Jimmy Carter served as the 39th President of the United States, between 1977 and 1981. This got me thinking, what are some interesting facts about Jimmy Carter?
Today, Jimmy Carter is remembered for being one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had. His presidency was mired in controversy, an energy crisis and high unemployment, which many blamed him for.
15. Hated by The Media
During his presidency, Carter was often attacked by the press. A number of easily-preventable blunders during his presidency, saw newspapers up and down the country (and from both sides of the aisle!) mock the president.
To make matters worse, his presidency oversaw a rather tumultuous period in American history. A brief economic downturn caused stagflation, which saw millions of people lose their jobs. Carter, refused to do anything.
On top of this, in 1979, the world faced its second oil crisis of the decade. Unlike the first, the second was entirely down to politics- with Iran suffering a coup d’état, that Carter refused to do anything about.
These two issues combined, saw a lot of animosity towards Carter. The press, reciprocated this, and reported on every misdeed of the Carter Administration relentlessly. This arguably helped Reagan win in 1980!
14. A Vocal Political Critic
Carter left the White House in 1981, retiring from public service for good. Although he retired from public service, Jimmy Carter did not retire from politics as a whole.
In fact, Carter has become quite the activist, with many viewing his activism more favorably than his presidency. Even well into his nineties, Carter is still a rather active activist.
Although not the only area that he is active in, Carter is prominent race-relations and women’s rights activist. He has said on numerous occasions, that whilst huge bounds have been made in recent years, there’s still a long way to go!
On occasion, Carter has even broken presidential protocol, to criticize the racial policies of his successors. This has often drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, even if other political commentators are making similar points.
13. “New Southern Governors”
Anyone who has looked in an American history textbook, will know that the South has a particularly checkered past, to say the least. Whilst modern Democrats don’t like to admit it, the Democrats often led this effort.
Carter, on the other hand, rejected the racially-charged rhetoric used by many within his own party. However, Carter agreed with much of the rest of their outlook, so still remained as a Democrat.
In 1971, Carter was sworn in as the 76th Governor of Georgia. Here, he made a declaration: No black person shall be discriminated whilst he is in office. This shocked pretty much everyone, both inside and outside of the state of Georgia.
However, Carter stayed true to his word, instituting a number of policies that helped the African-American community greatly. This emboldened other southern governors to do the same, which eventually helped Carter reach the presidency!
12. He Hated The Presidential Yacht
As with many presidents, Jimmy Carter fashioned himself as a “Man of the people”. He came from humble origins, climbing the ranks of the political hierarchy, to the point where he became president. A true American dream.
Once in office, Carter was still quite frugal. He rarely flew on Air Force One (at least compared to other presidents), instead preferring to travel more economically. Or not at all.
In particular, Carter hated the idea of the USS Sequoia, the official yacht of the president. Originally built in 1924 for a prominent Philadelphia banker, it was soon used by Herbert Hoover as the second presidential yacht.
By the 1970’s, the USS Sequoia had become a rather quaint and expensive vessel to operate. As such, Carter hated it, seeing it as a waste of money, and ordered for it to be sold in 1977.
11. A Keen Linguist
Throughout history, there have actually been a surprising number of presidents who could speak foreign languages. One of the more recent presidential linguists is actually Jimmy Carter!
In 1946, a 24 year-old Jimmy Carter joined the US Navy as an ensign. Here, he was sent to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. At the Academy, Carter would pick up Spanish, where he became fluent.
Despite leaving the Navy in 1953, Carter would continue to use Spanish on a regular basis. As the president, Carter would often greet delegates from Spanish-speaking countries in Spanish, and briefly converse with them in the language!
After the presidency, Carter would become quite an active member of his local congregation, often leading overseas missionary work. Here, they often travelled to Spanish-speaking countries, where Carter would be able to use his Spanish.
10. Movie Buff
Any US politics buff can tell you that the White House has a number of top-of-the-line amenities, including a bowling alley, gym and swimming pool. However the White House also has a movie theater.
Whilst Carter didn’t construct the the White House Family Theater, he did use it the most of any president to date! During his four year term, Carter and his wife watched approximately 480 movies.
This breaks down at roughly 120 movies a year, or roughly, one movie every three days! Since leaving office, Carter has apparently continued this tradition, still watching as many movies as he did in the past!
And Carter didn’t keep the movies all to himself. On several occasions, Carter actually sat and watched a film with a foreign dignitary, such as the British Ambassador or the Egyptian President!
9. Longest-Living President
As of the time of writing, Jimmy Carter is the longest living US president in history! Today, Carter is 96 years old, roughly three years older than previous record holders Ronald Reagan and Gerald R. Ford.
Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia on October 1 1924, to James Earl Carter Sr., a local farmer and businessman, and his wife, Lillian Gordy Carter, a former Nurse, turned-Peace Corps volunteer.
Carter gained this record only relatively recently. In 2019, Carter celebrated his 94th birthday, becoming the first former president to do so. With this, he also become the longest-living president to date!
On top of this, Jimmy Carter’s wife, Rosalynn Carter, is the oldest currently-living former First Ladies, at 93 years old. She is also the second oldest former First Lady, behind only Lady Bird Johnson at 94 years old.
8. He Could Run Again
Carter was elected to the presidency in 1976, beating the incumbent (but unpopular) Gerald R. Ford. On January 20 the next year, Carter would be sworn in as the 39th President of the United States.
Four years later, Carter was up for re-election. As a rather unpopular president, Carter had to convince his own party, that he was the right man for the job. This is something he was able to do, narrowly beating Ted Kennedy.
Once he had done that, he had to face Ronald Reagan, for the highest office in the land. However, due to his relatively poor standing with the press and the American people as a whole, Reagan won in a landslide election.
Carter would never run for president again. Due to this, he could, in theory, run for president again. However, being at 96 years old, it’s unlikely he would want to do this, nor is it likely the American people would vote for him!
7. Extraterrestrial Encounter
Today, the concept is extraterrestrials are one of life’s great mysteries. For years, people have been saying that there are aliens out there or that they’ve even met with them. Often to much humiliation.
Apparently, Jimmy Carter was once just like that: He mocked people who said they’ve seen UFOs. However, in 1969, Carter claims to have seen a UFO hovering over Leary, Georgia.
As with most other UFO sightings, Carter similarly has no evidence to back this up. As such, he has similarly be mocked by UFO deniers, where Carter simply rebukes them by saying he used to be just lik ethem.
Clearly, this encounter had a large impact on Carter, to the point where he said that if he was elected, he’d release all documents the Government had collected on UFOs. However, this never happened, citing national security.
6. Favorite President
In 2011, British newspaper The Guardian managed to secure an interview with the former president. During this interview, Carter and the reporter spoke about a lot of things, but focused on Carter himself.
As a part of the interview, the reporter asked Carter a series of somewhat personal questions, mostly pertaining to his political views. Here, he was asked who his favorite president was, and why.
Carter’s answer was rather unique. No, it wasn’t Washington, nor was it FDR. Instead, Carter said that it was actually FDR’s successor, Harry S. Truman. Quite shocked, the reporter asked why.
Here, Carter gave a rather interesting response. He said that Truman was his favorite because he never tried to profit off being president, continuing to live a relatively cheap lifestyle after leaving office.
5. Ended the Arab-Israeli Conflict
At the end of WWII, the Allies had freed millions of Jews from Germany’s concentration camps. Not wanting history to repeat itself, the Allies gave Europe’s Jews the land we now call Israel, also known as the Cannan.
However, modern-day Israel was being inhabited by the Palestinians, who didn’t want to give their land away. Nevertheless, the might of the Allies persuaded them otherwise, with many leaving for neighboring Arab countries.
By 1949, many of these Arab countries decided that they wanted a Jew-free Palestine. This would initiate a series of conflicts between Israel and its neighboring countries, known as the Arab-Israeli Conflicts.
A number of the wars that made up these conflicts had been both costly and deadly. As such, Carter sought to end the conflict, calling both sides to Camp David in 1978. Here, he ended the Arab-Israeli War.
There hasn’t been an Arab-Israeli conflict since.
4. He Worked on The First Nuclear-Powered Submarine
The future President Jimmy Carter would graduate from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1946, earning a Bachelor of Science degree. Here, he’d serve primarily on diesel-powered submarines.
Following the war, scientists had perfected nuclear reactors, which were more powerful and cheaper to operate than comparable diesel engines. The Navy immediately saw the potential of nuclear-powered submarines.
As such, they ordered the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Guess who was in charge of testing? You guessed it: Future President Jimmy Carter!
Due to this, when the US Navy ordered a nuclear-powered submarine in 1996, they chose to name it in honor of Jimmy Carter. The USS Jimmy Carter as it’s known, was commissioned in 2005, and remains in service today!
3. The Dark Horse
In 1976, the Republicans nominated incumbent President, Gerald R. Ford, as their candidate for president. The Democrats, however, were deciding between famed Senator Ted Kennedy and the unknown Governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter.
Quite shockingly, the Democrats chose to nominate Jimmy Carter, a man not many outside outside of Georgia had even heard of. Nevertheless, Carter soon got the backing of the rest of the party.
However, the relatively unknown Carter was going up against the world-famous Gerald R. Ford. To many, this wasn’t even a guess: Ford was going to win by a mile. Any votes for Carter would merely be a protest or pity vote.
Against all odds, Carter would win the presidency by a comfortable margin.
For years later, Carter would similarly be the dark horse in the election against Reagan. However, Carter would no twin this election.
2. The First “Green” President
Whilst Richard Nixon had taken steps to help make the US a greener place (mostly through establishing the EPA), Carter would be the first president to focus a lot of his presidency on helping the environment.
In 1979, Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the White House’s roof. This was an unprecedented move, as modern solar panels had only been invented relatively recently, and such a practice was incredibly uncommon.
These solar panels would be used to heat the White House’s water supply. However, renovations done only a decade later, would see the panels be removed. They have not been put back since.
Throughout his presidency, Carter would continue to expand the oversight of the EPA and other environmental agencies. Following his presidency, Jimmy Carter would also help to institute EPA-style organizations in other countries too.
1. He Helped to Boycott the 1980 Olympics
In 1980, the Soviet Union invaded the US-aligned country of Afghanistan. Here, the USSR hoped to put the mineral-rich, but landlocked, country within its sphere of influence, by force.
At the time, this move drew much condemnation, both from the USSR’s allies and rivals. The UN would declare the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan illegal, which would spark the nine-year long Soviet-Afghan War.
That year, the Summer Olympics were due to be held in the USSR’s capital of Moscow. Angered that the USSR had not withdrawn its troops, President Carter issued a proclamation, urging all nations to boycott the games.
Surprisingly, it actually worked! In total, 65 nations boycotted the games, much to the USSR’s dismay. In retaliation, the 1984 Olympics, due to be held in Los Angeles, were boycotted by the USSR and their allies.
What are your favorite facts about Jimmy Carter? Tell me in the comments!