Jimmy Carter: Biography of the 39th POTUS

Born in 1924 in Plains Georgia, Jimmy Carter served as a submariner in the U.S. Navy after graduating from the Naval Academy, resigning his commission to run the family peanut farm after his father passed away in 1953.

Becoming a vocal opponent of racial segregation during the civil rights movement, Carter’s activism won him a seat in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967, followed by his ascension to Georgia governor from 1970 to 1975.

The Presidency of Jimmy Carter

A year later, the politically unknown outsider narrowly defeated incumbent president Gerald Ford to become the nation’s 39th President of the United States.

Following his inauguration in January of 1977, Carter’s presidency would see the creation of the Departments of Energy and Education, a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel known as the Camp David Accords, the handover of the Panama Canal to Panamanian control and the SALT II Strategic Arms Limitations Talks.

On the downside, however, his single-term presidency became overwhelmed by high inflation, high unemployment and tepid economic growth. Other overshadowing events included the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, not to mention geopolitical challenges such as the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, further escalating the Cold War when Carter ended detente by imposing a grain embargo against the Soviets. Voters rejected Carter’s gloomy yet honest outlook in the landslide presidential election of 1980, which propelled Ronald Reagan’s telegenic optimism into office in January of 1981.

Jimmy Carter’s Life After Office

In the decades following his exit from public service, Carter founded the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. The author of over 30 books ranging from political memoirs to poetry, Carter has traveled extensively to oversee peace negotiations and election oversight around the world, contributing greatly to the advance of disease prevention and eradication in developing countries, while his charitable works have made him the face of Habitat for Humanity for over 30 years.

Leading with steadiness, courage and idealism while in office, Jimmy Carter and his predecessor Gerald Ford have been credited with restoring faith in the American presidency after the corrupt years of Richard Nixon, making Jimmy Carter, a national treasure and role model for humanitarians everywhere.