84 APRIL-MAY 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL As the embassy’s deputy press officer, Mark was fully engaged with visit preparations. Meanwhile, I, as a first-time mom, was sleep-deprived and still adjusting to my newborn’s feeding schedule. I sent an SOS to my highly experienced mother, who had eight children of her own, to please come and help me. She took her very first flight, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Belgrade, arriving a couple of weeks before the big presidential visit. Embassy staff were invited to greet President and Mrs. Carter upon their early morning arrival at the Belgrade airport, and my mother convinced me that we should go with 7-weekold Vanessa. We took a taxi from our home in Belgrade’s residential diplomatic colony, me cradling the baby in my arms— there were no seat belts or baby car seats back then—and took our place in line on the tarmac. President and Mrs. Carter descended the stairs of Air Force One, and when he saw me standing there with a baby in my arms, all dressed up in a lacy dress and bonnet, the president made a beeline straight for us. Carter smiled broadly, asked how old my baby was, caressed her bonnet, and said to me in his Southern drawl, “You take good care o’ her now.” As has been recounted by so many since his death at age 100, President Jimmy Carter was a good and decent man who cared deeply about humanity and devoted his life to making this world a better place. Thank you, President Carter! Anne M. Chermak Minister Counselor, retired Denver, Colorado n President Jimmy Carter was a good and decent man who cared deeply about humanity and devoted his life to making this world a better place.
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