As the American Academy in Rome notes with deep sorrow the death of Jimmy Carter, the longest-lived US president in history, we reflect on his trip to Rome in June 1980.
When Carter came to Rome, as part of a state visit timed for the sixth G7 Summit in Venice, he could have asked for any tour guide. The best person for the job, though, was the classicist John H. D’Arms (1972 and 1984 Resident), who was then Director of the American Academy. D’Arms, on loan from his day job as professor and chair of the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan, was tapped to lead a presidential tour of the Colosseum and Forum.
Landing in Rome on Thursday, June 19, Carter held meetings the next day with the Italian president Alessandro Pertini and the prime minister Francesco Cossiga at the Quirinale Palace. After laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Piazza Venezia, President Carter, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and their daughter Amy embarked on an afternoon tour of ancient Rome’s most treasured sights. The entourage was greeted by D’Arms, Adriano La Regina, superintendent of antiquities for the city of Rome, and the archaeologist Irene Iacopi. D’Arms led the First Family through the upper and lower levels of the Colosseum; they then passed by the Arch of Constantine and walked into the Forum.
Those who remember D’Arms’s encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Rome, which was legendary, will have no doubt that the Carter family profited deeply from the tour.
AAR joins the American people and citizens from all over the world in saluting a leader and humanitarian of exceptional character.