Jordan Michael Smith
Jordan Michael Smith

jordan michael smith

“I am human; nothing that is human is alien to me” — Terence



“all sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them” — Isak Dinesen

Jordan Michael Smith is an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter and speechwriter. He has collaborated with prominent public figures to write three well-received nonfiction books released by major commercial publishers. Two of the books focused on U.S. politics and national security, and the third, called Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize and Move Forward With Your Life (Portfolio/Penguin), was an Amazon bestseller, a Nautilus Book Award Winner, and an EXCEL Book Award Winner (Silver).

Jordan did speechwriting stints for both the Mayor and the Comptroller of New York City, and he was a communications consultant for the United Nations and the Governor of New York. His writing has appeared in print and online for many publications, including the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, Esquire, BBC, MSNBC, Globe and Mail, and MSNBC.

Jordan won the Richard J. Margolis Award for Social Justice Journalism in 2023. His story on a series of murders in Australia won the 2021 award for Excellence in Feature Writing from The Association of LGBTQ Journalists. His look at a controversial program in Germany that aims to prevent child sexual abuse was listed as a “Notable Essay” in the 2022 Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology, and his profile of a professor studying sex offenders was selected for inclusion in the 2019 edition. He has been awarded grants or fellowships from Type Investigations, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Solutions Journalism, Freelance Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and Columbia University. Two of his stories have been optioned for films.

Jordan holds a Master’s Degree in political science from Carleton University and lives in Toronto with his dalmatian/basset hound mix, Penny.

Humanity

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How Jimmy Carter Lost an Election and Transformed the Post-Presidency

After living in the White House for four years, in November 1980, Jimmy Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide. Carter's unpopularity helped Republicans win seats in the House and gain control over the Senate for the first time in over 20 years. The Reagan Era had begun, ushering in a generation of conservative power. Democrats blamed Carter for this catastrophe and spent the next decade pretending he had never existed. Republicans cheered his demise and trotted out his name to scare voters for years to come. Carter and his wife Rosalynn returned to their farm in the small town of Plains, Georgia. They were humiliated, widely unpopular, and even in financial debt.

35 years later, Carter has become the most celebrated post-president in American history. He has won the Nobel Peace Prize, written bestselling books, and become lauded across the world for his efforts on behalf of peace and social justice. Ex-presidents now adopt the Carter model of leveraging their eminent status to benefit humanity. By pursuing diplomatic missions, leading missions to end poverty and working to eradicate disease around the world, Carter has transformed the idea of what a president can accomplish after leaving the White House.

This is the story of how Jimmy Carter lost the biggest political prize on earth--but managed to win back something much greater.