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Jimmy Carter | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1978 | |
| 39th President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | |
| Vice President | Walter Mondale |
| Preceded by | Gerald Ford |
| Succeeded by | Ronald Reagan |
| 76th Governor of Georgia | |
| In office January 12, 1971 – January 14, 1975 | |
| Lieutenant | Lester Maddox |
| Preceded by | Lester Maddox |
| Succeeded by | George Busbee |
| Member of the Georgia State Senate from the 14th district | |
| In office January 14, 1963 – January 9, 1967 | |
| Preceded by | District established |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Carter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Earl Carter Jr. October 1, 1924 Plains, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | April 8, 2024 (aged 99) Plains, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, including Jack and Amy |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Carter family |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) |
| Civilian awards | Full list |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service |
|
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Military awards | |
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924 – April 8, 2024) was 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 was both the oldest living former U.S. president and the longest-lived president in U.S. history.
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 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 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 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 Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee.
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 was 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 was the longest in U.S. history.