My first died

 My first being Jimmy Carter. I was a senior in high school and eighteen. All these years later, eighteen seems almost too young to be allowed to vote. 

Gerald Ford, whom Carter beat that year, was a decent enough man, but the nation needed a kind of mental housecleaning after Watergate and its loss of the war in Vietnam. How the two spent the years after their presidencies says something about them. Carter worked tirelessly to make the world a better place. Ford played golf. 

Carter was famous for his smile. I read an article about what was appealing about it and it was the way that when he smiled, all you saw was teeth. No carrels. This was in a time before most kids had their pallets spread and I remember being mad that I'd never have a smile as good as Carter's.