Jimmy Carter: The unlikely 39th president of the United States
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The somewhat unorthodox leader led his country through one of the most tumultuous eras of American history. Despite just one four-year and somewhat unorthodox term in office, Jimmy Carter brought much hope to the White House during a tenure that was marred by several major crisises.
![[Chinese modernizer Deng Xiaoping, US First Lady Rosalynn Carter, US President Jimmy Carter and Deng's wife Cho Lin smile for the media at the White House in Washington DC, during the Chinese leader's visit to the US]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/12/19/15/gettyimages-481961197-594x594.jpg)
As America’s 39th president, he emphasized human rights in his foreign policy, championed environmentalism at a time when it was not yet popular, and appointed record numbers of women and people of color during his administration, which lasted from 1977 to 1981.
![[U.S. President Ronald Reagan, behind podium, shakes hands with former President Richard Nixon as former presidents Gerald Ford, left, and Jimmy Carter look on at the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 8, 1981. At right is first lady Nancy Reagan. The three former presidents will depart for Egypt to attend President Anwar Sadat’s funeral.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/05/15/14/JCD11268569.jpg)
Several major events transpired during Carter’s presidency, notably the US energy crisis, the Iran hostage ordeal, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Camp David Peace Accords and the Soviet-Afghan war. Many viewed Carter, who grew up selling peanuts as a teenager on his family’s land in Plains, Georgia, as an unlikely candidate for Commander-in-Chief, and some critics later dismissed his tenure as a “failure.”.
![[President Jimmy Carter with President Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat after the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/05/16/15/JWA1930510.jpg)
To win the gubernatorial election in 1970, Carter adopted more conservative positions. But rather than invoking traditional Southern values, Carter surprised his Georgia constituents by calling for an end to racial discrimination in his 1971 inaugural address.
![[Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan debate in 1980]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/05/16/15/Screenshot%202024-05-16%20at%2010.17.28%E2%80%AFAM.png)
“This is a time for truth and frankness. The next four years will not be easy ones. The problems we face will not solve themselves. They demand from us the utmost in dedication and unselfishness from each of us. But this is also a time for greatness,” he said.
“At the end of a long campaign, I believe I know our people as well as anyone. Based on this knowledge of Georgians North and South, Rural and Urban, liberal and conservative, I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.”.
