Mainers look back at Jimmy Carter's visits, impacts as the former president turns 100
Oct. 1—Cynthia Murray-Beliveau remembers making small talk with a guest at her parents' house in February 1978. They talked about ordinary things like a cross-stitch sampler that hung on the wall and the latest Sears catalogue sitting out on a coffee table.
This wasn't an ordinary visit though — the guest was President Jimmy Carter, who was in Bangor at the time to campaign for U.S. Sen. Bill Hathaway, D-Maine, and to hold a town hall meeting.
"I remember thinking, 'This is unreal. The president of the United States is in our living room,' " said Murray-Beliveau, now 76 and living in Portland.
Carter stayed overnight at the home of Murray-Beliveau's parents, Robert and Laura Murray, at the corner of Mt. Hope Avenue and Maple Street in Bangor.
The stay was among several visits the former president made to Maine while running for and serving in office, according to Murray-Beliveau and other current and former Mainers who recently recalled Carter's time here ahead of his 100th birthday Tuesday.
"Given all the angst we have in politics today, someone so genuine and truthful is really someone we ought to honor," said William J. Allen, a former Portland resident who was present for several campaign stops by Carter in 1975 and '76.
Carter, a Democrat who served as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981, hailed from Georgia and is remembered for his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts, as well as some of the events of his presidency, including the Iran hostage crisis, an energy crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In Maine, he played a key role in the careers of prominent leaders such as former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and former governor and U.S. Sen. Ed Muskie — who served as Carter's secretary of state from 1980 to 1981. He also brokered and signed into law the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. The act, which Carter's White House staff helped negotiate, provided reparations to Wabanaki tribes for land that was taken from them, but has also limited the applicability of federal laws that apply to and benefit tribes in other states.
Allen, who lived in Portland for four years in the 1970's while working as a senior executive at the United Way of Greater Portland, met Carter at a campaign luncheon in the fall of 1975 at the former Eastland Hotel.
After the luncheon, Allen, who now lives in Cumberland, Rhode Island, stayed for a smaller gathering with Carter at the hotel. He remembers thinking that Carter had a lot of integrity and hearing him say he would always be honest with people.
"I was impressed with him," said Allen, 80. "I said to myself, 'I could be sitting before the president of the United States.' "
Rick Barton, who challenged Republican U.S. Rep. David Emery in 1976 in hopes of representing Maine's 1st Congressional District, was also paying attention to Carter's campaign in Maine at the time and attended the luncheon.
Barton, who now lives in Washington, D.C., and spends summers in Boothbay Harbor, said Carter and members of his family made frequent stops in the state during his inaugural campaign, perhaps in hopes of building support outside of the south, where Carter was better known.
Carter also had an advantage in Maine because he was supported by former Gov. Ken Curtis, a Democrat who served from 1967 to 1975.
He made a "great, strong first impression" and was able to line up a lot of support ahead of the February caucuses in Maine, Barton recalled.
There was a lot of work to be done behind the scenes though, according to Dan Short, the Portland Democratic committee chairman at the time. Short, who now lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, said Carter wasn't especially well known early on in Maine. He worked with the campaign as they scrambled in the days ahead of the luncheon to get enough people to fill the seats.
At the small event afterward, Short said he made sure to invite people of opposing view points to talk with Carter. "He was amazing with how he handled the questions, and some of it was delicate stuff," Short recalled. "He was straightforward. He was honest. He impressed me so much."
Carter appeared in Portland again in February 1976 after winning the city's caucus. This time, Allen recalled, Carter stopped at a smaller hotel or motel near the airport and addressed a crowd of about 100 people before holding a press conference.
Allen wrote about the luncheon, caucus victory and another stop Carter made in Monument Square in September 1976 in an opinion piece in the Press Herald last year, which he said he was inspired to write after it was announced that Carter had entered hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia.
He wrote in the piece that Carter has been a lifelong inspiration to him.
"Jimmy Carter is a good, honorable and decent man," Allen wrote. "I treasure the memories of his campaign in Portland and will continue to honor his life and to promote his ideals."
In 1978, Carter visited Bangor to attend a town hall meeting and campaign for Hathaway. Murray-Beliveau, whose family hosted Carter, said his staff had indicated that he wanted to stay overnight with a Democratic family that was active in the party. Her father, Robert Murray, was the Bangor city committee chairman for the Democratic party, Murray-Beliveau said.
Murray-Beliveau was a young mother at the time. She and her four sibilings, none of whom were living at home anymore, came back to their parents' house for the occasion.
The family sat in the living room and "chitchatted for quite a while" with Carter, Murray-Beliveau said.
He stayed overnight and slept in the bedroom of one of her brothers. In the morning, the family had breakfast in the dining room with Carter. Murray-Beliveau said she thinks her mother "just did the usual" and probably served pastries from Frank's Bake Shop.
Outside the house, Murray-Beliveau said, people waited in hopes of catching a glimpse of Carter. "It was a big deal for the neighborhood," she said. "There were a lot of people there when he arrived and a lot of people there in the morning hoping to catch a glimpse. He did come out and waved and spoke, not in speech fashion, but he was very open and willing to meet people."
As he was leaving, Carter asked Murray-Beliveau's youngest brother Frank about his schooling — he was attending the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., at the time — and offered him a ride back to D.C. on Air Force One.
"He got a free ride back to D.C.," Murray-Beliveau said. "That was pretty cool."
The visit wasn't the only time Carter stayed at a Maine home. He also stayed with Curtis, the former governor, and his wife, Polly, at their home in South Portland while campaigning for the presidency, according to Kermit Lipez, a friend and former staffer in Curtis' administration, who shared information about Carter's stay with the Press Herald Monday on behalf of Polly Curtis.
Ken Curtis was not available for an interview Monday. After his term as governor he went on to serve as chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1977 to 1978 and as ambassador to Canada under Carter, from 1979 to 1981.
Carter and Curtis served as governors at the same time and Lipez said they became good friends. Carter was also interviewed by broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite during his stay in South Portland, with the interview being conducted at the Curtis home.
He was a "famously considerate house guest" who always made his bed, including at the Curtis' home, Lipez said.
Barton, who went on to serve as an ambassador to the United Nations and as an assistant secretary of state, recalled the Cronkite interview as a big moment for Carter. And he was present for the September 1976 speech in Monument Square, where he said the large crowd served as a contrast to the intimate gathering at the Eastland Hotel just a year before.
"It was a transformation from a highly personal campaign to a full-fledged national effort," Barton said. "It was pretty extraordinary for a short period of time. With the amount of time he and his family spent here, I think it created a special affinity in the state. Many of us felt like we knew him."
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