Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter was the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, and a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. At age 99, he is both the oldest living former U.S. president and the longest-lived president in U.S. history.
"James Earl Carter" redirects here. For his father, see James Earl Carter Sr. For other uses, see Jimmy Carter (disambiguation).
Jimmy Carter
Lester Maddox
District established
- 1946–1953 (active)
- 1953–1961 (reserve)
Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and joined the U.S. Navy's submarine service. Carter returned home afterward and revived his family's peanut-growing business. He then manifested his opposition to racial segregation, supported the growing civil rights movement, and became an activist within the Democratic Party. He served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967 and then as governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. As a dark-horse candidate not well known outside of Georgia, Carter won the Democratic nomination and narrowly defeated the incumbent Republican Party president Gerald Ford in the 1976 U.S. presidential election.
Carter pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders on his second day in office. He created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. Carter successfully pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He also confronted stagflation. His administration established the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Education. The end of his presidency was marked by the Iran hostage crisis, an energy crisis, the Three Mile Island accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In response to the invasion, Carter escalated the Cold War by ending détente, imposing a grain embargo against the Soviets, enunciating the Carter Doctrine, and leading the multinational boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He lost the 1980 presidential election in a landslide to the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan.
After leaving the presidency, Carter established the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights; in 2002 he received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work related to it. He traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections, and further the eradication of infectious diseases. Carter is a key figure in the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity. He has also written numerous books, ranging from political memoirs to poetry, while continuing to comment on global affairs, including two books on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which he criticizes Israel's treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. Polls of historians and political scientists generally rank Carter as a below-average president, although both scholars and the public view his post-presidential activities more favorably. At 43 years, Carter's post-presidency is the longest in U.S. history.
Farming
After debt settlements and division of his father's estate among its heirs, Jimmy inherited comparatively little.[45] For a year, he, Rosalynn, and their three sons lived in public housing in Plains.[b] Carter was knowledgeable in scientific and technological subjects, and he set out to expand the family's peanut-growing business.[47] Transitioning from the Navy to an agri-businessman was difficult as his first-year harvest failed due to a drought, and Carter had to open several bank lines of credit to keep the farm afloat.[48] Meanwhile, he took classes and studied agriculture while Rosalynn learned accounting to manage the business's books.[49] Though they barely broke even the first year, the Carters grew the business and became quite successful.[46][50]
Early political career (1963–1971)
Georgia state senator (1963–1967)
As racial tension inflamed in Plains by the 1954 Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Brown v. Board of Education,[51] Carter favored racial tolerance and integration, but often kept those feelings to himself to avoid making enemies. By 1961, he began to speak more prominently of integration as a member of the Baptist Church and chairman of the Sumter County school board.[52][53] In 1962, Carter announced his campaign for an open Georgia State Senate seat fifteen days before the election.[54] Rosalynn, who had an instinct for politics and organization, was instrumental to his campaign. While early counting of the ballots showed Carter trailing his opponent Homer Moore, this was later proven to be the result of fraudulent voting. The fraud was found to have been orchestrated by Joe Hurst, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Quitman County.[54] Carter challenged the election result, which was confirmed fraudulent in an investigation. Following this, another election was held, in which Carter won against Moore as the sole Democratic candidate, with a vote margin of 3,013 to 2,182.[55]
The civil rights movement was well underway when Carter took office. He and his family had become staunch John F. Kennedy supporters. Carter remained relatively quiet on the issue at first, even as it polarized much of the county, to avoid alienating his segregationist colleagues. He did speak up on a few divisive issues, giving speeches against literacy tests and against an amendment to the Georgia Constitution which he felt implied a compulsion to practice religion.[56] Carter entered the state Democratic Executive Committee two years into office, where he helped rewrite the state party's rules. He became the chairman of the West Central Georgia Planning and Development Commission, which oversaw the disbursement of federal and state grants for projects such as historic site restoration.[57]
When Bo Callaway was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1964, Carter immediately began planning to challenge him. The two had previously clashed over which two-year college would be expanded to a four-year college program by the state, and Carter saw Callaway—who had switched to the Republican Party—as a rival who represented aspects of politics he despised.[58] Carter was reelected to a second two-year term in the state Senate,[59] where he chaired its Education Committee and sat on the Appropriations Committee toward the end of the term. He contributed to a bill expanding statewide education funding and getting Georgia Southwestern State University a four-year program. He leveraged his regional planning work, giving speeches around the district to make himself more visible to potential voters. On the last day of the term, Carter announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives.[60] But Callaway decided to run for governor,[61] and Carter changed his mind, deciding to run for governor too.[62]
Legacy
Public opinion
In exit polls from the 1976 presidential election, many voters still held Ford's pardon of Nixon against him.[483] By comparison, Carter was viewed as a sincere, honest, and well-meaning southerner.[484] However, in the 1980 election, Reagan projected an easy self-confidence, in contrast to Carter's serious and introspective temperament. Carter was portrayed as pessimistic and indecisive in comparison to Reagan, who was known for his charm and delegation of tasks to subordinates.[485] Reagan used the economic issues, Iran hostage crisis, and lack of Washington cooperation to portray Carter as a weak and ineffectual leader. Carter was the first elected incumbent president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to lose a reelection bid.[486] Carter began his presidency with a 66 percent approval rating,[487] which had dropped to 34 percent approval by the time he left office, with 55 percent disapproving.[488]
Carter's presidency was initially viewed by some scholars as a failure.[489][490][491] In the historical rankings of American presidents, Carter's presidency has ranged from 18th to 34th place.[492][493] The documentary Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace (2009) credits Carter's efforts at Camp David, which brought peace between Israel and Egypt, with bringing the only meaningful peace to the Middle East.[494][495] His post-presidency activities have been favorably received. The Independent wrote, "Carter is widely considered a better man than he was a president."[484] Although his presidency received a mixed reception, his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts since he left office have made Carter renowned as one of the most successful ex-presidents in American history.[492][493]