Jimmy Carter: An American Hero

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Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in Jimmy Carter: An American Hero, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your Jimmy Carter: An American Hero paper at affordable prices!The term American has been around in widespread use ever since the revolutionary war and the great nation known as America was formed in 1776. But have you ever stopped to think about what it really means to be an American? Who would you choose as a good role model or example of an American? To me an American is someone who embodies the love of freedom and the willingness to defend that freedom. It is a person who believes in equality for all races and who works to ensure those rights. An American is one who reaches out to those who are less fortunate and does what he/she can to improve the standard of living for all people. If I were to choose someone who I thought was a real American, it would have to the thirty-ninth president of the United States, Jimmy Carter. I admire him not only for the many great foreign policies and treaties that he arranged during his tenure as president, but for the enormous strides he has made for the equality of blacks, and the great things he has done for charity and for America in general since his time in office has ended.

President Jimmy Carter was born James Earl Carter Jr. in Plains, Georgia, on October 1, 14. The eldest of four children, he grew up near Plains, where his father farmed and operated a small country store. Carter attended school in Plains and was raised in a conservative and evangelical Baptist church, which had a strong influence on his life. Even so, he did not embrace the conservative political philosophy of his church. His father, a traditional Southerner, would not allow any black to enter his home. Despite that fact, Carter never took on his father's racist point of view.

Jimmy Carter went on to serve his country in the United States Naval Academy and was stationed in Annapolis. In 146, Carter graduated the Naval Academy 5th in a class of 80. In July of that year he married Rosalynn Smith. Carter's naval career began with service on battleships, but after two years he was accepted to submarine duty. After serving on the USS Pomfret in the Pacific, he was selected as one of a group of officers to work under Admiral Hyman Rickover on the nuclear submarine program. Rickover had a profound effect on Carter, who after studying nuclear physics at Union College in Schenectady, New York, served on the crew of the nuclear submarine Sea Wolf. In 15, following the death of his father, Carter resigned from the Navy and returned home to Plains to take over the family farm business.

Success seemed to follow Carter wherever he went. He stared a fertilizer business, increased his landholdings, and acquired a cotton gin, a peanut-shelling plant, a farm-supply operation, and several warehouses. By the time he ran for president in 176, he owned over three thousand acres of land and had assets totaling well over one million dollars.

While establishing himself as a successful businessman and farmer, Carter began his public career as chairman of the Sumter county (Ga.) school board. He also served as chairman of the county hospital authority, as president of the Plains Development Corporation, and as president of the Crop Improvement Association.

In 154, following the Supreme Court decision that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Georgia and the entire South, underwent a period of social upheaval. In Plains, a White Citizen's Council movement was organized, and when Carter refused to join, many of his businesses were boycotted for some time. Despite this Carter still refused to give up his morals. He supported a plan to consolidate and integrate the schools, that was unfortunately defeated. Nonetheless, the episode stimulated Carter's political ambition, and when a new state senatorial district was created in the area during the legislative reapportionment of 16, Carter decided to run for the seat.

After the election it was first believed that Carter had lost, however, blatant ballot-box stuffing on behalf of his opponent resulted in a long legal battle that ultimately brought victory in the primary and in the general election. He served two consecutive two year terms in the Georgia Senate, during which he built a record of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism. He was particularly interested in improving education and social relations with the black community.

In 166, Carter ran for governorship of Georgia, but placed third in the Democratic primary. He immediately began to prepare for another campaign in 170 and defeated the former governor Carl Sanders in the primary and was elected governor in the November general election. He gained national attention with his inaugural address in 171, in which he called for an end to racial discrimination. He was viewed by the national press as a forerunner to the more moderate social and racial attitudes emerging in the New South. His term as governor was marked by the appointment of increased numbers of black citizens to state boards and agencies, and the placement of a large picture of late civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the state capitol building, a move that would have been inconceivable in earlier years. He reorganized state government, abolishing some 00 offices, boards, and commissions and consolidating their functions into twenty-two new agencies. He instituted zero-based budgeting, a system that required state officials to justify every budget request. He also instituted passage of a "sunshine law" to open government meetings to the public. He added large tracts of wilderness area to the state parks system and pushed for adoption of environmental legislation to protect the state's wild rivers. He supported reinstitution of the death penalty in Georgia, and worked for stiffer sentences for drug violations.

Jimmy Carter was not eligible for a second term as governor, so he began a campaign to run for the presidency of the United States of America almost immediately after his term expired in January of 175. He sensed that the American public was looking for a candidate who was not connected with Washington and the Watergate scandal of the Vietnam War. His campaign was based on moderate positions on most major issues, and he set a moral tone for the election by promising never to lie to the American people and to institute a government that was compassionate and responsible. Needing to prove himself as a vote-getter, he entered most of the thirty presidential primaries. Carter began to win many of the primary elections and he eventually eliminated all other candidates and went on to a first-ballot selection at the national convention in New York. He chose Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate, gaining a Northern liberal to balance the ticket. His main competition for the presidency was incumbent President Gerald Ford, who took office after Richard Nixon had to resign due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon was unpopular with many voters. Carter went on to win the election of 176 by a narrow margin. His victory might have been hinged on his strong performances in the three presidential debates which convinced many voters of his worthy presidential stature.

Carter was Inaugurated on January 0, 177. He undertook to establish human rights as a tenet of American policy. His frequent criticism of nations that violated basic human rights and his pleas in behalf of Soviet dissidents angered the Soviet government. In spite of these differences Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev signed the strategic arms limitation treaty (SALT II) in Vienna in June 17, setting limits on the number of Soviet and U.S. nuclear weapons systems. The treaty ,however, was placed in limbo by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 17, which led to Carter's insistence on an American boycott of the 180 Olympic Games held in Moscow. The highlight of Carter's foreign policy came on March 6, 17, with the signing of a peace treaty by Israeli Premier Menahem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat. The so-called Camp David accord represented a high point in the Carter presidency.

The biggest problem facing President Carter was the seizure in November 17, by radical Iranian students, of American diplomats and embassy employees in Teheran. More than a year of inconclusive negotiations with the Iranian government, plus a failed airborne attempt to rescues the hostages hurt Carter's appearance. Many people were dissatisfied with Carter's handling of the hostage seizure and many people blamed his administration for not protecting the embassy in the first place. The Iran hostage crisis dramatically hurt Carter's chances of reelection in 180. The Democratic party later decided that Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts should run for president. Carter beat Kennedy in the primaries but with a divided party he lost the election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan.

In mid-17, in the wake of widespread shortages of gasoline, Carter advanced a long-term project designed to help solve the energy problem. He proposed a limit on imported oil, gradual price decontrol on domestically produced oil, a stringent program of conservation, and development of alternative sources of energy such as solar, nuclear, and geothermal power, oil and gas from shale and coal, and synthetic fuels. This was probably his most significant domestic legislative accomplishment. Other domestic accomplishments were approval of the Carter plan to overhaul the civil-service system, making it easier to fire incompetents; creation of new departments of education and energy; deregulation of the airlines to stimulate competition and lower fares; and environmental efforts that included passage of a law preserving the vast wilderness areas of Alaska.

In 18, after his presidency had ended, Carter became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded The Carter Center. Actively guided by Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy. Carter Center associates and staff join with him in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. Through the Global 000 program, the Center advances agriculture in the developing world. President Carter and his wife are regular volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization the helps needy people in the United States and in other countries around the world.

For his love of America and his desire to preserve the vast beauty of this great nation, for his desire to serve his country both in the military and in government, for his belief in justice and equality for all, for his efforts in brokering peace agreements and his continued example of helping his fellow man, Jimmy Carter exemplifies what it means to be an American.

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