacted by Dr. Donald Hopkins, a man that had led a lonely fight against the scourge of the guinea worm, known as the forgotten disease of forgotten people. The guinea worm is a parasite that enters a person’s body when they drink unclean water contaminated with the infectious larvae. A year later a thread-like worm 3 or 4 feet long will start emerging from the body causing sores and pain. There was an incredible number of 3.5 million cases when they started this project. To date there are only 25 or less recorded cases.

President Carter had not started this program at the time of his 1993 presentation, so there was no discussion on this subject. The projected eradication in 2017 of the guinea worm will be a major global health achievement.

Jimmy Carter, now 92, is sharp and accurate during a question and answer session. He thrives on these discussions. The first question asked at 92Y in 1993 was about his activity with Habitat For Humanity. Although it is only one week each year that he and Rosalynn pick up a hammer and help build houses, it is a compelling part of how people remember him. He told the audience that the first trip he made was to rescue a burned out building in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. After a week's work they left a building that was converted into housing for the Habitat prospects. In 2015 his health would not allow him to travel to Nepal to participate in that country's building program but the next year, he again picked up his hammer and went to work.

Questions about private life after the White House brought the passion he feels for peace in the Middle East. He seldom misses an opportunity to tell any audience that he is committed to peace in the Middle East and never a day goes by that he does not pray for peace for this region.

What caused his defeat in 1980? Some argue the Iran hostage crisis, some say the economy and inflation. I come down on the side of the hostage crisis. Despite the American voter perceiving that Jimmy Carter was not a strong leader, we had 52 Americans come home safe and this country did not bow to blackmail from a radical country. The inflation caused by the extraordinary increase in the price of oil spawned an entire new interest in alternate energies. Progress in solar energy, brought to our attention by the solar panels placed on the White House, is presently a major part of alternate plans with power companies.

Lastly, Jimmy Carter's clean bill of health, from the cancer discovered in his body, is a tribute to his strong constitution and to Rosalynn's strict rules on healthy eating. He has paid attention to the words of his favorite poet, Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rage at close of day."