                         JIMMY (JAMES EARL) CARTER

Jimmy (James Earl) Carter, 39th president, Democrat, was the first president
from the Deep South since before the Civil War. He was born October 1, 1924
at Plains, Ga., where his parents, James and Lillian Gordy Carter, had a farm
and several businesses. He attended Georgia Tech, and graduated from the U.S
Naval Academy. He entered the Navy's nuclear submarine program as an aide to
Admn. Hyman Rickover, and studied nuclear physics at Union College.

His father died in 1953 and Carter left the Navy to take over the family
businesses -- peanut-raising, warehousing, and cotton-ginning. He was elected
to the Georgia state senate, was defeated for governor, 1966, but elected in
1970. Carter won the democratic nomination and defeated President Gerald R.
Ford in the election of 1976.

In 1979, Carter played a major role in the peace negotiations between Israel
and Egypt. In November, Iranian student militants attacked the U.S. embassy
in Teheran and held members of the embassy staff hostage. During 1980, Carter
was widely criticized for the poor state of the economy and high inflation.
He was alo viewed as weak in his handling of foreign policy. He was defeated
by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.
