James Earl Carter, Jr., was born October 1, 1924, in the small town of Plains, Georgia. He was the first U.S. President to be born in a hospital. His father, James Carter, Sr., was a farmer. His mother, Lillian, was a registered nurse.

Growing up, Jimmy went to Plains public school, and attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. He later did graduate work in nuclear physics at Union College. During his naval career, Carter served as a submariner and earned the title of Lieutenant.

On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith. He has four children. His first son, John William Carter, was born in 1947. James Earl III was born in 1950, Donnel Jeffrey was born in 1952, and Amy Lynn was born in 1967. When his father died in 1953, he resigned from his naval commission and returned to Plains. He worked his own peanut farm, and he and his wife operated Carter’s Warehouse, a seed and farm supply company. He first became involved in politics when he served as chairman of the county school board. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election in 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 defeated Gerald Ford to become the thirty-ninth President of the United States. He was sworn in as President at the age of 52, in 1977. His Vice President was Walter Mondale, an U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Carter won by 297 electoral votes to 241 for Ford.

Jimmy Carter served as President from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. His foreign policy accomplishments included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with China. Carter achieved a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy, major educational programs under a new Department of Education, and a major environmental protection legislation, which included the Alaska Lands Act.

Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev signed the strategic arms limitation (SALT II) treaty in Vienna in June 1979, setting limits on the numbers of Soviet and U. S. nuclear-weapons systems. This treaty failed, and Carter chose to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow.

President Carter’s Presidency was marred by several circumstances. High inflation and unemployment was evident during his term in office. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the last fourteen months of his term were doomed by an ongoing hostage situation at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. His term ended at noon on January 20, with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981. Twenty minutes later the hostages were released in Teheran. On the 21st, President Reagan sent Carter to Germany to welcome the hostages home.

After his Presidency, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Carter has published eleven books since his Presidency, and an autobiography was written in 1975. In 1982, he founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, which is a Presidential Library. The Center has initiated projects in more than 65 countries to resolve conflicts, prevent human rights abuses, build democracy, improve health, and revitalize urban areas. In 1991, President Carter launched the Atlanta Project (TAP), a community wide effort to attack the social problems associated with poverty.

President Carter and Rosalynn are regular volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. He also teaches Sunday school and is a deacon in a Baptist Church in Plains. For recreation, he enjoys fly-fishing, woodworking, jogging, cycling, tennis, hunting, billiards, softball, and watching baseball. He also loves to dance with Rosalynn.

Even though President Carter isn’t known for his great presidential achievements, he has proven himself as a good person with high morals, Christian beliefs, and outstanding character. His favorite Bible quote is, “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20)