James Earl "Jimmy" Carter was born in 1924 in Plains, Georgia. Growing up, his family suffered greatly as a result of the Great Depression, but they benefitted from New Deal Programs including farming subsidies. Carter attended Georgia Tech and was then accepted into the naval academy which began his career in the navy that would eventually lead him to work in the nuclear power sector.
By 1961 Carter was active in his community, the Baptist church, and the Sumter county school board. Privately, he was for integration and was in favor of the outcome of Brown vs. the Board of Education. By 1962 Carter had burst onto the political scene when he took office in the state senate as a democrat. He was then reelected in 1864 to serve another two year term. during that time, he was the chair of the Education Committee where he established a bill expanding statewide education funding.
Carter Served as the Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. In 1976 he began his presidential campaign. Carter’s two greatest advantages were his appeal to the Christian voters because of his background, and the support he had from the mass media. In 1976 Carter won the popular vote against Gerald Ford 50.1% to 48% and the electoral vote 297 to 240.
Nice post! I find it very interesting that Carter was born in Georgia but still was a president with seemingly liberal beliefs. It is interesting that he liked welfare and wanted integration, even though he was from the deep south. This is a website with more on Carter. https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/jimmycarter
ReplyDeleteThis was a concise, informative post! The fact that Carter chose to side with the Democrats is somewhat explained by how Franklin Roosevelt saved his family from the harsh outcomes of depression. From your post, I got that he gradually rose into the political scene by starting from smaller, local positions all the way to presidency. Do you know what motivated him to run? I remember that he appealed to many voters because he seemed pure and unaffected by the previous dishonesty and scandal in the White House. This is a cool article that explains the financial change in running for presidency, in Carter's own words. He took great pride in not having to raise any money for his campaign. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/04/jimmy-carter-2016-campaign-finance_n_7511048.html
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