The History of Jimmy Carter

Introduction 

Jimmy Carter’s legacy remains as a human rights and peacemaker leader both in the U.S. and abroad. He was a state governor, senator, and became the United States 39th president and served as the chief executive of the nation during periods of serious issues abroad and at home. Even though his perceived mishandling of the problems result in his defeat in his reelection, he later turned to advocacy and diplomacy, for which he received the award for Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Besides, he was credited with developing a state policy of energy to cater for shortages and united Israel and Egypt for accords of Camp David. Additionally, he was ranked highly for pursuing equal justice; however, his administration experienced setbacks such as the Iran hostage disaster and struggled with the stagnation of the economy, which made him rank low in leadership. In overall, Carter was very interesting who experienced various shortcoming but battled through and managed to achieve tremendous things. Therefore, it is of great importance to study the life history of Carter. 

On this background, this paper focuses to discuss the life history of Jimmy Carter. This discussion will entail Jimmy’s birth, education, religion, work and jobs before politics, his presidency, significant issues during his admiration, his retirement, and legacy and achievements after the presidency. Finally, concluding remarks to summarize the points of discussion. 

Birth, Early life, Education, and Religion 

Jimmy Carter, officially called James Earl Carter Jr. was born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. He was the firstborn of the small businessman and farmer James Earl Carter Sir. and former nurse Lilian Gordy Carter. Jimmy was a very talented and studious boy. At the age of five, Carter started showing his talent for business, and he began selling peanuts on the Plain’s street. When he turned nine years, Jimmy invested his earnings in five cotton bales, which he stored and sold after many years at a profit. He then utilized this money to buy five old houses in Plains. At the age of ten, he began working at the store of his father. His favourite pastime in childhood was sitting with his father in the evening, listening to politics and baseball games on a radio operated by a battery 1 . 

Carter religion was Baptist, which was a family church and his father insisted he attend the Sunday school, which his father was an occasional teacher. Jimmy attended the all-white Plains High School even though most of the black population in the area received education at church or home. In 1941, Carter became the first individual to graduate from high school on the side of his father’s family 2 . Upon high graduation, Jimmy enrolled in Georgia Southwestern Junior College and studied engineering before joining the program of Naval ROTC to continue pursuing his engineering studies at Georgia Institute of Technology. He then applied a Naval Academy that was competitive in Annapolis, Maryland, and he was accepted and begun his studies in 1943 summer seasons. Due to his small stature and reflective introverted personally, Jimmy did not rhyme well with the fellow midshipmen. Nevertheless, he continued excelling at academics and graduated in 1946 in the top ten percent in his class 3 . 

Concerning marriage, Carter married Rosalynn Smith in June 1946. He had known Rosalynn since childhood but reconnected with her while he was on summer leave. Carter was blessed with three sons and one daughter namely John William, Donnel Jeffery, James Earl Carter III, and Amy 4 . In the early years of his marriage, Jimmy was assigned to work in the submarine by the Navy, which made him and his family move to different towns like military families do. After subsequent postings, he was assigned to develop a program of a nuclear submarine with Admiral Hyman Rickover in Schenectady, New York. This was followed by the death of his father in 1953 which left the family business and farm in disarray. As a result, Jimmy went back in his home with his family in Georgia to take over the family affairs and to care for his mother, although his wife initially objected this idea. While at home, he studied at the Agricultural Experimental Station in Tifton, Georgia so that he could keep up with modern methods of farming. During his years in Plains, Jimmy was an active member of various civic organizations, and also became an active community politician, hence, winning a Sumter County Education Board seat in 1955 and finally becoming the chairman of this board 5 . 

Politics 

Being actively involved in politics when he was at Plains, in 1962, Carter saw an opportunity to contest for a Senate seat for Georgia State against Homer Moore who was a businessman. Although the first outcome indicated that Moore won, it was palpably obvious that Moore’s victory was based on widespread fraud. As a result, Jimmy appealed the results and a judge of Georgia rejected the fraudulent votes and Carter was declared a winner. As a two-term senator of State Georgia, Jimmy earned as an independent and a tough politician, unwaveringly supporting civil rights, and restricting wasteful spending 6 . 

Later in 1966, after considering vying for the United States House of Representatives, Jimmy instead decided to contest for governor. However, Carter’s campaign could not gain impetus in the Democratic primaries because of the white backlash to the movement of the civil rights, and thus, he finished a third position. He lost the election to Lester Maddox who was a devoted segregationist. Because the Georgia law restricted governor s for one term, Jimmy pushed forward and started to position himself for the gubernatorial election of 1970. During this time, he ran a campaign which particularly targeted the white rural voters who overruled him for being too liberal in 1966. In his campaigns, he opposed publicly busing as public schools integrating technique, limited appearances of the public with black leaders, and actively courted the confirmations of many segregationists, including Maddox. He was very committed to this civil rights movement that Constitution Journal of liberal Atlanta branded Carter names "ignorant, racist, backward, ultra-conservative, red-necked South Georgia peanut farmer." Nevertheless, Jimmy’s strategy worked, and he became the governor of Georgia when he defeated Carl Sanders 7 . 

During his time as Georgia governor, Jimmy declared his objective to support all needy and the poor regardless of race, a speech that won national attention for Carter for the first time. He majorly returned to the values of progress that he had earlier promoted in his career. He publicly calls for an end to prejudice (segregation), and for jobs, education and “simple justice” for the poor. He signed a bill into law as the governor to ensure all Georgia areas have equal education state aid. Additionally, Jimmy worked to slash government wastes, joining three hundred agencies of the state into thirty. He also increased African American appointees’ number on the state agencies and boards, and the number of state employees of African American rose by 40 percent. During his term, he passed laws that to conserve the environment, to protect historical sites, and to boost openness in government 8 . 

Later, Jimmy increasingly became involved in the politics of National Democratic Party. Thus, in 1972, he headed the campaign for Democratic Governors Committee, and after that in 1974, he became the chair of Democratic National Campaign Committee. In the same year, Carter officially professed his interest to run for the presidency in 1976, even though he was not famous among the people outside Georgia State 9 . He was even ignored form the list of possible Democratic candidates’ opinion poll. However, his rise to the national prominence started in January 1976 with industrious and intensive campaigning, and by March that year, he was among the top choice Democrats to contest for president. 

During the election year, 1976, Carter in support by his running mate Minnesota Democrat Walter Mondale campaigned vigorously, centering major issues such as unemployment, arguing job creation through increased business growth and federal spending, and also promised to restore moral presidency leadership. Additionally, he vowed to reorganize the various departments and offices of the federal government and to develop a policy of national energy 10 . Eventually, Carter emerged the presidential candidate winner after defeating Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and become the first president from the South since Zachary Taylor (1784-1850). 

His Record as President 

Carter’s presidency started well by Congress approving his plans to join federal agencies providing similar services, and the legislation passed with the aim of cutting down income tax. Also, his proposal to establish energy department in 1977 was adopted. Unfortunately, inflation continued to increase during his term, and by mid-1980 it reached 15 percent. As a result, Jimmy becomes unpopular which was reflected in a July 1980 poll showing only 21 percent respondents approving his job. However, Carter’s presidency was also marked by mixed foreign affairs success. In 1977, Jimmy attracted international praise and attention when he cut off the aid of the US to nations which were believed to have committed human rights violations. Besides, he assisted in the creation of peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979 at Camp David, Maryland, which helped to end the war between the two countries 11 . The most dramatic moments of Carter’s foreign policy started when some group of students in Iran seized the United States embassy in Teheran and took to captive 52 U.S. citizens. Unable to resolve the hostage crisis coupled with economic stagnation, Carter lost his presidency reelection run to Ronald Regan 12 . 

After the Presidency 

Despite a one-term presidency that seemed unsuccessful, Carter later reformed his reputation through his struggles of humanitarian after exiting the White House. He is well thought-out to be one of the paramount U.S. ex-presidents in the American history. He extensively worked with Habitat for Humanity and founded the Carter Presidential Center to help alleviate suffering worldwide and promote human rights. Specifically, Jimmy worked effectively to develop healthcare systems of community in both Latin America and Africa, to oversee elections in newly democrats’ countries, and to promote Middle East peace. Besides, he worked together with his wife to build houses for the poor through the organization of Habitat for Humanity, and as well remain involved in worldwide relations. Eventually, in 2002, he received a Nobel Peace Prize awards for his unrelenting years of effort to advance human rights and democracy, to find peaceful resolutions to international conflicts, and to stimulate social and economic development. Jimmy also wrote many books in his years of presidency including many memoirs “Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2006) and Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2007).” 13 . 

Conclusion 

The history of Jimmy Carter is fascinating. He shows passion and dedication in everything that he did including his career, and this is revealed in his early life and his life in politics when he was a governor and senator for Georgia. Even though he has been criticized for failing to handle economic issues and the hostage crisis during his presidency, Carter tireless work as a social activist, peacemaker and other major help works after leaving office has earned him an excellent reputation. Jimmy will always be remembered for this legacy. 

Bibliography 

Bourne, Peter G.  Jimmy Carter: A comprehensive biography from Plains to post-presidency . Scribner Book Company, 1997. 

Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." (1998): 230-232. 

Haidar, Danny. "Jimmy Carter: A Moral Hero (Student Essay)." 

The Biography.com website. “Jimmy Carter Biography.” A&E Television Networks . Web. 27 March. 2018. <https://www.biography.com/people/jimmy-carter-9240013> 

1 Bourne, Peter G.  Jimmy Carter: A comprehensive biography from Plains to post-presidency . Scribner Book Company, 1997. 

2 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." (1998): 230-232. 

3 Bourne, Peter G.  Jimmy Carter: A comprehensive biography from Plains to post-presidency . Ibid. 

4 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." (1998): 230-232. 

5 The Biography.com website. “Jimmy Carter Biography.” A&E Television Networks . Web. 27 March. 2018. <https://www.biography.com/people/jimmy-carter-9240013> 

6 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." Ibid. 

7 Bourne, Peter G.  Jimmy Carter: A comprehensive biography from Plains to post-presidency . Scribner Book Company, 1997. 

8 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." (1998): 230-232. 

9 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." Ibid. 

10 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." Ibid. 

11 Bourne, Peter G.  Jimmy Carter: A comprehensive biography from Plains to post-presidency . Scribner Book Company, 1997. 

12 Boles, John B. "Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency." (1998): 230-232. 

13 Haidar, Danny. "Jimmy Carter: A Moral Hero (Student Essay)."