Carter, Jimmy (1924- ), 39th president of the United States (1977-1981), the first president from the Deep South since Andrew Jackson, and an outsider to traditional party politics.
Carter was born James Earl Carter, Jr. in Plains, Georgia, on October 1, 1924. In 1927 his family moved to the tiny settlement of Archery, just outside Plains, where he lived until he was 17 years old. He graduated from high school in 1941, then spent a year at Georgia Southwestern College and another at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Early Career
Carter began a military career in June 1943 by enrolling in the United States Naval Academy. By 1946 he was serving as a commissioned officer, and in that same year he married Rosalynn Smith. In 1948 he entered submarine school, subsequently serving as the junior officer on four submarines. He was accepted into the navy's prototype nuclear submarine training program in 1952 and remained there for 11 months. On his father's death he left the navy to take over the family's peanut business in Plains.
In Georgia Carter became a prominent businessman and active citizen, known as a liberal on racial matters. He was elected to the state senate in 1962, was reelected two years later, and then ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1966. At that time he had a religious experience, becoming a "born-again" Christian. He won the governorship in 1970 and headed a politically moderate administration, representative of the so-called New South.
Before his gubernatorial term ended, Carter had decided to run for the presidency. After intense primary battles, he overcame the problems of being an unknown candidate from the Deep South without a national constituency, and in 1976 gained the Democratic party's nomination on the first ballot. Carter and his vice-presidential running mate, Senator Walter F. Mondale, defeated the Republican incumbent president, Gerald R. Ford, and his running mate, Senator Robert Dole, with an electoral vote of 297 to 241. Carter received 40.8 million popular votes to Ford's 39.1 million.

Presidency
Two of Carter's most difficult challenges were to combat rising inflation and to institute an energy program to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Inflation reached a high of 20 percent a year in 1980, but when the government raised interest rates in an attempt to bring it down, unemployment became a serious problem. The economy eventually became the thorniest issue of his reelection campaign. Carter did, however, secure passage of a comprehensive energy program that was supportive of private energy development.
In matters of defense, Carter advocated increased spending, favoring a cruise missile system. He endorsed a strong North Atlantic Treaty Organization but opposed its use of neutron bombs. He secured passage of a new Panama Canal treaty and concluded a Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) Treaty.
Carter initiated a foreign policy based on respect for human rights. Critics charged that he applied the policy unevenly, leading to a deterioration in relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). He retaliated for Soviet intervention in Afghanistan by instigating an international boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. His greatest triumph in this area came in 1978, when he provided the framework for the historic peace treaty between Egypt and Israel that was signed in 1979. In November 1979 Iranian militants seized the United States embassy in Tehran (Teheran) and took a group of American citizens hostage. Carter refused to meet the demands of the Iranians and canceled an unsuccessful rescue attempt. The last of the hostages were released just after Carter left office on January 20, 1981.
Although Carter's popularity declined sharply during his term, he successfully campaigned for renomination in 1980, fighting off a strong challenge from Senator Edward M. Kennedy. In the election, however, Carter and Mondale were overwhelmingly defeated by Republicans Ronald Reagan and George Bush. After leaving office, Carter continued to champion human rights and became a public spokesperson for numerous charitable causes. In 1982 he founded the Carter Center of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The center serves as a forum for discussion of issues relating to democracy and human rights. Since the mid-1980s the Carters have helped build low-income housing for the poor as part of the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity. Carter has also traveled extensively throughout various developing countries helping to monitor elections, establish relief efforts, and conduct peace negotiations. He has written several books, including Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (1983); The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East (1985); Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age (1993); and Talking Peace (1993).

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