president jimmy carter 
thirty-ninth president of the united states
interesting facts
Carter's emphasis on morality in government and his concern for social welfare appealed to voters who were disturbed by corruption in government and economic problems.
quote
"For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land."
Jimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural address.
biography
Jimmy Carter aspired to make Government "competent and compassionate," responsive to the American people and their expectations. His achievements were notable, but in an era of rising energy costs, mounting inflation, and continuing tensions, it was impossible for his administration to meet these high expectations.
Carter, who has rarely used his full name--James Earl Carter, Jr.--was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Peanut farming, talk of politics, and devotion to the Baptist faith were mainstays of his upbringing. Upon graduation in 1946 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. The Carters have three sons, John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), and a daughter, Amy Lynn.
After seven years' service as a naval officer, Carter returned to Plains. In 1962 he entered state politics, and eight years later he was elected Governor of Georgia. Among the new young southern governors, he attracted attention by emphasizing ecology, efficiency in government, and the removal of racial barriers.
When he began his national campaign, Carter was not as well known as several other candidates, including some members of Congress. From the first, however, Carter demonstrated his ability to win votes. He entered 26 of 27 preferential primaries and finished first in 17 of them. He won 19 of 31 primaries in all. Carter was strong both in traditionally conservative and in liberal states. He ran well in industrial states as well as farm states. Carter outpolled every other Democratic candidate in all sections of the country except the Far West. By the time the primaries had ended, most of his rivals had withdrawn, some pledging their support to Carter. He also began to receive endorsements from other prominent Democrats.
At the Democratic convention in New York City in July 1976 Carter received the nomination on the first ballot. As his vice-presidential running mate, he chose Walter F. Mondale, a United States senator from Minnesota and a leader of the liberal bloc in Congress. Many Democratic leaders joined the Carter family at the rostrum, emphasizing party unity.
In public opinion polls taken at the time of his nomination, Carter led President Ford by 30 percentage points, one of the largest leads ever held by a presidential candidate. During the campaign--the first ever financed with tax revenues--Carter and Ford held a series of televised debates. Meanwhile, Carter's lead steadily dwindled.
Carter campaigned for efficiency and honesty in government as well as broader social programs, including national health insurance. He emphasized the humane role government should play in the lives of citizens. He campaigned as a man of integrity and trust who could lead the nation to a renewal of spirit. With the backing of much of the traditional Democratic coalition and with strong support from blacks and organized labor, Carter won a narrow victory. His 57-vote electoral college margin was the smallest in 60 years.
Carter's inaugural was appropriate to the populist themes of his campaign. Thousands of his volunteer workers attended the celebrations, which were somewhat less formal than usual. In an inaugural speech that emphasized old-fashioned virtues, Carter quoted from a Plains schoolteacher: "We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles." With some of his family, Carter walked the mile and a half in the inaugural parade to the White House.
The walk was the first of several symbolic acts by Carter to establish the image of a president who would stay in touch with the people. He sold the presidential yacht, curtailed White House limousine service, restricted the use of his portrait in government offices, and suspended the playing of `Hail to the Chief'. He conducted a radio phone-in program, `Ask the President', in which 42 callers--of 9 million who tried to reach him--asked a wide range of questions. Wearing a cardigan that helped dramatize energy conservation, Carter held a televised "fireside chat." He attended a mock New England town meeting, staying overnight with a local family.
The original Carter Cabinet included several members who had been prominent officials in previous Democratic administrations: Cyrus R. Vance, secretary of state; W. Michael Blumenthal, secretary of the treasury; Harold Brown, secretary of defense; and Joseph A. Califano, Jr., secretary of health, education, and welfare. Carter appointed Griffin B. Bell, a federal judge and longtime associate, as attorney general. Other Cabinet heads were Cecil D. Andrus, interior; Robert Bergland, agriculture; F. Ray Marshall, labor; and Brock Adams, transportation. James R. Schlesinger became secretary of a new Cabinet-level Department of Energy.
Carter appointed two women: Juanita M. Kreps, secretary of commerce, and Patricia Roberts Harris, secretary of housing and urban development. Harris was the only black member of the Cabinet; but Carter appointed Andrew Young, a black Georgia congressman, as ambassador to the United Nations (UN). A close Carter associate, Young became a prominent but controversial foreign policy spokesman. Carter appointed William H. Webster as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Adm. Stansfield Turner as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He did not make any Supreme Court appointments.
In July 1979 Carter asked for the formal resignations of all Cabinet members. He replaced Blumenthal with G. William Miller, Adams with Neil E. Goldschmidt, and Schlesinger with Charles W. Duncan, Jr. In addition, Carter replaced Califano with Harris and appointed Moon Landrieu to replace Harris. Benjamin R. Civiletti replaced Bell, who left voluntarily. All other Cabinet members were reappointed.
Young resigned in August 1979 after it was revealed that he had held an unauthorized meeting with representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He was replaced by Donald F. McHenry. In November Philip M. Klutznick replaced Kreps, who resigned. Shirley Hufstedler was named to head the new Cabinet-level Department of Education; when it began operation in 1980, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare became the Department of Health and Human Services. In April 1980 Vance resigned; his successor was Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine.
Carter established ethics guidelines for Cabinet members and for high-ranking aides. Among other requirements, Cabinet members were required to put financial holdings into blind trusts. There were, however, two major scandals during Carter's administration. Bert Lance, a Carter confidant who became director of the Office of Management and Budget, resigned in 1978 after charges of earlier improper conduct as a banker; he was later acquitted in court. In 1980 a Senate subcommittee investigated business dealings between the Libyan government and Carter's brother, Billy. Although the subcommittee determined that foreign policy had not been affected, its report criticized President Carter for not acting to prevent the questionable activities of his brother.
Carter took office during one of the most severe winters on record. The long period of below-freezing temperatures produced the worst shortage of natural gas in the nation's history. Carter received temporary authority from Congress to allocate natural gas supplies and to regulate prices. He also used the Taft-Hartley act to end a coal miner's strike.
In April 1977 Carter gave the first of a series of major addresses to the nation on energy, which was to become one of the dominant concerns of his administration. Congress approved several of Carter's energy proposals, including the deregulation of natural gas prices, by 1985, and incentives for such conservation measures as conversion to coal in industry and fuel-saving improvements in the home.
In a second major energy program, announced in April 1979, Carter ordered the gradual decontrol of domestic oil prices, but a court later struck down his order. Congress approved Carter's tax on the so-called windfall profits of oil companies but rejected his request for standby authority for gasoline rationing. A third major set of energy measures included government underwriting of the development of synthetic fuels, which Congress also approved.
The economy became Carter's other domestic concern. Although he emphasized cutbacks in spending, he also approved some measures to stimulate the economy. As the rate of inflation increased, in October 1978 Carter announced the first of several anti-inflation plans, which included voluntary wage and price controls. In November he took emergency measures to protect the declining dollar on world markets.
The cost of living increased more than 13 percent during 1979, and in March 1980 Carter announced new anti-inflation measures. They included credit restraints, which caused a drop in auto and housing sales and produced a deep, but short, recession in the United States.
Several Carter reforms were approved by Congress. They included limited authority to reorganize the federal bureaucracy, changes in Civil Service to reward performance, and deregulation of the trucking, airline, and railroad industries. Carter also won a major reform of the banking system and strengthening of the Social Security trust fund. Congress rejected his proposal for direct election of the president.
In foreign affairs, Carter set his own style. His championing of human rights was coldly received by the Soviet Union and some other nations. In the Middle East, through the Camp David agreement of 1978, he helped bring amity between Egypt and Israel. He succeeded in obtaining ratification of the Panama Canal treaties. Building upon the work of predecessors, he established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and completed negotiation of the SALT II nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union.
There were serious setbacks, however. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the suspension of plans for ratification of the SALT II pact. The seizure as hostages of the U. S. embassy staff in Iran dominated the news during the last 14 months of the administration. The consequences of Iran's holding Americans captive, together with continuing inflation at home, contributed to Carter's defeat in 1980. Even then, he continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages. Iran finally released the 52 Americans the same day Carter left office.
After leaving the White House, Carter returned to Georgia, where in 1982 he founded the nonprofit Carter Center in Atlanta to promote peace and human rights worldwide. 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. He and his wife, Rosalynn, still reside in Plains.
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events during carter's administration 1977-1981 |
cabinet and supreme court of carter |
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