Page 3 – LIFE

Jimmy Carter: A Noble Life

January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 by Bill Syken

The following is from the introduction to LIFE’s special tribute issue, Jimmy Carter: A Noble Life, which is available online and at newsstands.

When James Earl Carter died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on December 29, 2024, he was 100, and many people who as 18-year-olds had voted for or against him in the 1970s were contemplating retirement—an unthinkable concept for Carter. To the end, the nation’s longest-lived President remained passionately engaged in American life and global affairs, his body buffeted by illness but his intelligence undimmed.

Jimmy Carter’s protean career saw soaring triumphs and crushing defeats, but one theme ran through it like a river—a call to service, deeply rooted in devout Christian faith. He’d risen meteorically to the White House, suffered a precipitous fall, then rebuilt his legacy through good works at home and abroad, whether it was promoting public health and welfare or safeguarding the environment or protecting human rights. His dogged resilience was a lesson in the human capacity for renewal. It seemed Jimmy Carter would go on forever.

He was 96 when he and his wife, Rosalynn, appeared with three other former Presidents and their first ladies—the Clintons, Bushes, and Obamas—in a two-ad campaign urging Americans to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine in March 2021. One spot showed clips of the couples receiving their shots; in the other, the ex-Presidents stood together, each addressing the camera.

It was Carter’s second time in the news that week. Days earlier, he’d released a statement blasting Georgia Republicans for a slate of measures restricting absentee ballots and eliminating Sunday voting, widely seen as a reaction to GOP losses in his traditionally red home state. Georgia had favored Joe Biden in the 2020 election and sent Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate, partly on the strength of mail-in and Sunday votes from majority Black districts. “I am disheartened, saddened, and angry,” said Carter, who had backed both senators and endorsed Biden. “We must not promote confidence among one segment of the electorate by restricting the participation of others.”

Carter became such a fixture in public life, it was hard to believe he’d burst onto the national scene seemingly out of nowhere in 1976 to wrest the presidency from Gerald Ford. A polarizing war, racial division, and Watergate had left the nation starving for change—and the unpretentious governor/peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, fit the bill. Physically unprepossessing, Carter was hardly magnetic in stump speeches, but he won 297 electoral votes, 50 percent of the popular vote, and on Inauguration Day became the first incoming President to walk from the Capitol to the White House. In the Oval Office, Carter saw himself as a technocratic problem solver, but he was an insular President, reliant on a tight inner circle of friends and advisers nicknamed the Georgia Mafia. Bluntly honest, he seemed incapable of schmoozing legislators.

Still, backed by a Democratic Congress, Carter could claim substantial achievements, including enacting strong new pollution controls, bolstering consumer protections, establishing the Energy and Education departments, and appointing many female and Black federal judges. And then there was his crowning foreign policy triumph, brokering peace between Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat—the Camp David Accords.

But other crises overwhelmed Carter’s presidency: runaway inflation, energy shortages, and the humiliating hostage standoff with Iran. In 1980, Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in an epic landslide, 489 electoral votes to 49; he returned to Plains depressed, and roundly dismissed as a failure. As it turned out, he was just getting started.

Other one-term Presidents have enjoyed distinguished second acts. John Quincy Adams served 18 years in the House as a fierce abolitionist; William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But Carter’s four-decade post-presidency, the longest in American history, was unmatched for its breadth and depth of accomplishment. Much of it sprang from the Carter Center, the nonprofit he and Rosalynn started in 1982, which has launched programs in 80 countries to promote health, sanitation, economic justice, and democracy. Carter became a leading authority on election integrity, roaming the globe to monitor voting. His most visible humanitarian work, though, was when he rolled up his sleeves and built houses with Habitat for Humanity, helping to provide some 4,400 families with safe, affordable shelter.

Carter won hearts around the world with his grace in the face of a 2015 cancer diagnosis—melanoma had metastasized and spread to his brain. He thought he had weeks to live but recovered and kept going. Social media immortalized him as a humanitarian action hero—a viral meme depicted him on the job with Habitat, hammer in hand, captioned, “You May Be Badass, But You’ll Never Be 91-Year-Old Jimmy Carter Battling Cancer While Making a House for the Unfortunate Badass!”

Even in his final years, Carter continued to show up for his convictions and his community. In May 2022, he filed a friend of the court brief to prevent a road being built through an Alaskan refuge. The following year, he and Rosalynn surprised attendees of the annual Peanut Festival in Plains when they waved to the crowd from a car. It would be the beloved couple’s last appearance at the event; Rosalynn died on November 19, 2023, at age 96. Carter’s tribute to his wife of 77 years summed up his own character as well. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in this world, I knew someone loved and supported me.”

Here are a selection of photos from LIFE’s special tribute issue to Jimmy Carter.

Cover image: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders/Corbis/Contour RA/Getty

A young Jimmy Carter, in his naval uniform, with wife Rosalynn. They were married for 77 years.

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th President of the United States by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger on January 21, 1977

Hulton Archive/Getty

Carter met with Israel’s Menahem Begin and Anwar Sadat of Egypt at Camp David, 1978. The agreements that resulted from the meetings, known as the Camp David Accords, led to a historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Everett/Shutterstock

Even before his Habitat for Humanity days, Jimmy Carter enjoyed building things. Here the former President made use of the woodworking tools given to him as a going away gift from his Cabinet and staff. Carter was sanding a table he built for Rosalynn to use as a typewriter stand.

Bettmann/Getty

Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited children suffering from schistosomiasis during their Feb. 15, 2007, trip to Nasarawa North, Nigeria. The Carters traveled to the community to bring national attention to the country’s need to make disease prevention methods and treatments with the medicine praziquantel more accessible in its rural and impoverished communities.

Emily Staub/The Carter Center

Jimmy Carter helped an Egyptian voter to cast his ballot at a polling station in Cairo on May 24, 2012 during the country’s second day of the country’s first free presidential election. Representatives from the Carter Center came to the country to serve as election monitors.

Wissam Saleh/AFP/Getty

Carter met with the locals while in Kathmandu on November 18, 2013, to monitor Nepal’s elections.

Deborah Hakes/ The Carter Center

Meet Lady Wonder, the Psychic Horse Who Appeared Twice in LIFE

December 30, 2024December 30, 2024 by Bill Syken

The story of Lady Wonder began in 1925, when her owner, Mrs. Claudia Fonda of Richmond, Va., noticed that the horse she had purchased when it was two weeks old—then just called Lady— would come when Fonda was merely thinking of calling her. Fonda wondered if the horse could read her mind, she told LIFE. By the time Lady was two years old the horse had been taught to spell out words by using blocks with letters on them. When Lady correctly predicted the winner of the Dempsey-Tunney boxing match, the fame of what Fonda billed as “The Mind-Reading Horse” began to spread.

Lady Wonder’s first appearance in LIFE came in 1940, when the magazine, as part of a larger story on ESP, related the history of the horse but also reported that it had lost its extra-sensory special powers. The horse could still perform simple mathematics, though, and was at that point merely being billed as “The Educated Horse,” with claims of clairvoyance left by the wayside. Still, the story noted that its ESP expert believed the horse once posessed special powers.

Then in 1952 Lady Wonder returned to the spotlight when she seemingly offered insight to a tragic case involving a missing boy. Here’s how LIFE described her contribution in its issue of Dec. 22, 1952:

A friend of the district attorney of Norfolk County, Mass., went to see her, on a hunch, to ask her for news of a little boy who had been missing for months. She answered, “Pittsford Water Wheel.” A police captain figured out that this was a psychic misprint for “Field and Wilde Water Pit,” an abandoned quarry. Sure enough, that is where the boy’s body was found.

The incident brought national attention to Lady Wonder, and among those who made the pilgrimage to her Virginia farm was LIFE photographer Hank Walker. He captured the mare, then 27 years old, in action, dispensing advice and sports predictions. (For the specific college football picks from Lady Wonder mentioned in the article, the horse was right on only one out of three picks).

Not everyone was buying the act. In 1956 the magician Milbourne Christopher, who was a noted debunker of frauds, visited Lady Wonder’s stable and concluded that the horse was spelling out words under the subtle guidance of Fonda, who was directing Lady Wonder on which blocks to select.

Lady Wonder died the next year.

The 27-year-old Lady Wonder, a horse with purported clairvoyant abilities who communicated answers by flipping letters on a rack, was a popular tourist attraction in Richmond, Va,. 1952.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

“Lady Wonder,” a horse with the purported ability to see the future, came in from the pasture to answer questions for her customers, Richmond, Va., 1952.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 27-year-old Lady Wonder, a horse with purported clairvoyant abilities who communicated answers by flipping letters on a rack, was a popular tourist attraction in Richmond, Va,. 1952.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mrs. Julius Bokkon regularly visited Lady Wonder to solicit the opinion of the clairvoyant horse on matters in her life, Richmond, Va., 1952.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lady Wonder, the purported clairvoyant horse, gave a Massachusetts businessman direction on where to get a loan, spelling out “Heancock,” which was interpreted to mean the insurance company John Hancock, 1952.

Hank Walker/LIfe PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

The tricks of Lady Wonder included performing addition; here she had been asked what 7+6 equalled (she had already pulled up a “1” that is out of view to the left), Richmond, Va., 1952.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Owner Claudia Fonda stood by as her clairvoyant talking horse tourist attraction, Lady Wonder, gave a Massachusetts businessman direction on where to get a loan, spelling out “Heancock,” which was interpreted to mean the insurance company John Hancock, 1952.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 27-year-old Lady Wonder, a horse with purported clairvoyant abilities who communicated answers by flipping letters on a rack, was a popular tourist attraction in Richmond, Va,. 1952.

Hank Walker/LIfe PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

Lady Wonder, a horse with supposed clairvoyant powers, attracted visits from tourists and well as regulars such as Mrs. Julius Bokkon, Richmond, Va., 1952. The levers around the horse were like keys in a giant typewriter that it used to communicate its messages.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Marienbad Cut: Gloria Vanderbilt Models A French Movie Hairdo

December 19, 2024December 19, 2024 by Bill Syken

The French New Wave became a force in cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, expanding ideas about the way movies told stories. One sign of the New Wave’s cultural influence was that even a movie which left many viewers befuddled was able to inspire a fashion trend in both Europe and the United States.

The film was 1961’s Last Year at Marienbad, directed by Alian Resnais, and its narrative, such it was, centered around a nameless man and woman at a luxury hotel who may or may not have a past together. The film is polarizing enough that it merited both a Criterion Collection edition and also inclusion in a book about the 50 worst films ever. The Criterion Collection edition, even while exalting Last Year at Marienbad, describes the film as a “fever dream” whose plot “has been puzzling appreciative viewers for decades.”

But even if fans didn’t know what the movie meant, they knew that it was stylish (the costumes were done by Coco Chanel), and many women wanted to mimic the hairstyle of lead actress Delphine Seyrig. Here’s what LIFE had to say about the trend in its issue of June 22, 1962.

Not since Veronica Lake’s pageboy bob completely hid one eye from view has a movie hairdo caused such a stir…Cut short and straight with back ends pushed forward under ears and a deep diagonal bang on the forehead, the Marienbad hairdo looks sleek and sophisticated, but appealingly artless at the same time.

Modeling the hot new look for LIFE was none other than socialite and future fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt. The hairstyle had initially taken off in Europe, and LIFE wrote that Vanderbilt was the first New Yorker to adopt the Marienbad look, “after persuading hairdresser Kenneth to go to the film to study it.”

LIFE staff photographer Paul Schutzer ALSO seems to have also studied the film; the setups for his Vanderbilt photo shoot echo locations from the movie.

And while the film is difficult to understand, the hairstyle was appealingly simple to maintain. Vanderbilt said that while the style requires frequent cutting, in between it could be kept in place “merely by running a comb through it.” The story concluded that “women of all ages, types and places have begun to demand the short cut, glad of a fashionable excuse to give up overly teased bouffant hair for a comfortable, easy-to-keep summer style.”

Socialite Gloria Vanderbilt modeled a new hairdo inspired by the 1961 film Last Year at Marienbad.

Paul Schutzer/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Socialite Gloria Vanderbilt modeled a new hairdo inspired by the 1961 film Last Year at Marienbad.

Paul Schutzer/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Before Moo Deng: Little Hippos in LIFE

December 13, 2024December 13, 2024 by Bill Syken

Hippos are the third largest mammal on the planet, behind only the elephant and the white rhino. But there is a variety of hippo known as the pygmy hippo that is tiny by comparison, especially when it is very young. And that makes the animal a natural curiosity. Witness the popularity of Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo who lives in a Thailand zoo and became a viral sensation in 2024.

The editors of LIFE shared the fascination.

The magazine’s June 2, 1941 issue included a story headlined “World’s Smallest Hippopotamus Arrives in U.S. From Liberia.” The pygmy hippo in question had been abandoned by its mother, found by Liberian natives and turned over to a man named Silas E. Johnson, who worked in Liberia and was an amateur zoologist.

Johnson then sailed to New York City for his “biannual three-month vacation in the U.S,” according to LIFE, and brought the baby hippo with him. When the hippo arrived in America, he was two months old, weighed nine pounds, was 18 inches long, and had acquired the name Skipper during the course of his sea journey. Legendary LIFE staff photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt was there to capture the magic.

LIFE explained exactly what made Skipper so precious:

The rarity of Mr. Johnson’s pet lies in the fact that pygmy hippopotamuses, found only in Liberia, are stalwart fighters which fiercely protect their young….When he is full-grown, Skipper will weight about 400 pounds. Normal hippos weight 30 pounds at birth, three tons at maturity.

While Skipper was rare, he was not entirely unique. In 1952 LIFE featured another pygmy hippo that had come to the U.S. This little fellow was named Gumdrop, and he and his zookeeper were photographed for the magazine by George Skadding. Unlike Skipper, Gumdrop came to the U.S. in the company of his mother.

How rare is a pygmy hippopotamus? Outside of zoos, the animal’s primary habitat remains in Libera and other neighboring West African countries. According to an estimate in 2015, only about 2,500 pygmy hippos remain alive in the wild.

This rare baby pygmy hippopotamus, named Skipper, was abandoned by his mother in Liberia and brought to the U.S. by boat in 1941 in the company of an amateur zoologist.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This rare baby pygmy hippopotamus, named Skipper, was abandoned by his mother in Liberia and brought to the U.S. by boat in 1941 in the company of an amateur zoologist. Skipper needed to be kept wet to prevent his skin from peeling.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This rare baby pygmy hippopotamus, named Skipper, was abandoned by his mother in Liberia and brought to the U.S. by boat in 1941 in the company of an amateur zoologist.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Amateur zoologist Silas E. Johnson brought this baby pygmy hippopotamus abandoned by his mother from Liberia to the U.S.; during the boatride from Africa to New York, the hippo acquired the nickname Skipper.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This baby pygmy hippopotamus, abandoned by his mother in LIberia and brought to the U.S. by an amateur zoologist, consumed a half-pint of condensed milk and pablum from a bottle four times a day, 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A baby pygmy hippo named Gumdrop received a bath, 1952.

George Skadding/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A baby pygmy hippo named Gumdrop and his mother, 1952.

George Skadding/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A zookeeper administered a bath to Gumdrop, a baby pygmy hippo, 1952.

George Skadding/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gumdrop, a baby pygmy hippo, was toweled off by a zookeeper following his bath, 1952.

George Skadding/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gumdrop, a baby pygmy hippo, fed with his mother, 1952.

George Skadding/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Arrival of Jesus Christ Superstar

December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 by Bill Syken

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar began its life as a 1970 concept album by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice before becoming a 1971 stage show and then a 1973 movie. The original work inspired some controversy, as was inevitable for a rock musical retelling of the story of Jesus, but thanks to its earnest spirit and songs such as “Everything’s All Right” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” the show transitioned from blasphemous to beloved as it became a part of the pop culture firmament. The show is now produced regularly around the world, and in 2018 NBC aired a concert version featuring John Legend as Jesus.

The show was enough of a phenomenon that before it even came to Broadway in 1972, LIFE magazine had already devoted a cover story to it, based on early stagings in London and other locations. And LIFE wrote about the show again when the Jesus Christ Superstar finally came to New York. This version of the musical had a more elaborate staging that made for some eye-popping photos by LIFE staff photogapher John Olson, But the magazine felt that these embellishments were a needless distraction. LIFE’s headline on its Oct. 22, 1972 story about the Broadway production was “`Superstar’ Becomes a Circus.'”

Here’s LIFE’s critique of that version of the show:

Thanks to director Tom O’Horgan, the stage floor doubles as a curtain, there are smoke machines laser beams and wind machines. People descend from the ceiling on intricate bridges and appear out of the floor wearing incredible costumes….Superstar’s appealing music and lyrics are still there, and there are compelling performances by Ben Vereen as Judas and Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene. But the humanness of Christ, a central concept of the work, has been buried under the ruck of show-biz gimmickry.

Even while enumerating what it saw as the production’s shortcomings, LIFE acknowledged that it would be a massive hit with audiences—which it was, and that set the stage for the film version.

Directed by Norman Jewison, the movie was filmed in locations around Israel and Palestine. LIFE staff photographer John Dominis was on set to document the making of the movie.

Alas, those photos never made it into the magazine. The movie came out in the summer of 1973, but by then LIFE ended its original run with its issue of Dec. 29, 1972.

Actor Jeff Fenholt as Jesus, wearing giant golden robe with followers seated around hem, is elevated with angels and Judas, played by actor Ben Vereen, on a wing-shaped set platform in a scene from the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar, 1972.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jeff Fenholt in his role as Jesus, surrounded by his disciples, in a scene from the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar, 1972.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jeff Fenholt, in his role as Jesus, is carried by his followers in the Palm Sunday scene from the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar, 1972.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ben Vereen as Judas hangs limply from a rope in a scene from the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar, 1972.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jeff Fenholt as Jesus in the Crucifixion scene from the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar, 1972.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from the filming of the 1973 movie Jesus Christ Superstar.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actor Ted Neeley, as Jesus, in scene from the 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

“For Here Was Born Hope”: Christmas and Easter in Bethlehem, 1955

December 6, 2024December 6, 2024 by Bill Syken

In 1955 LIFE magazine devoted its entire Dec. 26 issue to the topic of Christianity. The first section was focused to the heritage of the religion. Then came a series of stories about contemporary Christianity in the United States. And the final section had an international flair, concluding with a photo-driven piece on how Christmas and Easter were celebrated in Bethlehem, renowned as the site of the Nativity of Jesus.

Here’s how LIFE described the importance of Bethlehem:

In Bethlehem priests speak many languages, for this is a place sacred to Christians of all lands and groupings—Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. Through the ages pilgrims have come here in reverence and love, for here was born hope.

The photo essay by Dmitri Kessel, who was born in Russia and handled many international assignments for LIFE, covered the celebrations of both Christmas and Easter. In addition to taking photos of the rituals of those holidays, he also captured images of young shepherds at work in the nearby hills. Those photos are particularly evocative because—setting aside the technological impossibility of it—the images look as if they could have been taken in the time of Jesus, imparting the feel of a history that is still very much alive. `

An aerial view of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, 1955.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Christmas celebration in Bethlehem, 1955.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Church of the Nativity (center) in Bethlehem, 1955.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In the Grotto of the Nativity, the sacred site of Christ’s birth was marked by a silver star on the floor, with a hole in the middle for pilgrims to peer through, 1955.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People looked through a hole in the Grotto of the Nativity during Christmas in Bethlehem, 1955.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Franciscan friar placed a figure in the manger during a celebration of Christmas in Bethlehem, 1955.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock