(WGHP) -- America has a way of self-correcting when things get a bit out of hand. You can see that in many presidential elections. One in our lifetime is the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 after what the nation endured during Lyndon Johnson’s prosecution of the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Carter presented himself as someone the public could trust again. Doug Copeland felt that when he met Carter for the first time at a luncheon in Chapel Hill in 1975 before Carter’s presidential campaign began in full. “He was one of those people that just because of his approach at the time and the contrast, you believed in him,” Copeland said. “He would go anywhere, anytime to provide his message to the American people.” A year later, Copeland found himself helping run Carter’s campaign in North Carolina, and Copeland was proud to be part of it as the person who ran the campaign in the western half of the state. “I was very blessed that Carter came to Winston-Salem during the campaign, so that was my first experience doing advance work and managing a presidential visit,” Copeland said. But it wouldn’t be the last. Copeland then worked in the White House after Carter’s victory over incumbent Gerald Ford. “I had the opportunity to witness firsthand ... his passion about doing the right thing for America,” Copeland said. And there was plenty the Carter administration did right, according to Copeland. “Clearly, inflation and the ... Iran hostages overshadowed everything else,” he said. “I think the biggest misconception is he doesn't get credit for the many, many things he accomplished. He created 10 million new jobs during his administration. He passed the Panama Canal and SALT II: two treaties which people don't understand really help bring peace to our nation, our world and the Americas region ... He deregulated industry and these are things that we are seeing today having a major impact.” That is correct. Carter’s deregulation of the telephone industry helped pave the way for the investment that lead to the phone systems we use today. Companies were reluctant to invest in the technology when AT&T still held a monopoly. His deregulation of the trucking industry was a huge boon to the US economy and allowed for the emergence of major trucking firms, including Old Dominion which has reinvested much of its earnings into its Triad community. After listing those major accomplishments, Copeland smiled and added another deregulation that helped spur what is now a major industry sector in America. “If you like craft beer, thank Jimmy Carter,” he said. “You could not brew your own beer at home ... Once he made that allowable, it created craft beers, which today is the huge craft beer industry.” See more about Copeland’s experiences as part of the Carter administration in this edition of The Buckley Report.