ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Exactly 50 years ago, a one-term Georgia governor completed one of the most improbable political ascents in American history.

On Nov. 2, 1976, James Earl Carter Jr. was elected the 39th president of the United States. In a post-Watergate nation searching for trust, the peanut farmer from Plains narrowly unseated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford, vaulting from the Georgia statehouse to the White House and redefining the modern presidential primary along the way.

From Plains to Pennsylvania Avenue

Virtually unknown outside the South when he launched his bid, Carter ran on an uncompromising pledge of honesty and accountability. Born in the tiny farming community of Plains in 1924, he rose from Naval submariner to state senator before winning the Georgia governor’s race in 1970.

After securing the presidency in 1976, the only Georgian to ever reach the Oval Office set an immediate tone for his populist style by breaking tradition and walking down Pennsylvania Avenue during his inaugural parade.

During his term in office, Carter notched historic foreign policy triumphs, including the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, the Panama Canal treaties, and the normalization of diplomatic relations with China.

Domestically, his administration created both the Department of Energy and the Department of Education while enacting landmark environmental safeguards, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

A century of service

Defeated in his 1980 reelection bid by Ronald Reagan, Carter forged what historians widely consider the most consequential post-presidency in American history.

Alongside his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who passed away in November 2023, Carter founded the Atlanta-based Carter Center in 1982 to advance global human rights, eradicate neglected diseases, and monitor international elections — work that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

For 35 years, the couple also served as the tireless, hands-on public face of Habitat for Humanity, building homes alongside volunteers worldwide, while Carter taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains for nearly four decades.

Carter went on to become the longest-lived president in American history. On Dec. 29, 2024, Georgia lost its favorite son when Carter passed away peacefully at his home in Plains at the age of 100.

Fifty years after his breakthrough victory, Carter’s remarkable journey from a rural Sumter County peanut farm to the world stage remains an enduring touchstone of American leadership.

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