Jimmy Carter

American politician who served as the 39th President of the USA from 1977 to 1981 as leader of the Democratic Party. Carter was the longest-lived president in U.S. history and the first to live to 100 years of age.

After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1953, he took over the family peanut business and became a community leader. Entering politics, he was elected Governor of Georgia, 1971-1975. Carter was virtually unknown outside of his home state when he began his meteoric rise to become the Head of State.

Son of Earl Carter and Lillian Gordy Carter, Jimmy Carter grew up the eldest of four children. Gloria was born in 1926, Ruth in 1929 and Billy on 29 March 1937. His father instilled the hard-work ethic and desire to excel while Lillian was said to have "gentled" Jimmy by encouraging schoolwork, church and social conscience. Carter knew he wanted to go to Annapolis since childhood. He encountered a difficult "plebe" year in 1943, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy finishing 59th of a class of 820 in 1946. Unhappy with sea duty on the Wyoming and Mississippi, he went to submarine school, finishing 3rd in a class of 52.

After four happy years in undersea service serving under Admiral Hyman Rickover, he reluctantly returned home to run the family peanut and farming interests when his father died of pancreatic cancer in 1953. He utilized his technical engineering skills, developing the farm into a modernized agribusiness, increasing his father's volume 25 times.

After a "deeply profound religious experience" when he turned 40, he devoted himself to the service of helping others by joining missions to Eastern barrios. He served two terms in the state senate and took on an unsuccessful run for Governor against segregationist, Lester Maddox. Learning from his mistakes, he ran an aggressive and successful moderate-conservative campaign in 1970. Measuring himself against visiting Presidents, he concluded he had what it took to run for President.