A Surfer in the White House.
by Robert Caughlan
Excerpt from A Surfer in the White House and other salty yarns, Part 2, Into the Arena p. 34.
Read about how Jimmy Carter came to speak at a FOR fundraiser.
One afternoon while we were still deep in the [Prop 17] campaign, a young river lover named Doug Allen came into our campaign headquarters. He was about six feet tall, wore small rimless glasses, and spoke with a soft southern drawl. He said he had worked in the Department of Natural Resources for Governor Jimmy Carter. Allen told us that Carter had also been approached by the Army Corps of Engineers. They had proposed building a large dam project on the Chattahoochee River, another of our country’s beautiful blue veins. From its source high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Chattahoochee runs south for 430 miles, ultimately serving as the border between Georgia and Alabama.
The dam had been a contentious issue. Originally, Carter had been for it, but when he learned that the Army Corps had exaggerated the benefits and minimized the costs, he changed his mind. I think it offended his military sensibilities. Carter was Navy, and he just didn’t think that military people were supposed to lie to one another other.
That gave me an idea. I knew a little something about Carter because I had read a story about him in Readers Digest. I thought we could get some good press for our cause if we could get Carter to come to California to speak as a celebrity guest at a Friends of the River fundraiser. Doug agreed to help. He put in a couple of calls to his friends in the Governor’s office, and we arranged a big Hollywood event at the home of television star Loren Greene. 
Carter really uncorked on the Army Corps that night. I was impressed! I had never heard any politician be so critical of the Army Corps. In Washington, the sacred cow is really the sacred pork. Carter’s speech gave us a great boost, but I couldn’t ignore all the money the pro-dam-forces were spending. I was concerned that we were getting overwhelmed. When I told Carter that I was worried, he said, “It doesn’t matter if you win. Rivers are important. Fighting boondoggle dams is important. You have to keep on trying.”
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