During the contested and contorted Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1970, Al Williams backed the candidacy of Carl Sanders early on.

But when Daddy King, as Williams called him, the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., put his support behind a state senator from southwest Georgia, Williams followed suit.

And he stayed a fervent and ardent supporter of Jimmy Carter and called him a man “of great integrity.”

“I met him, by happenstance, in 1970,” Williams said of meeting Carter. “He just asked me if I could support him. And I thought, that’s very strong and that impressed me.”

Their paths crossed again in 1972. Carter was governor, and Williams was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. “This was the first convention that the governor of Georgia didn’t hand pick the delegates,” Williams said.

Just as Carter’s term in office was ending, Williams went to meet with the governor with state Sen. Mel Traylor, whose district included Liberty County. When they get ready to leave, Sen. Traylor asked Carter what his plans were after office. Carter told them he was running for president.

“Mel and I walked away from his office and walked down the steps and before we got to the last step, we started laughing so hard, I thought security was going to come get us,” Williams recalled.

Both Traylor and Williams thought Carter’s declaration of running for the highest office in the world was one of the craziest ideas they had heard.

“Shows you how much we knew,” Williams said. “He was a smart man, and he had discipline and determination.”

Williams went to bat for Carter again, all over Georgia and all over the South, campaigning for him in South Carolina, Alabama and Florida. Williams was appointed to the electoral college, the first African American from southeast Georgia to be chosen, and as such, back then, his name was on the ballot.

For those who were students of the late Sampie Smith at Bradwell Institute, they learned quickly that only one man in the history of Liberty County had ever voted for president of the United States — Al Williams. And Williams — as the only member Georgia’s electoral college delegation ever from Liberty County — cast his ballot for Jimmy Carter.

Williams said he also had a good relationship with Carter’s grandson Jason Carter, and brought the late Rosalyn Carter to Liberty County to help campaign for Jason when he ran for governor.

As governor, Carter overhauled and reorganized the state government. “He made a lot of enemies,” Williams said, “but he shaved a lot of fat off the hog.”

Carter also reformed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, making it a professional organization, Williams said.

“GBI is where you sent your political cronies,” Williams said. “They wouldn’t know a thumbprint from a footprint.”

What most impressed Williams about Carter’s term as governor was his effort for racial reconciliation.

“He shocked the state with his inauguration when he said, ‘the time for segregation is over,’” Williams said. “And some of the people who supported him walked out of the address. But Jimmy didn’t care. If it was right, he was going to do it.”

Carter’s term as presidency was wracked with a number of crises — inflation, energy shortages and international disasters such as the Iranian revolution, which led to the taking of Americans at the embassy in Tehran as hostages for 444 days.

But there were successes, notably the Camp David accords between Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Sadat later was assassinated because of his entreaty to Israel for peace.

Williams said students of history should study Carter’s record and called his legislative record was “sterling,” with the number of bills he passed.

One of Carter’s lasting yet overlooked legacies is the number of federal judgeships he appointed.

“He appointed more African-Americans and Hispanics to the bench than his predecessors combined,” Williams said.

Carter also was an early proponent of alternative energy sources, Williams said, “putting solar panels on the White House when nobody was talking about solar.”

“He advocated for electric vehicles before anyone heard of Elon Musk,” Williams said, referring to the founder of Tesla Motors.

After losing the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan, Carter founded the Carter Center to prevent and resolve conflicts, bolster freedom and democracy and improve health conditions across the globe. He and his late wife Rosalyn also became known for their longtime support and involvement with Habitat for Humanity.

Williams is in the midst of writing a book — “The Best Day of My Life” — and Carter will play a large part in it.

“He was a person of great character, who stood up for right when wrong would have helped his political career,” Williams said. “He was a decent, good human being. He was unbelievably smart. And he could have gone anywhere — but he came back to Plains, Georgia.