President Jimmy Carter Essay -- Biography

President Jimmy Carter The President of Peace Jimmy Carter was born October 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy, a registered nurse. He was educated in the Plains public schools, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith. When his father died in 1953, he resigned a naval commission and returned to Plains. He became involved in the affairs of the community, serving as chairman of the county school board and the first president of the Georgia Planning Association. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on January 12, 1971. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional elections (Hochman html). After only serving one term as governor of Georgia he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on December 12, 1974. He won his party’s nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and was elected the 39th president of the United States on November 2, 1976. During his presidency, Jimmy Carter made many important foreign policy accomplishments, including the Panama Canal treaties, the Diplomatic relations with China, and the Salt II treaty with the Soviet Union. Jimmy Carter’s first foreign policy accomplishment, and by the United States citizens, the most popular, were the Panama Canal treaties. After more than eighty years after the first official ocean-to-ocean transit of the Panama Canal, the United States and Panama embarked on a partnership for the management, operation and defense of the Panama Canal. Under two treaties signed in a ceremony at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, the canal would be operated by the United States until the turn of the century under arrangements designed to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. The treaties were approved by Panama in a plebiscite on October 23, 1977, and th... ...T II treaty being ratified, it set an agreement for the heavy cut back of nuclear weapons for both the United States and the Soviet Union. This was a relief to the citizens of the United States in a sense that the nuclear arms race was coming to a halt. Jimmy Carter was a man who made the most of his opportunities and did what was best, in his mind, for the general public of all United States. The puzzle about the Carter presidency which may never be fully answered is why Jimmy Carter became so unpopular with the media, politicians and the general public, and stayed unpopular during the presidency of his successor. With more political skill, and a good bit more luck, Jimmy Carter might have been a second term president. Works Cited Dumbrell, John. The Carter Presidency: A Re-Evaluation. 2nd ed. Manchester UP, 1995. Hargrove, Erwin C. â€Å"Jimmy Carter as President†: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1998. Hochman, Steven H. Metacrawler.com: October 1, 1997. Lycos.com: September 21, 1997. http:/www.simulations.com/panamacanal/index.htm>. Yahoo.com: March 1, 1998. http:/www.pancanal.com/ctransition/>. President Jimmy Carter Essay -- Biography President Jimmy Carter The President of Peace Jimmy Carter was born October 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy, a registered nurse. He was educated in the Plains public schools, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith. When his father died in 1953, he resigned a naval commission and returned to Plains. He became involved in the affairs of the community, serving as chairman of the county school board and the first president of the Georgia Planning Association. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on January 12, 1971. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional elections (Hochman html). After only serving one term as governor of Georgia he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on December 12, 1974. He won his party’s nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and was elected the 39th president of the United States on November 2, 1976. During his presidency, Jimmy Carter made many important foreign policy accomplishments, including the Panama Canal treaties, the Diplomatic relations with China, and the Salt II treaty with the Soviet Union. Jimmy Carter’s first foreign policy accomplishment, and by the United States citizens, the most popular, were the Panama Canal treaties. After more than eighty years after the first official ocean-to-ocean transit of the Panama Canal, the United States and Panama embarked on a partnership for the management, operation and defense of the Panama Canal. Under two treaties signed in a ceremony at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, the canal would be operated by the United States until the turn of the century under arrangements designed to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. The treaties were approved by Panama in a plebiscite on October 23, 1977, and th... ...T II treaty being ratified, it set an agreement for the heavy cut back of nuclear weapons for both the United States and the Soviet Union. This was a relief to the citizens of the United States in a sense that the nuclear arms race was coming to a halt. Jimmy Carter was a man who made the most of his opportunities and did what was best, in his mind, for the general public of all United States. The puzzle about the Carter presidency which may never be fully answered is why Jimmy Carter became so unpopular with the media, politicians and the general public, and stayed unpopular during the presidency of his successor. With more political skill, and a good bit more luck, Jimmy Carter might have been a second term president. Works Cited Dumbrell, John. The Carter Presidency: A Re-Evaluation. 2nd ed. Manchester UP, 1995. Hargrove, Erwin C. â€Å"Jimmy Carter as President†: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1998. Hochman, Steven H. Metacrawler.com: October 1, 1997. Lycos.com: September 21, 1997. http:/www.simulations.com/panamacanal/index.htm>. Yahoo.com: March 1, 1998. http:/www.pancanal.com/ctransition/>.