Chronicles of Mahatma Jimmy

In his 2004 book The Real Jimmy Carter, my friend Steve Hayward notes in passing that in his peanut warehouse office Carter kept a small statue of Gandhi. Steve titles the first of the two chapters he devotes to Carter’s post-presidential career “Becoming the American Gandhi.” Steve doesn’t pursue the parallel and in a sense it is unduly flattering to Carter. Nevertheless, thinking of Gandhi’s advice in the early years of World War II and of Carter’s current defamation of Israel as well as Carter’s derogation of Israel’s efforts to defend itself, I think the parallel obtains.
For those who know Gandhi only by reputation or by the hagiographical film, I recommend the incomparable 1983 review/essay by the late, great Richard Grenier: “The Gandhi nobody knows.” Professor David Schaefer has summarized Gandhi’s thoughts well, as has Larry Arnn. Both Schaefer and Arnn are worth reading. No one, however, has captured Gandhi’s thoughts more stylishly than Grenier. Here is Grenier’s summary of Gandhi’s World War II-era pens