JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – When Jimmy Carter came to Johnstown in April 1976, as a presidential primary candidate, he held a press conference inside a Tribune-Democrat office that then-editor George Fattman described as being barely big enough to hold four or five people.
He returned a few months later, having secured the Democratic Party nomination, and spoke to between 5,000 and 8,000 supporters during a whistle-stop campaign tour.
Later, in the summer of the following year, Carter was president of the United States, playing a role in helping Johnstown recover from the devastating 1977 Flood.
That transformation – from unlikely candidate to the leader of a nation – was part of Carter’s lifelong journey that included graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, working as a peanut farmer, serving as Georgia’s governor, spending one term in the White House, championing the Habitat for Humanity program and winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
Carter also became the only president to ever reach 100 years of age.
He died Dec. 29.
An official state funeral is scheduled for Jan. 9 at Washington National Cathedral.
Special request
Fattman received a request from Carter’s staff shortly before the 1976 Pennsylvania primary asking if he would attend a press conference during the candidate’s upcoming visit to Johnstown.
He declined due to a previous commitment to spend a weekend retreat in charge of 14-year-old confirmands from his church.
Carter’s people then asked if they could use his office for the press conference.
Fattman obliged.
“They had no place to go,” Fattman said. “I couldn’t help but say yes. At that point, I was feeling sorry for them.”
Carter, who Fattman did not think would win the party’s nomination, spent most of April 24 in Johnstown, holding two news conferences – one at a local hotel and the other at The Tribune-Democrat.
A campaign rally followed in Central Park. From the bandstand, Carter used a bullhorn to address the estimated crowd of 400 to 500 people, describing the election as “a very important test between the free choice of the voters and very powerful machine politicians,” according to a Tribune-Democrat article written by political reporter Robert John.
He soon thereafter won the Pennsylvania primary, while carrying Cambria County with 9,246 votes.
Back again
Carter returned to the city in September 1976, this time as his party’s nominee in a race against Republican President Gerald Ford.
He spent almost an hour at the city’s train station as part of a whistle-stop tour that included earlier events in Newark and Trenton, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Harrisburg and Altoona.
Carter’s overarching theme was it being time for a change, calling for “a fair income-tax structure, a reorganized government and good health programs for the people.”
Carter recalled his visit during the primary and asked voters to “give me the same kind of victory” in the general election.
He eventually won the race with more than 40.8 million votes, becoming the nation’s 39th president.
Fattman later met Carter during a reception for editors of small-town newspapers.
“I don’t know any other president who invited all the small-town editors to Washington for a day of seeing just how the government works,” Fattman said.
“We were mostly in the Executive Office Building. Then they brought us over to the Cabinet building. That’s pretty nice to do that for small-town editors.
“I don’t recall any other president ever doing that. It was a very nice touch. He understood small communities.”
Bond with Murtha
Local U.S. Rep. John Murtha spoke in support of Carter during the whistle-stop rally.
Less than a year later, on July 20, 1977, Murtha was at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia giving a speech at the invitation of his friend and fellow Marine, then-Maj. John Hugya, from Johnstown.
Murtha was pulled aside a few minutes into his talk and made aware that Johnstown had been struck by a flood.
He and Hugya needed to return home immediately.
“We couldn’t get a Marine helicopter,” Hugya recalled.
“There was no priority. He called the White House and talked to the president. Jimmy Carter said, ‘Take one of mine.’ … Everything started from that.”
They saw the destruction from overhead.
Damages exceed $300 million. More than 80 people died.
Carter declared Johnstown and surrounding communities to be a federal disaster area and sent in the National Guard.
Murtha and Carter remained in contact throughout the recovery.
“He really leaned on Carter to make sure that the aid was flowing here,” said Tom Kurtz, who was with the Red Cross when the flood hit and now serves as the president and CEO of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine at Windber. “I think that was the beginning of Mr. Murtha’s political contacts in Washington. I think he and President Carter worked so hard to make sure all the federal aid came into the community.”
Other community leaders, including Hugya and Ed Cernic Sr., were involved with the recovery effort.
Cernic was part of a small group that met with Carter in the White House shortly after the flood.
“My dad came back and he told that story all the time because that’s when things really started happening,” said Ed Cernic Jr., Cambria County’s current controller. “Of course, Congressman Murtha was here and the congressional delegation was helping. Things really started moving at that point.
“That’s what helped Johnstown to recover from the flood. Even though it was a long time in recovery, we sure got a good jumpstart by having the president on our side, declaring the emergency and getting things moving.”