View source for Jimmy Carter

{{Short description|President of the United States from 1977 to 1981}}
{{Redirect|James Earl Carter|his father|James Earl Carter Sr.||Jimmy Carter (disambiguation)}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jimmy Carter
| image               = JimmyCarterPortrait2.jpg
| alt                 = Portrait of Jimmy Carter in a dark blue suit
| caption             = Official portrait, 1978
| order               = 39th
| office              = President of the United States
| vicepresident       = [[Walter Mondale]]
| term_start          = January 20, 1977
| term_end            = January 20, 1981
| predecessor         = [[Gerald Ford]]
| successor           = [[Ronald Reagan]]
| order1              = 76th
| office1             = Governor of Georgia
| term_start1         = January 12, 1971
| term_end1           = January 14, 1975
| lieutenant1         = [[Lester Maddox]]
| predecessor1        = Lester Maddox
| successor1          = [[George Busbee]]
| state_senate2       = Georgia State
| district2           = [[Georgia's 14th Senate district|14th]]
| term_start2         = January 14, 1963
| term_end2           = January 9, 1967
| predecessor2        = ''Constituency established''
| successor2          = [[Hugh Carter]]
| birth_name          = James Earl Carter Jr.
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1924|10|01}}
| birth_place         = [[Plains, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date          = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|1924|10|01}} -->
| death_place         = <!-- [[Plains, Georgia]], U.S. -->
| resting_place       = <!-- [[209 Woodland Drive]], Plains -->
| party               = Democratic
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Rosalynn Carter|Rosalynn Smith]]|July 7, 1946|November 19, 2023|end=died}}
| children            = 4, including [[Jack Carter (politician)|Jack]] and [[Amy Carter|Amy]]
| parents             = {{plainlist|
* [[James Earl Carter Sr.]]
* [[Bessie Lillian Gordy]]
}}
| relatives           = [[List of United States political families (C)#The Carters of Georgia|Carter family]]
| education           = [[United States Naval Academy]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])
| awards              = [[List of awards and honors received by Jimmy Carter|Full list]]
| signature           = Jimmy Carter Signature-2.svg
| signature_alt       = Cursive signature in ink
| branch              = [[United States Navy]]<!--No flags per MOS:INFOBOXFLAG-->
| serviceyears        = {{plainlist|
* 1946–1953 (active)
* 1953–1961 (reserve)
}}
| rank                = [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]]<!--No icons per MOS:INFOBOXFLAG-->
| mawards             = {{plainlist|
* [[American Campaign Medal]]
* [[World War II Victory Medal]]
* [[China Service Medal]]
* [[National Defense Service Medal]]
}}
| module              = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Jimmy Carter speaks on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.ogg|title=Jimmy Carter's voice|type=speech|description=Carter speaks on the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]].<br />Recorded January 4, 1980}}
}}
'''James Earl Carter Jr.''' (born October 1, 1924<!-- DO NOT report Carter's death without reliable source. -->) is an American politician and humanitarian who served from 1977 to 1981 as the 39th [[president of the United States]]. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he served from 1963 to 1967 in the [[Georgia State Senate]] and from 1971 to 1975 as the 76th [[governor of Georgia]]. Carter is the [[List of presidents of the United States by age|longest-lived president in U.S. history]] and the first to live to [[Centenarian|100 years of age]].

Carter was born and raised in [[Plains, Georgia]]. He graduated from the [[U.S. Naval Academy]] in 1946 and joined the [[U.S. Navy]]'s submarine service. Carter returned home after his military service and revived his family's peanut-growing business. Opposing [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], Carter supported the growing [[civil rights movement]], and became an activist within the Democratic Party. He served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967 and then as Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. As a [[dark-horse]] candidate not well known outside Georgia, Carter won [[1976 Democratic Party presidential primaries|the Democratic Party’s nomination]] and narrowly defeated the incumbent president, [[Gerald Ford]] of the Republican Party, in the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential election]].

Carter [[Proclamation 4483|pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders]] on his second day in office. He created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. Carter successfully pursued the [[Camp David Accords]], the [[Panama Canal Treaties]], and the second round of [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks]]. He also confronted [[stagflation]]. His administration established the [[U.S. Department of Energy]] and the [[United States Department of Education|Department of Education]]. The end of his presidency was marked by the [[Iran hostage crisis]], [[1979 oil crisis|an energy crisis]], the [[Three Mile Island accident]], the [[Nicaraguan Revolution]], and the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]]. In response to the invasion, Carter escalated the [[Cold War]] by ending ''[[détente]]'', imposing [[United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union|a grain embargo against the Soviets]], enunciating the [[Carter Doctrine]], and leading [[1980 Summer Olympics boycott|the multinational boycott]] of the [[1980 Summer Olympics]] in Moscow. He lost the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]] in a landslide to [[Ronald Reagan]], the Republican nominee.

After leaving the presidency, Carter established the [[Carter Center]] to promote and expand human rights; in 2002 he received a [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his work in relation to it. He traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, [[election monitoring|monitor elections]], and further the eradication of infectious diseases. Carter is a key figure in the nonprofit housing organization [[Habitat for Humanity]]. He has also written [[Bibliography of Jimmy Carter|numerous books]], ranging from political memoirs to poetry, while continuing to comment on global affairs, including two books on the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]. Polls of historians and political scientists generally [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|rank Carter]] as a below-average president, though scholars and the public more favorably view [[Post-presidency of Jimmy Carter|his post-presidency]], which is the longest in U.S. history.