Le Mars, Iowa — As former President Jimmy Carter is in failing health, it was 48 years ago this weekend the then-Georgia governor and presidential candidate made an appearance in Le Mars, likely his first campaign stop in Iowa.
John Devereaux, who then worked at Westmar College in Le Mars, says Carter was asked to speak at a Democratic Party event in Le Mars, a full year before the Iowa Caucuses.
Carter ended up being the only candidate who could attend the dinner. Carter flew to Omaha for another event, then an aide drove him as far as a truck stop in Onawa, Iowa.
Deveraux later became the state coordinator for the Carter campaign in Iowa in 1976, and after the election, took a job in the administration in Washington DC. Carter, who’s 98, entered home hospice care last weekend.
