Jimmy Carter, trounced in 1980, gets fresh look from history

By BILL BARROW
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter is sometimes called a better former president than he was president. The backhanded compliment has always rankled Carter allies and, they say, the former president himself. Yet now, 40 years removed from the White House, the most famous resident of Plains, Georgia, is riding a new wave of attention as biographers, filmmakers, climate activists and Carter’s fellow Democrats push for a recasting of his presidential legacy. It’s particularly important for the wide swath of Americans, from young Generation X votes to Millennials and Generation Z, who are getting perhaps their first in-depth look at a president who left the White House more than 40 years ago after a landslide defeat.