Former President Jimmy Carter made multiple campaign stops in Western Washington in 1980

The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, would become the nation’s longest-lived president after George H.W. Bush died in 2018 and he would be the first president to live to 95.

Carter would attribute his long life to his marriage to Rosalynn Carter. They married in 1946 and have been together for 77 years.

Born in 1924, Carter would join the Navy, serve as a Georgia state senator and the governor of Georgia and be elected President in 1976. He would serve one term before losing in a landslide to Ronald Reagan.

His post-presidency would subsist of founding the Carter Center, which works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

The former president would spend some time in Western Washington, including several campaign stops in 1980.

On the morning of Jun. 9, 1980, Carter awoke after receiving a wake-up call at 5 a.m. from the White House board operator. Looking through his daily diary, the former president was typically awakened that early every day.

It was a busy day for the former president, as he met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, released the Final Federal Consumer Program and posthumously awarded former president Lyndon Baines Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He would fly Air Force One to Miami where he would spend the majority of his day before flying to the Boeing Flight Center in Seattle, landing at 10:55 p.m.

Carter was greeted by a welcoming delegation, before his motorcade took him to the Olympic Hotel where he went to his suite to spend the night.

The next day, Carter received a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call from the White House. After speaking with Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, Carter went by motorcade to Myrtle Williams Park for a morning jog.

Carter returned to the Olympic Hotel, where he spent time with Federal Disaster Relief officials, to discuss the recent eruption of Mount St. Helens.

He then attended the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors. He told those in attendance that he had kept his 4-year-old promise to attack unemployment and physical decay in central cities.

“We have stopped federal neglect of our cities,” Carter said. “We can see the hard tangible evidence of urban progress all around us.”

The conference was not without controversy, as Carter’s democratic rival Edward Kennedy had also been invited to address the conference. After the White House strenuously objected to Kennedy speaking, the mayors withdrew their invitation.

After speaking with 750 guests and mayors that attended the conference, Carter left for the Boeing Flight Center, where he would fly to Nebraska.

On Sept. 23, 1980, Carter received a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call from the White House board operator. He flew from D.C. to San Jose to Portland to McChord Air Force Base, landing at about 4:04 p.m.

This would be the first presidential trip to Tacoma since President John F. Kennedy made the trip in 1963.

He was accompanied by then-Lieutenant Gov. John Cherberg, who was there after Washington Gov. Dixy Lee Ray turned down the president’s invitation, as they traveled to the Continental Grain Company at the Port of Tacoma.

“This is a fine installation, and I understand it’s quite busy,” the president said before he flipped a switch in the terminal’s operation center and watched as corn began to flow into the hatch of the freighter South Sky. “I’m glad it came down in the right place,” Carter added.

Carter attended a fundraising reception at Tacoma’s Bicentennial Pavilion, where he referred to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted McDermott as “Jim McDermott” three times.

The reception consisted of about 100 people, who each paid $500 to sip cocktails, eat appetizers and listen to the president.

“I’m glad to be here with Ted McDermott,” Carter said until someone whispered to the president. “I mean Jim, and Jim McDermott is very important to me,” Carter added.

Carter would return to his motorcade and fly back to Maryland.

On Nov. 3, 1980, Carter returned to Seattle again to make a last-minute campaign stop the day before Election Day. He spent about an hour here, speaking at a campaign rally at the airport before boarding Air Force One to return home to Georgia.