52 interesting facts about Jimmy Carter that you should know - The Fact File (2023)

Last updated on December 21, 2020

James Earl Carterserved as39^º president two united statesfrom 1977 to 1981. His favorite color is blue. He was a distinguished diplomat, humanitarian, and author. He received the Noble Peace Prize in 2002. With these52 interesting facts about Jimmy Carter,Let's learn more about his childhood, early career, running for president, the presidency, and life after the presidency.

Facts about Carter's early life, family, and education

1.James Earl Carter was born on October 1, 1924 in the then small town of Plains,Georgiaa los padres Lillian Gordy Carter y James Earl Carter Sr.

2.Carter Sr. was a small business owner and farmer who would later be elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. By Carter's admission,his father was his “best friend”during their growing years.

3.Carter's mother was a registered nurse and, at the time of his birth, worked at Wise Sanitarium, the hospital where young Jimmy was born. Later in life, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer. Carter remembersyour mother as dynamic, funny, compassionateand how to have a healthy and inquisitive attitude about life around them.

4.Era Carterthe first President of the United States to be born in a hospital.He is the first president of Georgia.

5.era jimmyeldest of four childrenin the family. She had three siblings: her sisters Gloria and Ruth and her brother Billy. There has not yet been a president who was an only child.

6.During his childhood years, Carter came into close contact with members of impoverished African-American communities and became friends with their children. Although Carter Sr. was in favor of segregation,they were tolerantin this regard and that James Carter's early exposure to black American life must have played a significant role in shaping his attitude toward racial segregation in American life in general. As an adult, Carter would be a strong supporter of the civil rights movement andhe actively opposed practices based on racial discrimination.

7.When I was little,Carter showed his penchant for business.He was known for selling peanuts from his father's farm on the streets of his hometown. Once, at the age of nine, he bought five bales of cotton with his earnings and stored them for a few years before selling them at a profit. Later, as a teenager, Carter Sr. gave his eldest son an acre of his farm where young Jimmy grew peanuts, and with the proceeds he bought and rented a section of a tenant's house.

8.From 1937 to 1941,young Jimmy attended Plains High School.He liked to read (when he was young, Carter's favorite gift was books) and he also excelled as a student. However, she also had a reputation for being a bit of a bitch and legend has it that Jimmy was passed over as valedictorian for skipping class at an important meeting.

9.During this period of his life, Julia Coleman, his teacher at Plains High, was a major influence in Jimmy's life. Lady. Coleman was instrumental in ignitingJimmy's interests in art, music, and literature.

10In 1942, Carter enrolled at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and eventuallyGraduate of the United States Naval Academyin 1946 with a B.Sc. degree. He finished 60 of 820 applicants in the class.

11Sports: From an early age, Carter has beena sports enthusiast.he played forswing basketteam at Plains High and also represented the Midshipmen sprint football team during his time at the Naval Academy. Another sport that Carter actively played wastennis(the Carter family had a block of land on the Plains when Jimmy was a boy)

Facts of Carter's early career, marriage, children, entry into politics

12cartermarried Rosalynn Smith,native of his hometown and friend of his sister Ruth, inJuly 7, 1946.The couple have four children: John, James Earl Carter III, Jeffrey, and Amy.

13After serving seven years in the United States Navy,Carter returned to Georgia after his father's death.He decided to sacrifice his naval career and insteadhe dedicated himself to the administration of family farms and peanut warehouses.

14Heread extensively as well as take courses on traditional and modern farming methodsand with the help of Rosalynn, who helped him with the bookkeeping, he was able to establish himself as a successful agricultural entrepreneur, despite facing initial setbacks.

15.Carter'shis political career is believed to have begun with his tenure as a member of the local board of education.At first, his anti-racist and reformist views in a still strongly pro-segregation venue served to derail his public and political career.

sixteen.As such, Carter took a more cautious approach so as not to become too alienated and was subsequentlyelected in 1962 to the Georgia State Senate as a Democrat.

17In 1966 Carterran for governor of Georgiabut lost in the Democratic primary to Lester Maddox.

18Heran for governor again in 1970and having learned from his past bitter experience, he limited himself to being less explicit about his liberal racial views.

19However, once elected governor of Georgia, he immediately declared that“the time of racial discrimination has passed”and he began to implement various reform actions, including the opening of public offices in the state for blacks and women.

20Carter also consolidated several different state agencies into larger units for more effective government, and introduced strict budget procedures. Thanks to these actions on his part,Carter appeared on the cover of Time magazineand was hailed as the symbol of the "New South" as well as good government.

Decision to run for president

21During his tenure as Governor of Georgia, Carter became increasingly associated with the national politics of the Democratic Party. He previously chaired the Democratic Governors Campaign Committee in 1972 andhis persona as a political figure was further consolidated in 1974when he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Campaign Committee.

22Through it all, however, Carter remained a relatively obscure political figure outside of his homeland, South, and South.many still believethat if the Georgia state legislature had not barred him from running for re-election as governor, he may not have run for consistency.

23Anyway, Carterpublicly announced his intentionrun for president in 1974. However, this was a bold decision and was caught by surprise in many quarters.

24The fact that Carter had to defy many odds towards his stated goal can be gauged fromthe result of a public opinion poll(held in late 1975) on possible Democratic candidates. The list didn't even include Carter's name.

25In next year's primaries, however,Carter was able to decisively winthe other serious candidates, namely George Wallace, Governor ofAlabama; Rep. Morris K. Udall ofArizona; and Senator Henry M. Jackson ofWashington.

26. During his presidential campaign, Carter promisedstabilize ever-fluctuating inflation rates, reduce unemployment rates, and balance the budget through the end of his presidential term. He also proposed tax reforms that would greatly benefit low- and middle-income groups. When it came to foreign policy, his stated position included signing a peace treaty with the Soviets that would end the aggressive nuclear arms race.

27Beyond his reformist views, however, Carter's appeal to the general public lies specifically in his being an 'outsider', an ex-military man and agribusiness man from humble beginnings, and his emphasis on restoring faith in the moral leadership of the executive branch of government. , which was at its lowest point after the Watergate scandal and the removal of Richard Nixon from the presidency to avoid criminal charges.

28Carter'sThe campaign for the presidency button read "I'm crazy about JIMMY CARTER as the bicentennial president."

29cartman isthe only President of the United States who lived in subsidized housing before taking office.

1976 presidential election

30In November 1976 Carterwon the presidential election defeating Gerald Ford,the current Republican president who took office after Nixon's resignation. The Democrats won 297 electoral votes to Gerald Ford's 240 and also managed to capture 51% of the popular vote.

Facts about his presidency

31Havetook office, Carter appointedCyrus Vance as US Secretary of State, Griffin Bell as US Attorney General, Juanita M. Kreps as US Secretary of Commerce, and Burt Lance as Budget Director.

32.Carter's top advisers during his tenure included vice-presidential running mate Walter F. Mondale and renowned American attorney Charles Kirbo. Carter has always been a fan of Kirbo andHe once commented that meeting Charles Kirbo was one of the smartest decisions he ever made.

33.Although not mentioned often, Rosalynn, in addition to fulfilling her duties and responsibilities as First Lady, also frequently attended Cabinet meetings on certain matters and served as one of Carter's top advisers.Later in his life, Carter mentioned that his wife was probably the most influential person in his life.

34.As for Walter Mondale, many believe that the vice president wasbehind most of Carter's reformist ideas.This American senator fromMinnesotawas the Democratic nominee in the 1984 presidential election, but lost heavily to the incumbent presidentRonald Reagan.

35.Another interesting fact about Carter is that shortly after joining the office,granted amnesty to all evaders of the Vietnam war,as he had promised he would during his presidential campaign.

36.Carter'sThe presidency started on an optimistic notebecause he was able to fulfill his promises to combine or dissolve different federal agencies that provided more or less similar services. He established two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Education and the Department of Energy.

37.With congressional approval, he was also able to pass alegislationmainly aimed atincome tax reduction.

38.Carter also proved to be an astute politician when it came to foreign affairs. He succeeded in creating a peace treaty betweenIsraelmiEgypt(now known as the Camp David Agreement). Carter also drew worldwide acclaim for his decision to cut US aid to all nations involved in human rights violations.

39.However,its Panama Canal Treaties of 1977It earned him mixed reviews in his home country, though it was hailed by the world as a positive step by the United States in reining in its often aggressive foreign policy.

40On the economic front, however, the Carter administration has not fared too well.Many of Carter's proposed reformssuch as conservation, the use of alternative energy sources, and the implementation of an oil tax could not be ruled out due to vitriolic opposition from Congress.

41.Thus, inflation began to rise (in the mid-1980s, the inflation rate reached 15%) and alsounemployment other.

42.Carter's foreign policy also received an unexpected blow when the Soviet Union sent troops toAfghanistanwhichannulled the old peace treaty on nuclear weaponsagreed by the two nations.

43.In addition to domestic disappointments, the 1979-1980 Iran hostage crisis led the Carter administration todifficulties.

44.Carter served as the Democratic nominee in the 1980 presidential election, butsuffered a crushing defeatin the hands of Republican candidate Ronald Reagan.

45.don't givefarewell speech,Delivered in the Oval Office on the night of January 14, 1981, Carter made no mention of the Iranian hostages or the current economic crisis. However, he cautioned against intrusion by special interest groups and organizations that could harm the best interest of the American people.

Things to know about Carter's life after the presidency

46.At the end of his term, Carters returned to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, andfrom living in a simple ranch houseon the outskirts of the city.

47.In 1982, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter established theCarter Presidential Center that relates to a variety of human rights issues,especially in developing and third world countries.

48.The former president and his wife also became involved with Habitat for Humanity, whichprovides affordable housing for the poor and homeless.

49.Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Carterremained actively involved in international relationsand he did many commendable works to bring peace between countries at war.

50In recognition of your decades of tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts; promote democracy and human rights, while fostering economic and social development,Jimmy Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

51.More recently, Carter has become a prolific author, and his 30 Odd Books span multiple genres, including international relations, personal memoirs and journals, and even books of poetry.Two of her most notable books are Hornet's Nest (2003) and Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006).

52.At 95, James Earl Carterhe is the longest-serving president of the United States and the longest-retired president.

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