Tacoma has hosted many presidents over the years. In 1980, amidst a hotly contested reelection campaign, President Jimmy Carter spent a whirlwind three hours in the city on a fundraising tour.
Carter on the Campaign Trail
A navy veteran and peanut farmer, the Democrat was elected president in 1976 as a political outsider. The former governor of Georgia defeated incumbent Gerald Ford. Carter’s presidency was beset with issues, such as the Energy Crisis and Iran Hostage Crisis. In 1980, he was running for reelection.
Carter had already visited Washington twice that year. He visited Kelso and Spokane in the wake of the Mt. St. Helens eruption in May and attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Seattle a few weeks later.
Now, the president was coming on a fundraising campaign. On September 23, he flew from Los Angeles for a quick stop in Portland. Then Air Force One went on to McChord Air Force Base, landing at 4:05 p.m.
Carter was greeted by a delegation of state and local leaders. At the front was Lt. Governor John Cherberg, representing Governor Dixy Lee Ray. Ray had declined Carter’s invitation to join his motorcade, citing cabinet meetings. Washington’s first woman governor had lost her reelection bid in the Democrat primary to Jim McDermott.
Carter Courts Tacoma’s Labor Vote
Escorted by law enforcement officers, Carter’s motorcade made its way down I-5 and into Tacoma. Riding along in the car were several Democrat candidates for state office, labor leaders and Tacoma mayor Mike Parker. Carter’s Secret Service team and local law enforcement partners were headquartered at Sherwood Inn, coordinating security efforts during the president’s visit.
Courting the organized labor vote, Carter’s first stop was the Centennial Grain Company terminal at the Port of Tacoma at 4:30 p.m. on Schuster Parkway. He was given a 15-minute tour of the facility. Workers allowed him to toggle a switch to begin loading corn onto the South Sky, a Liberian-registered freighter destined for Japan. “I’m glad it came down in the right place,” Carter quipped as grain started to pour into the ship.
The president then addressed a friendly crowd of 300 workers, mostly union members, declaring how his economic policies, particularly trade with China, had increased farm product exports.
Carter on Top of the World in Tacoma
The motorcade went down Pacific Avenue at 5:10 p.m. Thousands of cheering people, many of who had waited hours to see him, lined the streets, crowding sidewalks, yards, rooftops and balconies of Tacoma. Some even crowded parking garages or stood atop cars on sideroads to catch a glimpse of the president. Many of them were not even Carter supporters but were excited to see him anyway. There were a few protestors waving signs.
As the president’s bulletproof limousine passed by, police kept crowds behind roped barriers while Secret Service members were stationed on strategic rooftops. An army helicopter hovered over downtown Tacoma.
But Carter did not like how cut off this made him from the people. Near the Beacon Senior Center, he had the motorcade stop. To the consternation of the Secret Service, he climbed onto the top of his car, waving and smiling to the crowds. Although he was up there only 30 seconds, many worried he was presenting a target for assassins.
Carter made two more quick stops, shaking hands with the crowd. He stopped at the Beacon Senior Center (415 South 13th Street). The seniors had a special section of sidewalk reserved for them.
The crowd was about 15 deep at the Carter-Mondale campaign headquarters (909 Pacific Avenue), Carter’s second stop. Among the throng was a group of ten Lowell Elementary School students and 50 social studies students from Fife High School, who had been studying the election.
$500 to Meet President Carter
President Carter arrived at the Bicentennial Pavilion at Hotel Munro (1320 Broadway Street) at 5:25 p.m. to attend a fundraising reception hosted by the Democrat National Committee. About 125 guests paid $500 a person to attend, though some leading dignitaries were invited for free. The food was simple, just three tables of hors d’oeuvres. There was also a bar serving wine and mixed drinks. Latecomers went hungry after the food ran out.
After a brief break and an interview with KOMO-TV, Carter gave a speech to the crowd at 6:20 p.m., promoting Washington Democratic candidates as well as himself. He called governor hopeful Jim McDermott “Ted” three times, apologizing after finally being corrected.
The president left the pavilion at 6:45 p.m. Air Force One departed from McChord for Washington, D.C., at 7:04 p.m.
Carter’s Later Career
While Carter had told the mayor he wanted to return to Tacoma the following spring for salmon and stream fishing, things were not going well for his campaign. He lost the election to Reagan in a landslide. Carter conceded the election before polls even closed in Washington. McDermott also lost the Washington governor’s race to Republican John Spellman.
But Carter’s post-presidential career was far more popular than his troubled time as president. He and his wife Rosalynn supported human rights, public health and peace around the world through groups such as Habitat for Humanity and their own Carter Center. The former president, the longest-living in American history, returned to the Pacific Northwest several times over the decades for book tours and speaking engagements.
Jimmy Carter passed away on December 29, 2024, at age 100, a year after his beloved wife. Through his time as both president and years after, he left an inspiring legacy of public service. And many in Tacoma, whether they voted for him or not, can still remember the day President Carter climbed atop a car and waved to the crowd.