By Jameson Jones
Background Information
James Earl Carter Jr, more commonly known by his sobriquet of “Jimmy”, was born at the Wise Sanitarium, in Plains, Georgia, where his mother worked as a registered nurse, making him the first U.S. President to have been born in a hospital.
He was born on the first of October, 1924 to a humble family already rooted in politics—his father, James Carter Sr. himself had been a politician, serving in the Georgia state House of Representatives, and before that, serving in World War 1 as a private, and later as a sergeant of the Army.
His father was also a Georgia Freemason and was said by Carter to have taught him the values of politics.
The Carter family themselves are heavily tied to the state of Georgia and the U.S. with the family having lived in Georgia before and after the American Revolutionary War.
Jimmy is a descendant of Captain Thomas Carter of Barford, an Englishman who immigrated to colonial America 1652, which is where the Carter family would plant their roots.
Early Life
Carter grew up within the Great Depression in the rural south. In 1928, when Carter was only four years old, his family bought a house on a 350 acre farm. The house lacked running water and electricity.
His family had to work as peanut farmers on their farm, and his father worked as a local store owner. Carter would labor at the farm and store at the age of five, selling bags of roasted peanuts on the streets of Plains.
Carter graduated from high school in 1941 at the age of seventeen from the eleventh grade because his school did not provide a twelfth grade. He later joined the Naval academy at 22 years old.
In 1946 he would marry his life long love, Rosalynn Smith.
Military Career
Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy of Annapoli, Maryland, having been appointed there in 1943 and graduating in 1946 with a baccalaureate degree, being amongst their notable alumni.
He served in the submarine fleet during World War II. However, he did not see deployment or action during the war.
Remaining in the Navy afterwards, he joined the U.S. submarine service. Within the submarine service, Carter would do many heroic acts, such as one infamous story in which on a December day in 1952 a nuclear reactor located in Chalk River, Canada, had a meltdown. Over 1.1 million gallons of toxic, radioactive water had been spilled out into the basement of the facility. Jimmy Carter, being only 28 years old, was deployed to clean up the spill.
Carter and twenty two other submariners under his command plunged into the contaminated water and cleaned the facility out. He said that after the mission, he was vomiting and urinating radioactive waste and most likely had radiation poisoning.
Carter resigned from the Navy in 1953, having received an honorable discharge and carrying the rank of Lieutenant in the Navy, all at the age of 29.
Life in Politics
After retiring from the Navy, Carter returned to his family farm in Georgia and continued to work as a peanut farmer.
Jimmy Carter ran for governor of Georgia in 1971 under the Democrat party and won, serving as Georgia’s 76th Governor from 1971 to 1975.
As governor he worked on upholding desegregation and civil rights in Georgia. During his tenure, he served on the National Governors Conference Executive Committee.
He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional elections.
Presidential Career
Jimmy Carter first ran for president in 1977. He had achieved many accomplishments in his life, including many during his short service as President. Yet, many of his presidential feats are often overlooked. A list of some of what he accomplished as President are as follows:
On January 21st in 1977, Carter performed what may be one of the greatest presidential acts. Carter signed an executive order allowing all Americans who immigrated out of the country, illegally or not, in the intention of dodging the draft and serving in the Vietnam war to return home without facing criminal charges, allowing many who were alienated simply for not wanting to serve to return back to the U.S.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter awarded Martin Luthor King Jr. posthumously with the Presidential medal of freedom.
In 1979, the Department of Education was founded by Jimmy Carter with the intent of allowing equality amongst schools and students, promoting academic achievements, and promoting educational excellence.
Post Presidential Career
After serving only one term as the 39th President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981, Carter again ran for president. However, he lost to Ronald Reagan.
In 1982, shortly after, Carter founded the Carter Center, a nonprofit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, for the purposes of social care, personal development, disease treatment, and general welfare and charity.
In 1999, Carter received the presidential medal of freedom from then serving president Bill Clinton.
In 2002, Carter received the Nobel peace prize, attaining the honor on the basis of his large extent of humanitarian aid—particularly due to his accomplishments in the mediation of a peace agreement between Israel of Egypt in 1976, efforts in peace negotiations with Iraq, and for the overall humanitarian campaigning performed by him throughout his life.
In 2016, Carter received the title of honorary Shriner and became an ambassador to a program which oversought twenty two other Shriner hospitals.
On December 24th, 2024, after a long and plentiful life filled with achievement, altruism, fulfillment, and the service of duty, Jimmy Carter died at the age of 100 years old, making him the longest lived U.S. president to have ever lived.
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