Carter, Jimmy, 1924-

Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.), thirty-ninth president of the United States, was born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy, a registered nurse. He was educated in the Plains public schools, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant. Chosen by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, N.Y., where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics, and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf. On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith. When his father died in 1953, he resigned his naval commission and took his family back to Plains. He took over the Carter farms, and he and Rosalynn operated Carter''s Warehouse, a general-purpose seed and farm supply company. He quickly became a leader of the community, serving on county boards supervising education, the hospital authority, and the library. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia''s 76th governor on January 12, 1971. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional elections. On December 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He won his party''s nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and was elected president on November 2, 1976. He served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People''s Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration''s achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. In 1982, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded The Carter Center in Atlanta. Actively guided by President Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit center addresses national and international issues of public policy. On December 10, 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002, for his work in finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts, advancing democracy and human rights, and promoting economic and social development. Mr. Carter is the author of sixteen books, many of which are now in revised editions. He also volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, teaches Sunday school, and is a deacon in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains, Georgia.

Jimmy Carter (1924- ), Georgia State Senator (1963-1967), Georgia Governor (1971-1975), and President of the United States (1977-1981).

Jimmy Carter, the only Georgian elected president of the United States, held the office for one term, 1977-81. His previous public service included a stint in the U.S. Navy, two senate terms in the Georgia General Assembly, and one term as Governor of Georgia (1971-1975). After being defeated in the presidential election of 1980, he founded the Carter Center, a nonpartisan public policy center in Atlanta. During his years of public service at the local, state, and federal levels, Carter's policies contained a unique blend of liberal social values and fiscal conservatism. He emphasized comprehensive reform and stressed efficiency and economy, advance planning, and rational organization. He also championed equal rights for all Americans, especially women and minorities, and basic human rights for all people. In 2002 Carter won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian efforts -- from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

United States President (1977-1981); philanthropist.

United States president.

President of the United States.

Democrat Cecil D. Andrus (1931- ) served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 until 1981 during the Carter administration. He was also elected to the Idaho Senate (1960, 1964 and 1964) and as Governor of Idaho (1970, 1974, 1986, and 1990), becoming the longest-serving governor in Idaho’s history.

Andrus is well-known as an avid outdoorsman and for his conservationist and environmental views. During his tenure as Secretary, he played pivotal roles in the passage of the Alaska Lands Act and the National Surface Mining Act of 1977, and for the creation of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, the Snake River Birds of Prey Area, and the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. As Governor of Idaho, he took a strong stance against development of a molybdenum mine in the White Cloud Mountains; opposed federal efforts to store nuclear waste in Idaho; vetoed a strict anti-abortion bill passed by the Idaho Legislature, despite his personal pro-life beliefs; and sought modification of Federal dams to allow passage by anadromous fish.

In 1995, Andrus founded the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University, dedicated to independent, non-partisan policy formation on critical issues confronting Idaho, the American West and the United States. He is the author (with Joel Connelly) of Cecil Andrus: Politics Western Style (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1998) and is the subject of a recent book, Cecil Andrus: Idaho’s Greatest Governor by Chris Carlson (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2011).