Jimmy Carter, from peanuts to the Nobel Peace PrizeJimmy Carter, from peanuts to the Nobel Peace Prize
At the White House (1977-1981) he signed the Camp David agreements and the nuclear treaty with Moscow. The failed blitz of hostages in Tehran cost him re-election. So he returned to peanuts and to take care of human rights
“I have committed adultery several times because I have desired many women.” He confessed, just before being elected President, in a river interview granted to Playboy, a newspaper certainly not in line with his strict religious principles. Jimmy Carter was born in Georgia in 1924. The family has a small farm in a poor area mainly inhabited by African Americans. The father is for racial segregation but does not prevent Jimmy from dating the children of the laborers.
In 1943 Jimmy entered the Naval Academy(his height of 1.75 is at the minimum limit). At the age of 22, having just graduated in nuclear engineering, he married Rosalynn, with whom he had four children. He interrupted the secure military career in 1953, when his father died, to save the family business. The beginning is traumatic: Jimmy and Rosalynn end up living in communal houses for the poor but do not give up. He studies agricultural techniques, she manages techniques and soon peanut production becomes a profitable business.
Carter is an influential member of the Baptist Church and in 1962 he was elected to the Georgia Senate. Defending civil rights in the deep South is not easy or popular but he finds the way, with a lot of cunning.
A governor candidate in 1970, he stalked, expressing respect for Luther King but, at the same time, courting segregationist leader Wallace. It disappoints blacks but wins the election and as Governor surprises everyone, declaring the time for racial segregation to be over. In 1976 he won the Democratic primaries.
In that climate, being away from Washington, in every sense, help Carter get to the White House. The amnesty for the Vietnamese deserters was the first act of an unlucky presidency, marked by alternating phases of inflation and recession and the extremely serious energy crisis. Carter did well in foreign policy, signing the Camp David agreements on the Middle East and the nuclear treaty with the Soviets.
Then came the terrible 1979, with the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and above all the Iranian crisis, with the 58 Americans taken a hostage at the Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. The crisis lasted more than a year and, after the tragically failed blitz of April 1980, it cost Carter re-election. The hostages were finally freed, not coincidentally, on January 20, 1981, the day of the
Jimmy Carter went back to cultivating peanuts but a year later he started, with his own Foundation, an intense activity in favor of peace and human rights that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 and that still accredits him as a famous leader esteemed worldwide. At 92 and after defeating cancer, he has 36 years of post-presidency. He is not considered a great President but, in an Ex ranking, Jimmy Carter is certainly first, for longevity and prestige.