Jimmy Carter, pt. 1

Written by Christina, read by Jason

Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/hwts-269--63538809

            James Earl Carter, Jr., better known as Jimmy, was born on 1 October 1920 in Plains, Georgia, the oldest of four children of James and Lillian Carter. His father was a farmer and business owner and his mother was a nurse. Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital, likely because his mother worked there. Lillian can be credited with her son’s progressive views, as she was a staunch supporter of civil rights and desegregation, which was in opposition to her husband’s segregationist position. Jimmy was a good student and graduated from high school in 1941. He spent his first year of college at George Southwestern College and his second at Georgia Institute of Technology, with the intent of going to the Naval Academy. He joined the Reserve Training Corps at Georgia Tech and was accepted into the Naval Academy in the Fall 1943. He graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science and a commission as an ensign in the United States Navy.

            While at the Academy, he was introduced to Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister’s from their hometown. Jimmy and Rosalynn dated for a year before marrying in July 1946. The couple moved frequently in the early years of their marriage, as Jimmy worked toward becoming a submariner. He also trained in nuclear power and engines so that he could work on one of the early nuclear-powered submarines. While training and working in this field, he was called on to aid in the shutdown of the nuclear reactor at the Chalk River Laboratory in 1952. He and the members of his team could only spend ninety seconds at a time working on the reactor, after having spent a great deal more time being carefully dressed in a protective suit. His experience with nuclear power earned him a place on the second nuclear sub to be launched, the USS Seawolf, but his father’s death in July 1953 changed his and his family’s plans. Carter got a release from active duty at this time but stayed in the reserves until 1961.

            Their first year as peanut farmers was difficult: Roselynn wasn’t happy about having to leave their home in Schenectady, New York to return to Georgia and his father had left a great deal of debt. After some study in agriculture, for Jimmy, and accounting for Rosalynn, they were soon able to make the farm thrive. During this time, Carter was relatively quiet about his politics, though he did refuse to join the various local Citizens’ Councils, which were thinly veiled racist organizations often compared to the Ku Klux Klan. By 1961, however, his involvement in the local school board prompted an interest in wider politics. He spoke more openly about his support of integration and civil rights, as well as his support of the Kennedy administration’s policies. In 1962, he decide to run for the Georgia State Senate at the last minute, putting his name on the ballot just two weeks prior to the scheduled election. He was very popular, and so it came as a surprise when he lost. Subsequent investigation showed there had been fraudulent votes cast for his opponent. Another election was held, with Carter winning. He took his seat in January 1963.

            As a state senator, Carter expressed his liberal views by speaking against requiring literacy tests, a long-used racist tactic to prevent minorities and the poor from voting. He also chaired the state Education Committee, expanding the funding and helping to transition Georgia State Southwestern College from a two-year college to a four-year university. He developed a political rivalry with fellow senator Bo Calloway, who represented and advocated for many of the things Carter opposed. Calloway’s decision to run for governor in 1966 prompted Carter to run as well. He lost the primary for this election, and so returned to his farm and planned his next campaign. It was also during this time that he became a “born-again” Christian, having had a spiritual awakening. This would later be an advantage in his presidential campaign.

            For the 1970 gubernatorial campaign, Carter played both sides of the political fence. He presented himself as a populist, in opposition to his very rich adversary Carl Sanders. He tried to avoid losing any votes over racial issues by both associating himself with various civil rights leaders and also by seeking (and getting) the endorsement of ultra-segregationist George Wallace. Carter won 49% of the vote in the primary to Sanders’ 38%, forcing a runoff. In the runoff, Carter pushed racism harder against Sanders and won the primary, then the general election. As soon as he was elected, however, he began speaking against racism and segregation, stating in his inaugural address that “the time for racial discrimination is over. No poor, rural, weak or black person should ever have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity of an education, a job, or simple justice.” This apparent flip earned him a Time Magazine cover with the headline “Dixie Whistles a Different Tune;” this was his first introduction to many people nationally. The racists who had supported him expressed their feelings of betrayal and those in favor of civil rights excused his racist campaign as necessary to gain a position of power in the former Confederacy. Carter’s record as governor was generally liberal, increasing funding for public schools in poor areas, pushing for prison reform and education programs for prisoners, and massively increasing the number of Black state employees. However, he also reintroduced the death penalty, something he later regretted.

Carter could only serve one term as governor and so he decided to put together a presidential run for 1976. When he announced his candidacy in December 1974, he may have been the least-known of the seventeen men seeking the nomination, but by the spring of 1976, he was leading the polls in the primary and was even a few points ahead of the expected Republican nominee, incumbent President Gerald Ford. He was greatly helped by being able to position himself as an “outsider” in the years immediately following Watergate. He ran on a slate of progressive policies: creating a federal department of education, reducing the defense budget, negotiating a reduction of nuclear arms with the USSR, increasing taxes on the rich, and creating a consumer financial protection agency. He was supported by prominent members of the Black community and civil rights leaders, including Coretta Scott King. He also got the support of many evangelical Christians, who appreciated his discussion of his beliefs. He won a narrow victory against Ford, with 297 electoral votes.