For four decades Jimmy Carter’s presidency has been written off as a model of mediocrity. For so many reasons this is both unfair and inaccurate. I’ll leave it to others to recite his executive and legislative accomplishments, both abroad and at home. But if it is true that reputations are built from small deeds, not banner headlines, then I have a story to tell.

First, to fully disclose, I actively supported Carter’s presidential campaign. I was drawn to Washington D.C. in 1973, part of a wave of idealists seeking to reinvigorate democracy as President Nixon’s misdeeds unfolded. By 1976, I was fresh out of graduate school and working on international economic policy for a national trade association. So when the Carter campaign came to town and opened an issues office to support the candidate’s positions and debates, I was an eager volunteer. Of course I was all ambition and enthusiasm and light on experience and knowledge, but the educator and anti-war activist Joseph Duffey had been recruited to organize the issues office and he graciously agreed to see me. I ended up drafting a position paper on international monetary policy that yielded an invitation to the inaugural ball, but otherwise failed to set the campaign on fire.

I stayed in Washington during Carter’s term and by 1980 I was working as a legislative aide to Sen. Jacob Javits of New York, again on international economic policy. Early on in his term, Carter nominated members of his Presidential Export Council and Javits was appointed as one of the Senate’s representatives, presenting me with the task of providing the senator’s input on key policy recommendations.

After much hard work, but with dreadful timing, the council completed its report just as Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in November 1980. Now it’s well known that even in the best of circumstances reports such as this rarely see the light of day and this one was of course doomed to immediate extinction. The council’s chairman, Reginald Jones, then the chief executive of General Electric, had taken his responsibility seriously and was proud of the effort regardless of the circumstances.

By the waning days of the Carter presidency, in January 1981, I am certain that everyone had quite forgotten about the council’s report. Washington was abuzz with the Republican takeover of the Senate and White House and people were rapidly changing jobs, including me, Javits having been defeated for reelection.

So with just days to go before Reagan’s inauguration everyone in the Senate office was puzzled when the White House called to say that the president wanted to have a formal presentation of the report. No one could explain this, but a White House summons is a White House summons … not to be ignored. Javits was not in Washington, but Jones dutifully replied that he would of course attend and Javits asked me to fill in for him.

Several days later, Jones and I, along with the principal author of the report, appeared at the White House to meet with the president. The situation was slightly surreal. The transition to the new administration was in its final hectic hours and movers and packing boxes commanded most of the free space in the West Wing.

As we entered the Oval Office, things were even more frenetic. Workers were sorting and cataloging papers and as the president entered they started to leave, but Carter quietly signaled for them to stay and continue. So there we were amidst the dismantling of the president’s seat of power, trying to act as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

So here’s the small deed that I saw that day that to me embodies the graciousness and determination that President Carter would continue to exhibit for the next 43 years. People had worked hard to produce a report he had commissioned, and regardless of the embarrassing circumstances and as much as it hurt, he was going to show his gratitude for it.

Through the years I’ve thought back on that moment many times as I have read countless harsh critiques of the Carter presidency. No, President Carter wasn’t always pitch perfect in connecting with the American people, and fortune often seemed to conspire against him. But what he showed me that day and continued to show the country is that a life’s work continues regardless of circumstance; and grace and commitment have the power to combat just about any sort of adversity. As a country, now more than ever, we should stop and reflect on his gift to us.

Peter Clark has held various positions in international finance and development, both in government and the private sector. He lives in Hanover.