On Legacies

Jimmy Carter, Anita Bryant, and what we leave behind

On Thursday, Jimmy Carter, the longest-living president in American history, was honored with a state funeral in which speakers noted his fundamental decency, his commitment to doing good, and his honorable character. That same day, Anita Bryant’s family placed an obituary for her in the newspaper (she had apparently died last month). She is remembered largely as a bigot, a woman who slung orange juice and then became one of the country’s most prominent anti-gay crusaders.

Both Carter and Bryant were born into working-class families in small southern towns. Both rose to national (and, for Carter, international) prominence. Both were devout Christians whose faith shaped their politics and much of their lives.

Both, in other words, came from similar backgrounds. But they chose wildly different paths. Only one leaves behind an admirable legacy, while the other sees her ugly actions continue to animate conservative activism.