In His announcement speech for the presidencyIn 1974, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter said there were certain things he would not do if he were to become president: “I will not lie. I will not mislead the American people… and I will not betray your trust.”
If anything defined President Carter, it was his basic decency and morality. Carter, elected in 1976 after Watergate and Gerald Ford's controversial pardon of Richard Nixon, believed it was his responsibility to restore Americans' confidence in the integrity of their government.
“We want to be proud again,” he told the crowd at the Democratic National Convention. “We want the truth again.”
It was a surprising rise to power for a little-known governor of Georgia. “Jimmy who?” When Carter first announced he was going to run for the White House, many Americans asked the same question.
Stuart Eisenstat, who began working with Carter when he ran for governor in 1970 and eventually became his White House domestic policy chief, said that Carter thought he could win because “he had a lot of confidence in his abilities.” It was a good understanding.”
Although the son of a successful peanut farmer, Carter grew up without electricity or running water just outside Plains, Georgia. He gained admission to the Naval Academy, and while in Annapolis, Carter began dating Rosalyn Smith. They married in 1946 and she became his most trusted advisor. “Not only were they married for more than 70 years, but they also had an affair,” Eisenstat said.
When his father died Carter had to give up his naval career to take over the family peanut business. The Carters moved back to the plains and raised three sons and a daughter.
Second-born son Chip Carter recalled that, against all odds, his father secured the Democratic nomination and won election with Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale as his running mate.
Chip said he helped organize one of the most famous images of the Carter inauguration: “I went to dad's Secret Service agents and said, 'We'd probably like to do this walk.'”
The walk down Pennsylvania Avenue seemed symbolic of the open and energetic approach Carter would bring to the White House.
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But because of Carter's complex personality, it was a tumultuous presidency. Journalist and author Jonathan Alter said, “He was polite, friendly, open, and then he could also be tough, prickly, stubborn.”
Alter, who spent several hours with Carter for a biography, said, “There were more accomplishments in Carter's presidency than I thought.”
Famous for wearing a sweater pretending to disapprove of White House thermostats, Carter pushed for comprehensive energy legislation. He created the Education Department; deregulated airlines; The amount of land in our national parks doubled; And in one of his most significant and controversial initiatives, Carter negotiated the return of the Panama Canal Zone to the Panamanians. “This opens a new chapter in our relations with all countries in this hemisphere,” he said.
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But perhaps his greatest foreign policy achievement was pursuing the Camp David Accords, the landmark 1978 agreement between Israel and Egypt. Alter called it “the most successful peace treaty since World War II.”
But in 1979, other issues in the Middle East led to gasoline shortages leading to higher prices and longer wait times at gas stations. Carter's popularity fell. And in July they decided to give A speech to the nation warning of a crisis of confidence: “Many of us now worship self-indulgence and consumption,” he said.
To the surprise of many politicians and pundits, the speech became instantly popular. According to Eizenstat, “The speech struck a raw nerve, contrary to my own perception. And then, he was thrust into his own spotlight. He demanded the resignation of his entire cabinet. It seemed as if the entire government was in chaos. “
And then, in November of 1979, 52 Americans taken hostage at US Embassy in IranWhich was followed by an unsuccessful attempt to oust him – all this in the lead up to the 1980 presidential election.
As Alter described it, “the roof fell in on Jimmy Carter.”
And so, Carter would lose to Ronald Reagan's upbeat message. But it was the beginning of an entirely new chapter – a prewar presidency that Carter himself said was better than his presidency.
“That may be true,” he told “CBS Sunday Morning” in 2006. “Certainly my reputation has been better in the latter years of my presidency than in the White House.”
And no surprise. He and Rosaline (who died in 2023) founded the Carter Center to promote democracy and improve health care around the world. In 2002, Jimmy Carter won Nobel Peace PrizeIn his Nobel Prize-winning speech he said, “We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children.”
Carter wrote more than 30 books over the years, and he and he would continue their work building homes for Habitat for Humanity, while teaching Sunday school in Roslyn Plains.
Sometimes Jimmy Carter Might Look Like Superman Back in 2015 melanoma that had spread to his brain and liverAt the age of 100, James Earl Carter Jr. lived longer than any other US president.
Asked how he thought his father should be remembered, Chip Carter responded, “A beautiful human being who gave everything he could to his children and his country, and who Made it a better place than I found. And you know, this is about as good as I can get.”
And as far as President Jimmy Carter's own views are concerned, in 2018 he told “Sunday Morning” anchor Jane Pauley, “I was a supporter of peace and human rights. I made a plan for myself to have a productive and, I hope, “Life has been productive and certainly fulfilling. I've been very fortunate.”
Read an excerpt: “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life” by Jonathan Alter.
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The story is produced by Mary Raffalli. Editor: Joseph Frandino.
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