Happy Belated Birthday, President Carter

By: Miriam Edelman

On October 1, 2024, Washington, D.C., President James Earl Carter turned 100. This 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of 32 books became the first President to turn 100 years old. Let’s honor him by respecting D.C.’s autonomy.

In the 1970’s, Carter supported self-government and Congressional voting rights for D.C. residents. He said, “the President's interference in the internal affairs of the District . . . should be minimal.” When Carter was President, he supported that era’s method of granting full Congressional voting representation to D.C. residents: a constitutional amendment. During his State of the Union address on January 21, 1980, he said:

My Administration worked with the last Congress to pass a proposed Constitutional amendment granting full voting representation to the citizens of our Nation's Capital. The ratification process for this proposed amendment has begun and I urge the State legislatures which have not ratified the resolution to join those which have. We will continue our efforts this year in the ratification effort.

At his last State of the Union address on January 16, 1981, Carter remarked:

Washington, D.C., is home to both the Federal Government and to more than half a million American citizens. I have worked to improve the relationship between the Federal establishment and the Government of the District of Columbia in order to further the goals and spirit of home rule. The City controls more of its own destiny than was the case four years ago. Yet, despite the close cooperation between my Administration and that of Mayor Barry, we have not yet seen the necessary number of states ratify the Constitutional Amendment granting full voting representation in the Congress to the citizens of this city. It is my hope that this inequity will be rectified. The country and the people who inhabit Washington deserve no less.

Unfortunately, not enough states ratified the amendment after both Congressional chambers passed it. Just 16 states ratified this amendment, falling 22 short of the three-quarters of states that were needed.

While speaking about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 50th anniversary of the famous March on Washington in 2013, Carter said

We all know how Dr King would have reacted to the new ID requirements to exclude certain voters, especially African Americans. I think we all know how Dr King would have reacted to the Supreme Court striking down a crucial part of a Voter's Rights Act just recently passed overwhelmingly by Congress. I think we all know how Dr King would have reacted to unemployment among African Americans being almost twice the rate of white people and for teenagers at 42 percent. I think we would all know I thought it came would have reacted to our country being awash in guns and for more and more states passing stand your ground laws. I think we know how Dr King would have reacted for people of District of Columbia still not having full citizenship rights.

There's little doubt that former President Carter strongly supports full citizenship rights for residents of the District of Columbia.

D.C. must be respected. Congress should stop interfering with local D.C. issues. Happy Birthday President Jimmy Carter, and thank you for supporting full citizenship rights for residents of the District of Columbia!