Jimmy Carter, a U.S. president who served only one term but was widely admired for his humanitarian work after leaving the White House, was remembered during his state funeral on Thursday as a man who put honesty and kindness above partisan politics.

Jimmy Carter redefined his legacy after his presidency. Other presidents, especially Hoover and Nixon, tried but failed to outrun or outwork their unhappy presidential legacies. Like John Quincy Adams before him, Carter will mostly be remembered for what came after his time in the White House rather than those four years in it—as he should be.

In November 2010, former President Jimmy Carter visited my office in the White House, where I had just taken up the post of national security adviser. It was a reunion of sorts: at age 22, I had begun my career working for Carter,