Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter was a Democrat from Georgia and belonged to the Democratic Party. People called him the Peanut Farmer because he ran a peanut farm in Plains, Georgia. He had been a Navy officer and the state's governor. He served as president from 1977 to 1981 — one term. He lost his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980. Reagan offered a sunnier message after years of inflation, gas lines, and hostages. Carter was the first U.S. president born in a hospital. He taught Sunday school in Plains into his nineties. Faith was not a slogan for him; it was a weekly habit. He became the longest-lived U.S. president, turning 100 in 2024.

The Camp David Accords of 1978 were a peace deal between Egypt and Israel. Camp David is the president's mountain retreat in Maryland, where Carter hosted the talks. He brought Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin there. It is a rare durable Middle East peace. At home, his term is remembered for high inflation and long gas lines. Prices jumped and drivers waited in line for fuel. He created two Cabinet departments: Energy (1977) and Education (1979). He signed treaties that would return the Panama Canal to Panama on a timetable.

Americans were held hostage in Iran starting in 1979. They were freed the day Carter left office, after 444 days, as Ronald Reagan was sworn in. Desert One was a failed 1980 raid to rescue the hostages. Helicopters broke down in the desert. Eight U.S. servicemen died. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Carter answered with a grain embargo and a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. On his first full day in office he pardoned Vietnam draft evaders, hoping to close a bitter chapter. After the White House he spent decades building houses with Habitat for Humanity. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.