Photograph by Osman Rana via Unsplash

Numerous news outlets are reporting that incoming president Donald Trump is upset that flags will be left at half-staff on his inauguration day. The flags have been lowered in keeping with a longstanding protocol to conduct thirty days of national mourning when a former U.S. president dies. In this case, that former president is Jimmy Carter. Trump is irritated that his day of celebration might be diminished by all the flags on federal buildings being set in a position to pay respect to a former president.

On the eve of Bill Clinton’s first inauguration, Jimmy Carter too had concerns about protocol. I know because I witnessed it firsthand. The night before Clinton’s inauguration, a prayer service was held at the First Baptist Church of Washington D.C. One of my connected friends got me a pass to attend the prayer service and so I did.

I took a seat on the far right of a pew next to an aisle. As I observed the gathering of worshippers for that event, another connected friend of mine came down the aisle alongside a very serious-looking man in a dark suit with an earpiece in his right ear.  The two men stopped a few feet in front of me and my friend pointed at me and walked away. The somber man came to me and asked me to follow him outside.

Once on the side street, the man identified himself as a Secret Service agent and asked if I would be willing to help usher dignitaries into the side door of the church. He explained that former president Jimmy Carter did not think it was appropriate for him to enter in the main doors at the front of the church. He felt that kind of entrance should be reserved for the president-elect. To avoid that kind of attention, he wanted to go in the side door and unobtrusively find a seat in the shadows of the platform.

The agent showed me a sign with a huge arrow on it. He then asked if I would stand by the street and point the arrow toward the side door the Carters, Jimmy and Rosalynn, were to use to enter the service.

I readily agreed to my assignment and then asked the agent if I needed to say anything to the Carters to direct them toward the correct entrance. The no-nonsense man answered, “No sir. Just hold your sign. You’re basically out here so we don’t have to put a nail hole in a tree.” Somewhat deflated, I asked if I could speak to President Carter when he got out of his limousine. The man frowned and then asked, “What do you want to say?” I replied that I wanted to welcome him and say thank you for his service to our country. “Okay,” said the agent, “but do not try to shake his hand or touch him in any way.” When I asked why not, the stern officer pointed at the rooftops of surrounding buildings where armed servicemen stood with loaded rifles. “You could get shot if you make any sudden moves toward the former president.”

A few minutes later, a limo pulled up and I kept my distance as President Carter stepped out of the back seat. I was so overwhelmed to be standing next to him that I couldn’t muster a single syllable. Even though Mrs. Carter had to straighten her formal dress in the car before she exited, giving me additional time to speak, I could not bring myself to do anything but hold my sign. Once Mrs. Carter situated herself, the two followed their security escorts into the building. I was then thanked for my service.

As I understand it, millions of Baptists voted for both Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump.  Some analysts claim that without the support of Baptists and other evangelicals, neither would have ever lived in the White House. The two men have that in common but in almost every other way, they are very different.

Maybe Donald Trump will be a better president by some important measurements than Jimmy Carter was, I don’t know. What I do know is one man is complaining that he is more deserving of national attention than a recently deceased president and the other man sat in the shadows to ensure that yet another president received all the nation’s acclaim. Those are two very different kinds of men.