Architect Of Carter Presidency, Hamilton Jordan, Dies

Architect Of Carter Presidency, Hamilton Jordan, Dies

Hamilton Jordan, 63, a fun-loving political operative who helped propel a virtually unknown politician from the Georgia statehouse to the White House, died last night at his home in Atlanta, close friends said.  He had been treated over the past 20 years for six types of cancer.

As Jimmy Carter's young and tireless campaign director, Jordan (pronounced JER-den) was the principal architect of the 70-page blueprint that laid out the strategy for electing a Democratic president from the South. Along the way, he cultivated a reputation as a Georgia "good ole boy," masking an astute political mind. "His mind seems to fit Carter's like a peanut fits its shell," Garrett Epps said in a 1978 story for The Washington Post Magazine. "Jordan's adult personality is shaped around Carter's."

Jordan received a lion's share of the credit for the unlikely victory of the Navy nuclear engineer turned evangelical peanut farmer. Rolling Stone magazine featured him and press secretary Jody Powell as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Source The Washington Post