The Presidential Timeline of the Twentieth Century

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Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter aspired to make Government “competent and compassionate,” responsive to the American people and their expectations. His achievements were notable, but in an era of rising energy costs, mounting inflation and continuing international tensions, it was impossible for his administration to meet these high expectations.

Early Life and Career

October 1, 1924 - January 20, 1977

James Earl Carter, Jr., was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1946, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. The Carters have three sons, Jack, Chip and Jeff, and a daughter Amy. After serving in the Navy, Carter returned to Plains in 1953. In 1962 he entered state politics, and eight years later he was elected Governor of Georgia. He attracted national attention by emphasizing ecology, efficiency in government and the removal of racial barriers.

October 1, 1924: James Earl Carter is born in Plains, Georgia, to James Earl and Lillian Gordy Carter.
1941: Carter graduates from Plains High School.
1941: Carter attends Georgia Southwestern College in Americus.
1942: Carter attends Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).
1943: Carter is appointed to the United States Naval Academy, and in the following June, leaves for Annapolis.
June 1946: Carter graduates from the United States Naval Academy in the top tenth of his class.
July 7, 1946: Carter marries Rosalynn Smith.
July 3, 1947: Son John William (Jack) Carter is born.
April 12, 1950: Son James Earl (Chip) Carter, III, is born
July 1, 1951: Carter moves to New London, Connecticut, as the senior officer of the Navy’s first new ship, the K-1, since World War II.
June 1, 1952: Carter is accepted into Admiral Hyman Rickover’s elite nuclear submarine program.
August 18, 1952: Son Donnell Jeffrey (Jeff) Carter is born
November 1952: Carter is assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission’s Naval Reactors Branch. Carter serves as a senior officer on the U.S.S. Seawolf, America’s second nuclear submarine.
December 12, 1952: Carter is a member of a dispatching team at the site of a nuclear reactor meltdown in Chalk River, Canada.
July 1953: Carter’s father James Earl Carter, Sr., dies of pancreatic cancer.
October 9, 1953: Carter is honorably discharged from the Navy and moves his family to Plains, Georgia, to take over his father’s peanut business.
October 1, 1962: Carter tells Rosalynn that he is planning to run for Senate.
October 16, 1962: Carter loses the Democratic primary election for Quitman County State Senator but is seemingly defeated by ballot stuffing and asks for a recount. Carter wins recount.
November 2, 1962: Carter wins the election to Georgia Senate for Quitman County.
June 12, 1966: Carter announces that he will campaign for Governorship of Georgia.
September 15, 1966: Carter loses the Democratic primary for Governor. Experiencing post-election depression, Carter recieves support from his sister, Ruth, an evangelical Christian, marking the beginning of his “born again” experience.
October 19, 1967: Daughter Amy Lynn Carter is born.
April 3, 1970: Carter formally announces he is running for Governor of Georgia as a conservative.
January 12, 1971: Carter becomes Georgia’s seventy-sixth Governor. In his inaugural address, he astonishes the state and catches national attention by announcing that, “the time for racial discrimination is over.”
February 21, 1971: Carter’s Georgia state government reorganization plan is passed, restructuring state services, reducing bureacracy and updating financial management procedures.
May 31, 1971: Carter makes the cover of Time magazine as a representative of the “New South” in political contrast to Southern segregationists.
January 15, 1973: Carter leads the first Georgia celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.
May 4, 1974: Carter gives the "Law Day Address" at the University of Georgia.
December 12, 1974: Carter announces his candidacy for President of the United States.
October 1975: Carter publishes an autobiography, Why Not the Best?
September 23, 1976: Carter attends the first Presidential debate in 16 years with president Gerald Ford in Philadelphia on domestic issues.
November 2, 1976: Carter wins the election for President of the United States.

Presidency

January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981

Winning a close election against President Gerald R. Ford in 1976, Carter became the first president from the Deep South since before the Civil War. Carter could point to a number of achievements in domestic affairs. Unfortunately, inflation and interest rates were at near record highs, and efforts to reduce them caused a short recession. In foreign affairs his achievements included the Camp David Accords and the Panama Canal and SALT II treaties. However, the Iranian hostage crisis dominated the last 14 months of the administration. This and continuing inflation at home, contributed to Carter’s defeat in 1980. Even then, he continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages. Iran finally released the 52 Americans the same day Carter left office.

January 20, 1977: Carter is inaugurated thirty-ninth President of the United States.
January 21, 1977: Carter pardons to draft evaders of the Vietnam War as a symbolic gesture, releasing some 9000 men of jail terms and upgrading 19,000 to “less than honorable” discharges.
March 5, 1977: Carter holds the first presidential phone-in radio broadcast, answering 42 calls and attracting over nine million callers.
March 17, 1977: Carter gives the United Nations Address before the General Assembly, describing his philosophies on human rights.
March 30, 1977: Secretary of State Cyrus Vance presents a SALT II arms reduction proposal to Soviet leadership in Moscow, intending to give the U.S. a unilateral advantage, and is rejected.
April 18, 1977: Carter addresses the nation on the emerging energy “catastrophe,” proposing additional taxes on gasoline and fuel-efficient automobiles.
August 4, 1977: The Department of Energy is established, consolidating the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration into a single agency.
September 7, 1977: Carter and Panamanian President Omar Torrijos Herrera sign the Panama Canal Treaty, handing control of the canal to Panama in 1999 and guaranteeing the canal’s neutrality.
October 5, 1977: Carter signs International Covenants on Human Rights.
June 28, 1978: Supreme Court Case Regents of the University of California vs. Allan Bakke is decided, upholding the constitutionality of affirmative action programs but invalidating quota systems.
September 17, 1978: Carter signs the Camp David Accords producing “a framework for peace” in the Middle East. The Camp David meetings are landmark negotiations between Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian prime minister Anwar Sadat.
October 20, 1978: Carter signs the House of Representatives Resolution for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), ensuring equal rights protected by American law regardless of sex.
November 9, 1978: Carter signs the National Energy Act, deregulating natural gas prices and paving way for similar progress with oil.
December 15, 1978: Carter announces normalization of relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
January 1, 1979: The United States and China establish formal diplomatic realtions for the first time since 1949.
January 29, 1979: Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping visits Washington, D.C. During the nine-day state visit, Deng and Carter agree upon cultural and scientific exchanges.
March 1, 1979: The U.S. recognizes Taiwan as a part of China, and the countries exchange ambassadors and established embassies.
March 28, 1979: The worst nuclear accident in the U.S. occurs at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, and causes serious apprehension of American pursual of atomic energy.
April 5, 1979: Carter addresses the Nation on Energy, announcing the end of domestic support for crude oil and that Americans “will have to use less oil and pay more for it.”
June 12, 1979: Carter proposes National Health Plan to Congress.
June 18, 1979: Carter and the Soviet Union’s Leonid Brezhnev signs the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II (SALT II) Treaty in Vienna, limiting each nations’ strategic weapons.
July 4, 1979: Carter consults with advisors on energy concerns and increasing criticisms of his administration.
July 15, 1979: Carter delivers his “malaise” speech on national television, calling Americans out on their “crisis of confidence.” Though initially received positively, the public eventually attributes problems to Carter’s lack of leadership.
July 17, 1979: Carter asks his cabinet to resign in an attempt to restructure his administration among growing criticism. Thirty-four officials submit resignations.
October 6, 1979: Pope John Paul II visits the White House.
October 17, 1979: The Department of Education is established.
November 4, 1979: The 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis begins when Iranian students take hostage the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in response to the Shah of Iran’s medical stay in the U.S.
December 27, 1979: Soviets invade Afghanistan and install a Soviet-backed leader, Babrak Karmal.
January 23, 1980: In the State of the Union address, Carter announces the “Carter Doctrine,” designating all Soviet military interference in the Middle East a direct threat to U.S. national security.
February 20, 1980: Carter urges U.S. withdrawal from 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow in response to Soviet refusal to withdraw from Afghanistan.
April 24, 1980: In the Iranian hostage rescue attempt “Desert One,” eight men die in helicopter accidents subsequent to Carter’s cancellation of the raid. Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, who opposed the mission, resigns.
August 4, 1980: Carter holds a press conference after controversy, known as “Billygate,” erupts over his brother Billy’s, connection with the Libyan government.
November 4, 1980: Ronald Reagan wins presidential election.
December 2, 1980: Carter signs the Alaska lands legislation, protecting over 100 million acres from exploitation.
December 11, 1980: Carter signs the Superfund Bill, designating 1.6 billion federal dollars to clean up toxic waste dumps.
January 9, 1981: Carter negotiates final terms for release of hostages from the Iran Hostage Crisis.

Post-Presidency

January 20, 1981 - Present

After leaving office, Carter founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, through which he combats disease and poverty in developing countries, monitors elections and mediates conflicts worldwide. His efforts have been recognized with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 and the Noble Prize for Peace in 2002.

January 20, 1981: Hostages from the Iran Hostage Crisis are released. Jimmy Carter leaves Washington.
1982: Carter is appointed University Distinguished Professor at Emory University and founds the Carter Center.
October 1982: Carter’s presidential memoirs Keeping Faith is published.
September 26, 1983: Carter’s sister Ruth Carter Stapleton dies of pancreatic cancer.
November 6, 1983: “Five Years after Camp David” Conference is held at the Carter Center.
September 1, 1984: Carter and wife Rosalynn go to New York with a team of 36 to work on a tenement house for Habitat for Humanity.
1985: Carter publishes The Blood of Abraham, discussing the Middle East peace process.
October 1, 1986: The Carter Center and Jimmy Carter Library are dedicated.
1987: Carter and his wife Rosalynn publish Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of your Life. The book stays on The New York Times’s bestseller list for 10 weeks.
October 21, 1987: The Carter Center convinces pharmaceutical corporation Merck to donate needed drugs to control river blindness in Africa.
September 26, 1988: Carter’s brother Billy Carter dies of pancreatic cancer.
September 7, 1989: The Ethiopian government and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front begin preliminary peace negotiations at the Carter Center.
March 1990: Carter’s sister Gloria Carter Spann dies.
May 16, 1990: Carter monitors Dominican Republic elections.
December 16, 1990: Carter leads initiative to monitor Haiti’s first democratic national elections.
September 2, 1992: Carter and his wife Rosalynn visit countries in Africa to promote the eradication of Guinea worm disease.
October 15, 1993: Former presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush announced they will serve on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) commission.
1994: Carter and his wife Rosalynn facilitate negotiations between Bosnian Muslims and Serbs, leading to a four-month cease fire and continuing peace talks.
June 12, 1994: Carter and his wife Rosalynn discuss nuclear disarmament with North and South Korean leaders.
September 17, 1994: At the request of President Clinton, Carter, General Colin Powell and Georgia Senator Sam Nunn go to Haiti to negotiate terms of departure for the de facto leaders, successfully avoiding multinational invasion.
March 30, 1995: Carter negotiates a two-month cease-fire in Sudan so efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease, prevent river blindness and immunize children could be initiated.
January 18, 1996: Carter and his wife Rosalynn lead a delegation from 11 countries to Jerusalem to observe Palestinian elections.
December 10, 1998: On the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Carter recieves the first United Nations Human Rights Prize.
August 9, 1999: Carter and Mrs. Carter receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
May 12, 2000: The Carter Center monitors elections in the Dominican Republic and praises the process but also calls for improvements.
July 2, 2000: Carter leads delegates to monitor Mexican presidential elections. The elected president Vicente Fox breaks 71 years of Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) rule.
June 2002: Carter becomes the first U.S. president to visit Cuba in over 40 years.
December 10, 2002: Carter receives the Nobel Peace Prize for “decades of untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflict.”