My service to President Carter and his service to the world

As I attend the funeral today of President Jimmy Carter, under whom I served as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce, I am struck by what a unique and extraordinary man he was in many ways that are generally unknown. For example, he showed his humanitarian focus, which later in life became widely recognized, soon after his election. He had his State Department establish an Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. It created a hyper focus for America on these important topics.

President Carter's Administration also accomplished major steps toward today's admired goals of attacking waste, fraud, and abuse in our government. Prior to President Carter our country's ability to redress mistreatment of citizens by our federal government's was terrible. Typically, citizens' complaints were referred to the office of the Secretary of the department who...