Happy Birthday Mister Peanut
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. celebrates his 87th birthday today. Carter, the 39th President of the United States, was born on October 1, 1924 in Plains Georgia. He served as president from 1977-81 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before becoming President, Carter served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia from 1971–1975, He was a peanut farmer and became a naval officer after graduating from the Annapolis Naval Academy.
As President, Carter had the misfortune of being in office during one of the worst economic slumps in US history, when interest rates jumped above 20%. His innovations include the creation of two new cabinet departments: (Energy and Education) and he established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. In foreign affairs, He pursued the Camp David Peace Accord in an effort to bring peace to the volatile middle east, negotiated the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. One of Carter's strong passions was international human rights. His term ended with the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis in which US embassy personnel were held hostage in Iran and an attempt to rescue them was botched. His term was also marred by the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
By 1980, Carter's popularity had was at a very low point. He was challenged for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination by Senator Ted Kennedy and lost the election to Republican Ronald Reagan. On January 20, 1981, minutes after Carter's term in office ended, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Iran were released, ending the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.
After leaving office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center, a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization that works to advance human rights. He has traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, observe elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. He is also active in the Habitat for Humanity project, and also remains keenly interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Following is a youtube video of an interview that Carter gave earlier this year at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas:
As President, Carter had the misfortune of being in office during one of the worst economic slumps in US history, when interest rates jumped above 20%. His innovations include the creation of two new cabinet departments: (Energy and Education) and he established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. In foreign affairs, He pursued the Camp David Peace Accord in an effort to bring peace to the volatile middle east, negotiated the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. One of Carter's strong passions was international human rights. His term ended with the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis in which US embassy personnel were held hostage in Iran and an attempt to rescue them was botched. His term was also marred by the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
By 1980, Carter's popularity had was at a very low point. He was challenged for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination by Senator Ted Kennedy and lost the election to Republican Ronald Reagan. On January 20, 1981, minutes after Carter's term in office ended, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Iran were released, ending the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.
After leaving office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center, a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization that works to advance human rights. He has traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, observe elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. He is also active in the Habitat for Humanity project, and also remains keenly interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Following is a youtube video of an interview that Carter gave earlier this year at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas: