Peanut farmer to President: Jimmy Carter's unprecedented path into politics and beyond

As accolades and tributes pour in for James Earl Carter Jr., who turns 100 on Tuesday, you'll probably hear the description, "he was a better former president than president” as the most common appraisal of his life and career.

As governor of Georgia, Carter ran as a Washington reformer. He was elected president in 1976 by a nation weary of the long-running Watergate scandal.

Carter's administration, however, was crippled by number of problems, including an energy crisis that created shortages and long lines at gas stations, rising inflation, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the seizure of U.S. hostages in Iran.

After his resounding defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election, Carter left Washington – but not politics.

He became an elder statesman, founding the nonprofit Carter Presidential Center in 1982, an organization at Emory University in Atlanta for his focus on ending conflicts, promoting democracy and human rights, and preventing disease.

He volunteered to mediate disputes between the U.S. and other nations, including North Korea and Libya. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his diplomacy efforts.

Carter also joined Habitat for Humanity in 1984, the start of a long relationship in which he and his wife, former first lady Rosalynn, helped build affordable housing.

Rosalynn Carter, 98, died Nov. 19, 2023.

Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States, serving from Jan. 20, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. This was his path to the White House and beyond:

Oct. 1 , 1924

Carter is born in Plains, Georgia. His father was a peanut warehouser and his mother a registered nurse.

June 5, 1946

Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy and is assigned to the USS Wyoming as an ensign. He marries Rosalynn Smith that same year.

July 3, 1947

The Carters’ first child, John William, is born. He is the first of four children: James Earl III, on April 12, 1950; Donnel Jeffrey, on Aug. 18, 1952; and Amy Lynn, on Aug. 19, 1967.

1948

Carter and his family move to New London, Connecticut, when he is accepted into a six-month submarine officer training school. He and his family move to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

June 5, 1949

Promoted to lieutenant (j.g.).

June 1, 1952

Promoted to lieutenant.

Oct. 9, 1953

Carter receives an honorable discharge from the Navy after his father’s death. He served 7 years, 4 months and 8 days. He returns to Georgia and works on the family farm for 8 years before entering public service.

1962

Carter announces he’ll run for the Georgia Senate. He loses in the first count to Homer Moore but asks for a recount. A new election is ordered, and he wins.

Nov. 3, 1970

Carter wins the Georgia governor’s race, defeating Republican candidate Hal Suit.

Jan. 12, 1971

Carter shocks the Georgia crowd at his inaugural address by stating that the “time for racial discrimination is over.”

Dec. 13, 1974

Carter announces his candidacy for president. He positions himself as a Washington outsider and political reformer.

October 1976

The public is stunned when, in an interview with Playboy magazine published a month before the election, Carter says: “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.”

Nov. 2, 1976

Carter defeats Gerald Ford and wins the presidential election with 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240. He becomes the 39th president on Jan. 20, 1977.

Jan. 21, 1977

Carter pardons draft evaders from the Vietnam War years.

Sept. 7, 1977

Carter and Panamanian Chief of Government Omar Torrijos sign the Panama Canal Treaty, which gives control of the canal to Panama by 2000.

Dec. 31, 1977

Carter meets with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in Tehran, calls Iran “an island of stability” in the Middle East.

Sept. 17, 1978

Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sign the Camp David Accords, considered the administration’s most significant foreign policy achievement. The pact establishes diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt and calls for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.

Dec. 15, 1978

Carter administration grants China full diplomatic status.

June 18, 1979

Carter signs second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) with the Soviet Union.

July 15, 1979

In a nationally televised address, Carter delivers his “malaise” speech in which he says public faith and confidence in the government and its leaders must be restored. This reinforces the public perception by some of Carter as a weak president.

July 18, 1979

Five Carter Cabinet members resign.

Sept. 14, 1979

Carter gets the lowest approval rating of any president in past 30 years in a Washington Post poll.

Nov. 4, 1979

Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens are taken hostage in Iran. The crisis will last 444 days.

Jan. 23, 1980

In his State of Union address, Carter announces the “Carter Doctrine,” saying that threats in the Persian Gulf will be considered threats against U.S. interests.

April 17, 1980

Carter says the U.S. economy is in recession. Inflation rate is 10%, and interest rates reach 18%.

April 22, 1980

U.S. Olympic Committee boycotts Moscow Olympics in support of Carter's protest against Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

April 25, 1980

Public learns of “Desert One” failure, in which several U.S. military personnel are killed during failed rescue attempt of hostages in Iran.

June 1980

Carter’s approval rating is lowest of any president since 1945.

Nov. 4, 1980

Ronald Reagan decisively defeats Carter for the presidency, 489 electoral votes to 49.

Jan. 20, 1981

The Carters leave Washington after Reagan’s inauguration. The hostages in Iran are released.

July 16, 1982

Plans are drawn up for The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates worldwide peace and health. Over the years, the center will monitor 107 elections in 39 countries.

March 1984

The Carters begin a long-term involvement with Habitat for Humanity.

Oct. 29, 1996

Carter publishes his 20th book, “Living Faith,” an account of how his Christian faith has influenced his public and private life.

Dec. 10, 1998

The United Nations awards Carter with one of six Human Rights Prizes for “international defense of human rights.”

Aug. 9, 1999

President Bill Clinton awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Carters, citing the Camp David Accords and their humanitarian efforts.

Oct. 11, 2002

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards Carter the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002. The award cites Carter’s “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

June 5, 2004

Rosalyn Carter christens the USS Jimmy Carter, a Seawolf-class submarine.

Feb. 6, 2006

Carter’s son Jack is defeated by Republican John Ensign for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat.

April 1, 2008

Carter publishes his 25th book, “A Remarkable Mother,” which celebrates his late mother, known as Miss Lillian.

August 2015

Carter undergoes radiation therapy for liver cancer. He’s later diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer that has spread to his brain. He receives a new type of cancer treatment.

March 2016

Carter announces his treatment is successful and says he’s cancer-free.

October 2019

Carter turns 95 on Oct. 1. He sustains a black eye and requires 14 stitches after falling at home on Oct. 6, but he travels to Tennessee that evening to speak to Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

July 2021

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary. They were the longest-married first couple.

Feb. 18, 2023

Carter, 98, ends further medical treatment and enters hospice care at home after a series of short hospital stays.

Nov. 19, 2023

Rosalynn Carter, age 96, dies in Plains, Georgia.

Oct. 1, 2024

Carter turns 100.

CONTRIBUTINGSusan Page/USA TODAY

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; University of Virginia, Miller Center; cartercenter.org

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peanut farmer to President: Jimmy Carter's unprecedented path into politics and beyond