Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ
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Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ (James Earl ÉäÉäÎÝ, Jr.), thirty-ninth president of the United States, was born Oct. 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl ÉäÉäÎÝ, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy ÉäÉäÎÝ, a registered nurse.
He was educated in the public school of Plains, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant. Chosen by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, New York, where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf, the second nuclear submarine.
On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. When his father died in 1953, he resigned his naval commission and returned with his family to Georgia. He took over the ÉäÉäÎÝ farms, and he and Rosalynn operated ÉäÉäÎÝ's Warehouse, a general-purpose seed and farm supply company in Plains. He quickly became a leader of the community, serving on county boards supervising education, the hospital authority, and the library. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia's 76th governor on January 12, 1971. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections.
President Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ
On Dec. 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He won his party's nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention and was elected president on Nov. 2, 1976.
Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ served as president from Jan. 20, 1977 to Jan. 20, 1981. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration's achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which doubled the size of the national park system and tripled the wilderness areas.
Books & Accomplishments
ÉäÉäÎÝ is the author of thirty-two books, many of which are now in revised editions: Why Not the Best? (1975, 1996), A Government as Good as Its People (1977, 1996), Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982, 1995), Negotiation: The Alternative to Hostility (1984, 2003), The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East (1985, 1993, 2007), Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, written with Rosalynn ÉäÉäÎÝ (1987, 1995), An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections (1988, 1994), Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age (1992), Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation (1993, 1995), Always a Reckoning and Other Poems, (1995), The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer, illustrated by Amy ÉäÉäÎÝ (1995), Living Faith (1996), Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith (1997), The Virtues of Aging (1998), An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood (2001), Christmas in Plains: Memories (2001), The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (2002), The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War (2003), Sharing Good Times (2004), Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis (2005), Palestine Peace Not Apartheid (2006, 2007), Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope (2007), A Remarkable Mother (2008), We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work (2009), White House Diary (2010), Through the Year with Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President (2011), as general editor, NIV Lessons from the Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ, revised as NSRV Simple Faith Bible (2012, 2020), A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power (2014), The Paintings of Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ (2014), A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety (2015), The Craftsmanship of Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ (2018), and Faith: A Journey for All (2018).
ÉäÉäÎÝ
In 1982, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and with Rosalynn ÉäÉäÎÝ founded ÉäÉäÎÝ. The nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy. ÉäÉäÎÝ Center staff and associates have joined with President ÉäÉäÎÝ in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. The Center has spearheaded the international effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, which is poised to be the second human disease in history to be eradicated.
President ÉäÉäÎÝ and ÉäÉäÎÝ have engaged in conflict mediation in Ethiopia and Eritrea (1989), North Korea (1994), Liberia (1994), Haiti (1994), Bosnia (1994), Sudan (1995), the Great Lakes region of Africa (1995-96), Sudan and Uganda (1999), Venezuela (2002-2003), Nepal (2004-2008), Ecuador and Colombia (2008), the Middle East (2003-present), and Mali (2018-present). Under his leadership ÉäÉäÎÝ has sent 114 election-observation missions to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. These include Panama (1989), Nicaragua (1990), China (1997), Nigeria (1998), Indonesia (1999), East Timor (1999), Mexico (2000), Guatemala (2003), Venezuela (2004), Ethiopia (2005), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2006), Nepal (2008), Lebanon (2009), Sudan (2010), Tunisia (2011), Egypt (2011-2012), Kenya (2013), Mozambique (2014), Myanmar (2016), Liberia (2017), and Guyana (2020).
The permanent facilities of The ÉäÉäÎÝ Presidential Center were dedicated in October 1986, and include the Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives. Also open to visitors is the Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ National Historical Park in Plains, administered by the National Park Service.
Until 2020, Jimmy and Rosalynn ÉäÉäÎÝ volunteered one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes for themselves. He also taught Sunday school in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains. The ÉäÉäÎÝs have three sons, one daughter, nine grandsons (one deceased), three granddaughters, five great-grandsons, and nine great-granddaughters.
On December 10, 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy ÉäÉäÎÝ “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
On February 18, 2023, President ÉäÉäÎÝ decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care.
Revised March 7, 2023, by Steven H. Hochman.
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