Jimmy Carter (U.S. president)

Jimmy Carter

Democratic Party

Prior offices

Governor of Georgia

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President of the United States

Successor: Ronald Reagan

Predecessor: Gerald Ford

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Military

Service / branch

U.S. Navy

Years of service

1946 - 1953

Personal

Profession

Peanut farmer; politician; professor

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr. (b. on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia) was the 39th president of the United States. He served from 1977 to 1981. Carter died on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100.

Prior to serving as president, Carter served as the governor of Georgia and represented the 14th District in the Georgia State Senate. Before becoming a politician, he served in the United States Navy.

Biography

Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, and was the first of his father's side of the family to graduate from high school. He attended the Georgia Southwestern Junior College, where he enrolled in the Naval ROTC program. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology for one year before enrolling in the U.S. Naval Academy. Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in the top ten percent of his class before serving in Norfolk, Virginia, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Schenectady, New York, in the Navy. He married Rosalynn Smith early in his naval career.

In 1953, following the death of his father, Carter moved his family back to rural Georgia to tend to the family farm and care for his mother. He engaged in local politics, serving as the chairman of the Sumter County Board of Education before running for a seat in the Georgia State Senate in 1962. After losing the election, he appealed the results and won the seat when a judge threw out fraudulent votes for his opponent. He lost election to become governor of Georgia in 1966 but won when he ran again in 1970. Limited to one term under Georgia law, he began campaigning for the U.S. presidency in 1974. He won the Democratic nomination in 1976 and defeated incumbent Gerald Ford (R) in the general election.

In 1978, Carter played a role in negotiating the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel. The 1979 oil crisis and the Iran hostage crisis also occurred during Carter's presidency. He lost re-election in 1980 to Ronald Reagan (R).

After his presidency, Carter worked with Habitat for Humanity. He earned a Nobel Peace Prize as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Carter's academic, professional, and political career:

• 1941-1942: Attended Georgia Southwestern Junior College
• 1942-1943: Attended Georgia Institute of Technology
• 1943-1946: Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy
• 1946-1953: Served in the United States Navy
• 1953-1962: Worked on his farm and owned Carter's Warehouse
• 1963-1967: Georgia State Senator representing the 14th District
• 1966: Lost election for Governor of Georgia
• 1971-1975: Governor of Georgia
• 1977-1981: President of the United States of America
• 1982: Professor at Emory University
• 1982: Carter Center opened in Atlanta, Georgia
• 1980: Lost re-election for U.S. presidency
• 1999: Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 2002: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

State of the Union addresses

Every year in office, the president of the United States addresses Congress on the present state of affairs as well as the administration's goals for the coming year.Following are pages with information on Carter's State of the Union addresses.

• Jan. 23, 1980
• Jan. 23, 1979
• Jan. 19, 1978

Elections

1980 presidential election

In 1980, Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan (R) in the general election for the United States presidency.

U.S. presidential election, 1980
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan/George H.W. Bush	50.9%	43,903,230	489
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale	41.1%	35,480,115	49
	Independent	John Anderson/Patrick Lucey	6.6%	5,719,850	0
	Libertarian	Edward Clark/David Koch	1.1%	921,128	0
	Citizens	Barry Commoner/LaDonna Harris	0.3%	233,052	0
Total Votes				86,257,375	538
Election results via: 1980 official election results

Other candidates that appeared on the ballot received less than 0.1% of the vote. Those candidates included: Gus Hall, John Rarick, Clifton DeBerry, Ellen McCormack, Maureen Smith, Deirdre Griswold, Benjamin Bubar, David McReynolds, Percy Greaves Jr., Andrew Pulley, Richard Congress, Kurt Lynen, Bill Gahres, Frank Shelton, Martin Wendelken and Harley McLain.

1976 presidential election

In 1976, Carter defeated incumbent Gerald Ford (R) in the general election for the United States presidency.

U.S. presidential election, 1976
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale	50.2%	40,831,881	297
	Republican	Gerald Ford/Bob Dole	48.1%	39,148,634	240
	Independent	Eugene McCarthy	0.9%	744,763	0
	Libertarian	Roger MacBride/David Bergland	0.2%	172,557	0
	American Independent	Lester Maddux/William Dyke	0.2%	170,373	0
	American	Thomas Anderson/Rufus Shackelford	0.2%	158,724	0
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo/Willie Mae Reid	0.1%	90,986	0
Total Votes				81,317,918	537
Election results via: 1976 official election results

Other candidates that appeared on the ballot received less than 0.1% of the vote. Those candidates included: Gus Hall, Margaret Wright, Lyndon LaRouche, Benjamin Bubar, Julius Levin, Frank Zeidler, Ernest Miller, Frank Taylor and various write-in candidates.

2016 Democratic National Convention

• Delegate to the 2016 DNC (click to expand)

  See also: Democratic National Convention, 2016

  Jimmy Carter
  Democratic National Convention, 2016
  Status:	Superdelegate
  State:	Georgia
  Supporting:	Unknown
  Delegates to the DNC 2016
  Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • State election law and delegates • Superdelegates by state

  Carter was a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention from Georgia. Carter was one of 15 superdelegates from Georgia. Superdelegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention were not bound by the results of their state’s primary or caucus to support a specific presidential candidate. Ballotpedia was not able to identify whether Carter supported Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic nomination.

  What is a superdelegate?

  See also: Superdelegates and the 2016 Democratic National Convention

  Superdelegates in 2016 were automatic delegates to the Democratic National Convention, meaning that, unlike regular delegates, they were not elected to this position. Also unlike regular delegates, they were not required to pledge their support to any presidential candidate, and they were not bound by the results of their state's presidential primary election or caucus. In 2016, superdelegates included members of the Democratic National Committee, Democratic members of Congress, Democratic governors, and distinguished party leaders, including former presidents and vice presidents. All superdelegates were free to support any presidential candidate of their choosing at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

  Georgia primary results

  See also: Presidential election in Georgia, 2016

  Hillary Clinton won the 2016 Georgia Democratic primary with 71.2 percent of the vote. This was a substantial improvement over her 2008 performance against Barack Obama where she only won 31.1 percent. Clinton also swept the state except for one county; Bernie Sanders claimed that victory in Echols County. According to exit polling from CNN, Clinton won with nearly every demographic group, including men, women, self-identified liberals and moderates and voters of all income and education levels. Eighty-five percent of African-American voters supported Clinton. Sanders narrowly outperformed with voters 29 years of age or younger and white men.

  Georgia Democratic Primary, 2016
  Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
  Hillary Clinton	71.3%	545,674	73
  Bernie Sanders	28.2%	215,797	29
  Martin O'Malley	0.3%	2,129	0
  Michael Steinberg	0.2%	1,766
  Totals		765,366	102
  Source: Georgia Secretary of State and CNN

  Delegate allocation

  See also: 2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules

  

  Georgia had 117 delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Of this total, 102 were pledged delegates. National party rules stipulated how Democratic delegates in all states were allocated. Pledged delegates were allocated to a candidate in proportion to the votes he or she received in a state's primary or caucus. A candidate was eligible to receive a share of the state's pledged delegates if he or she won at least 15 percent of the votes cast in the primary or caucus. There were three types of pledged Democratic delegates: congressional district delegates, at-large delegates, and party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs). Congressional district delegates were allocated proportionally based on the primary or caucus results in a given district. At-large and PLEO delegates were allocated proportionally based on statewide primary results.

  Fifteen party leaders and elected officials served as unpledged delegates. These delegates were not required to adhere to the results of a state's primary or caucus.

Personal

Carter was married to Rosalynn Carter, with whom he had four children. He worked with Habitat for Humanity and was involved with causes in Africa, Asia, and South America. In 1999, he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2002, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He also won a Grammy award for the spoken word reading of his book Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis.

On August 20, 2015, Carter announced he had melanoma in his brain and would receive cancer treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. "I’m going to cut back fairly dramatically on my obligations. The Carter Center is well prepared to continue on without any handicap," Carter said of his philanthropic work. In a statement on December 6, 2015, Carter said that a recent brain scan showed he was cancer-free.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term Jimmy + Carter.

Jimmy Carter News Feed

See also

• Ronald Reagan
• Gerald Ford
• Georgia

External links

• Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum website
• The Carter Center website
• Official White House biography

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Gerald Ford	President of the United States 1977-1981	Succeeded by Ronald Reagan