SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — Former U.S. Senator Larry Pressler had political differences with the late Jimmy Carter during their time in Washington, yet Pressler considers the former president a role model.

Larry Pressler was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives when Jimmy Carter was elected president.

“And he was always fair to me. We were in the opposite parties but I always got along well with him,” Pressler said.

Both Carter and Pressler came into office in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal that had rocked the national political landscape.

“I think he was kind of a rebound politician, as I was, too. People wanted someone new, somebody different,” Pressler said.

Pressler credits Carter, a former peanut farmer, for standing up for ag interests during his presidency.

“He worked hard on trying to influence farm prices. He wasn’t always successful, but his heart was in the right place,” Pressler said.

Pressler opposed Carter when he enacted a grain embargo against the then-Soviet Union in response to the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan.

“And I made the motion on the senate floor to lift the grain embargo and it passed the senate. Of course, they didn’t lift it, but that was a signal to the White House that we wanted that grain embargo lifted, especially it was good for South Dakota ranchers and farmers to lift that grain embargo,” Pressler said.

Pressler was a Vietnam veteran who opposed Carter’s pardon of Vietnam War draft evaders.

“I didn’t like it at the time because I served in Vietnam in the U.S. Army, two tours of duty. But that doesn’t mean I’m right. But I rather he wouldn’t have done that,” Pressler said.

Pressler says Carter’s years of public service following his presidency were an inspiration to him.

“He was kind of a model for me in how to behave as a former public official,” Pressler said.

Now, Carter’s death has Pressler reflecting upon his own mortality.

“I’m hearing a lot of my friends die these days. I’m hearing about them. But you just got to accept that time moves on and time and tide waits for no man,” Pressler said.

Pressler says he also admired Carter’s religious convictions and how his faith guided many of his policy decisions.



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