Jimmy Carter
1976 - 1980
39th President
Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia on October 1, 1924. He was the first president born in Georgia.
He was the first President to be born in a hospital.
Jimmy Carter's Vice President was Walter Mondale (1977-1981).
His mother was a nurse. She went to homes in the community to help people.
Jimmy started planning to go to U.S. Naval Academy when he was only twelve.
One of his teachers use to say "You must accommodate changing times but cling to unchanging principles. He used that quote in his Presidential inauguration speech and when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
He played on his high school basketball team.
Jimmy Carter was 5' 9" and weighed about 155.
Carter was one of four Baptist Presidents.
At the age of 9, he bought 5 huge bales of cotton for 5 cents a pound. He stored the cotton and sold it a few years later when the price had more than tripled.
Jimmy Carter was on the cross-country team at the Naval Academy.
He graduated from the Naval Academy 59th out of a class of 820.
Due to illness in the family Jimmy Carter returned to the peanut farm in Georgia. He improved production and became a millionaire. He even made an appearance on What's My Line.
He said that "We champion human rights. He and Vice President Mondale.)
The first president he met was Richard Nixon.
Hunter Thompson, author of Fear and Lothing on the Campaign Trail, use to play a tape of the first speech he heard from Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter was the first president to walk the inaugural parade route from the Capitol to the White House.
He also gave one of the shortest speeches.
His first act as President was to pardon draft evaders from the war in Vietnam.
One one visit to New York, the Rockets asked him to join them in their famous dance/ chorus line. Which he did and he kicked as high as he could.
A giant peanut-shaped balloon was part of his Inauguration Day parade.
Jimmy Carter was the only president who commanded a submarine.
His brother Billy was popular during Jimmy's time as President. He even had a beer named after him, Billy Beer.
Jimmy had a pet dog named Grits.
The White House had a room for watching movies. The first family watched some movies before the public had a chance to see them. During the time he was president they had watched 480 movies. (about 2 per week.) His daughter and her friends watch of lot of them
Description: Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in a Presidential campaign debate, September, 1976, Philadelphia.
National Archives and Records Administration.
(Click for larger image)
The last debate with Ronald Reagan was won by Reagan. It may have cost Carter the election. Later it was discovered that someone stole Carter's notes for the debate and gave them to Reagan's team. Reagan's support staff knew how Carter was going to respond to most of the questions.
President Carter insisted on being called "Jimmy" not "James."
Jimmy Carter is a speed-reader: he has been clocked at 2,000 words a minute with 95 percent comprehension.
When President Carter entered the room the band would softer play "Jubilation" instead of Hail to the Chief.
Jimmy Cater studied nuclear physics at Annapolis.
He read three or four books a week.
Willie would run five miles with President Carter when he visited the White House.
He had a dog named Grits.
President Carter was a Democrat.
He ended much of the ceremony and pageantry that had marked official receptions in the White House. He got rid of the trumpeters that announced the presidential family and the color guard. State dinners ended far sooner--about 11:00 p.m.
Amy Carter was 9 when her father became president. She attended public schools near the White House and had a tree house built on the White House grounds. When she labeled White House trees as a school project, her father thought it was a good idea and made it official. Now all of the White House trees have labels with their common and Latin name as well as information about who planted them or gave them as a gift.
Jimmy Carter lost his second term as President. He was defeated in a landslide by Ronald Reagan. Jimmy Carter had 49 electoral votes to 489 for Reagan.
In the South he only one state, his home state of Georgia.
He was the first President in 50 years to be voted out of office after one term.
Jimmy Carter after leaving office supported the efforts of Habitat for Humanity. An organization the builds houses for poor Americans.
President Gerald Ford and President Carter where close friends. Gerald Ford asked Carter to give his eulogy at his funeral which he did.
He and his wife have visited more than 145 countries.
2017, Jimmy Carter left his church due to the Southern Baptist leaders stance against equality for women. (See ABC story for more detail.)
Quotes from Jimmy Carter:
"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense. Human rights invented America."
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