An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood

James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr. was the 39th President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. He was born October 1st, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia to a family of peanut farmers. Carter attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology before graduating in 1946 from the US Naval Academy. After graduation, he married Rosalynn Smith; they were married until her death in 2023.

After serving as a naval officer for seven years, Carter returned to Plains and took over the Carter farms. A popular community leader, he won election to the Georgia Senate in 1962. In 1970 he was elected Governor of Georgia with a platform emphasizing ecology and removing racial barriers. He was nominated for President at the 1976 Democratic Convention. Among his achievements were establishing a national energy policy amid a crushing energy shortage, creating jobs, and decreasing the budget deficit. In international politics, he helped to broker the Camp David agreement of 1978 between Egypt and Israel. He also established full diplomatic relations with China. His legacy was marred by high inflation and interest rates, and the seizure of hostages from the US embassy’s diplomatic staff in Iran, a captivity that lasted 14 months.