The Panama Canal treaty, the middle east process, and the return of the hostages from Iran? You'd think Carter would say something nice about someone he loved like a son.
ATLANTA --- Hundreds of friends and family grieved Friday at a memorial for former White House aide Hamilton Jordan, and former President Carter said he would miss his right-hand man for the rest of his life.
Mr. Jordan, 63, died Tuesday at his Atlanta home. His battle with cancer began 22 years ago.
"I loved Hamilton like my own son," Mr. Carter said to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 500 at the Carter Center auditorium.
Mr. Carter said his chief of staff was a "driving force behind the Panama Canal treaty, the Middle East peace process, the safe return of our hostages from Iran and every other good thing that we ever accomplished or attempted while in Washington."
Mr. Jordan "was as gentle and courageous and compassionate as anyone I have ever known," Mr. Carter said.
The service was interspersed with levity as Mr. Jordan's friends and family recounted his love of humor, even while fighting six forms of cancer that included lymphoma, melanoma and prostate cancer.
Mr. Jordan's personal physician, Dr. Ellen Frauenthal, noted the inspiration that he gave to other cancer patients through his best-selling 2000 memoir, No Such Thing as a Bad Day .
Mr. Jordan and his wife set up Camp Sunshine, a facility for children with cancer in suburban Atlanta.
Mr. Carter told a story about an aloofness that Washington insiders perceived in Mr. Jordan. Former House Speaker Tip O'Neill once called Mr. Carter in the Oval Office and the president asked how he could help.
"I'd like for you to go down the hall and ask Hamilton Jordan to return my calls," Mr. Carter recalled Mr. O'Neill saying.
Mr. Jordan was born in Charlotte, N.C., in 1944 and reared in Albany, Ga.
He graduated from the University of Georgia with a political science degree in 1967.
He helped draft Mr. Carter's innovative 1976 campaign strategy and was credited with conceiving a plan to start campaigning years in advance and target early voting states to build support from early upsets.
After Mr. Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Mr. Jordan ran in a Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 1986. He lost to Wyche Fowler, who won the general elegction.
Mr. Jordan worked for H. Ross Perot's presidential bid in 1992.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale, former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young also attended the memorial.
Comments
The Panama Canal treaty, the middle east process, and the return of the hostages from Iran? You'd think Carter would say something nice about someone he loved like a son.
Brownie points. Next thing ya' know he'll be in the mid-east on the heels of George Bush. Any time I see carters name in an article, it just solidifies my focus on the most idiotic clod-hopper west of the Mississippi, or North, or South, or even East. The remainder of the article is irrelevant; all 'cause of carters name. What a shame I didn't read it.
So does Carter want to blame Hamilton Jordan for the Panama Canal debacle?
"Mr. Carter said his chief of staff was a 'driving force behind the Panama Canal treaty, the Middle East peace process, the safe return of our hostages from Iran and every other good thing that we ever accomplished or attempted while in Washington.'"
Just what "good thing" did p-nut's administration accomplish?
Hamilton Jordan & a chemical exposure that causes many cancers. I hope his doctors and those interested in cancer will look at a common chemical exposure: 2-butoxyethanol.
My response to the rebroadcast of his memorial service. What a fine man! http://www.valdezlink.com/re/jordanhamiltonmemorialservice.htm http://www.valdezlink.com/re/hamiltonjordandies.htm www.valdezlink.com/same.htm
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