Rarely using his birth name, James Earl Carter Jr., Jimmy Carter was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Raised in Georgia, Carter was the eldest of four children. He was both academic and athletic in high school and attended both Georgia Southwestern College and Georgia Institute of Technology before receiving a degree in science from the United States Naval Academy in 1946.

Carter served as a naval officer for seven years before he entered the political arena in 1962, by seeking state office. Carter was elected Governor of Georgia in 1970. His agenda revolved around bolstering the economy and suppressing racism, as he was one of the first southern Governors to publicly announce that racial segregation had no place in their state.

After serving only one term, Carter announced his intention to run for President of the United States, choosing Walter Mondale as his running mate. Though he was not well-known in the political arena, with Nixon’s Watergate Scandal still fresh and the American people seeking a change in office, Carter’s hard campaigning paid off with a win of 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 241.

Carter faced numerous challenges in both domestic and foreign affairs during his presidential term. The Iran hostage crisis was at the forefront of the media during the last year of Carter’s term and though he was denied a second term when he was defeated by Ronald Reagan, the fifty-two American hostages were released by Iran the day Carter left office.

Jimmy Carter has since continued promoting his humanitarian efforts out of office. He formed the Carter Center in 1982, an organization that promotes human rights and strives to end human suffering through a variety of charitable and research avenues.

He is a recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and both he and his wife, Rosalynn Smith Carter, are well known for their active work with Habitat for Humanity. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have three sons and one daughter.

Carter has also authored twenty-one books since leaving office over twenty-five years ago.

YUDDY