Jimmy Carter is best known for his U.S. presidency (1977-81) and his extensive public and charitable service after retiring from the presidency. His political thought combined moderate Democratic Party policy with a strong Evangelical Christian faith.

Born on a farm in Georgia, Carter was known for his disciplined, intellectual life. His high performance as a student led to his entering the prestigious U.S. Naval Academy in 1942. After serving as an officer in the navy, Carter returned to his home to run the family farm and business in Georgia. In 1962, his political career began in the state senate, followed by election as governor of Georgia in 1970.

Carter's sudden rise to national politics followed the political scandals of Watergate and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. America felt a shame and disillusionment with politics, and Jimmy Carter's honesty, decency, Christian ethics, and morality won him wide support. Despite his popularity, his presidency was plagued with economic and international problems: a long business recession marked by both high unemployment and inflation, and the national disgrace of Iran taking Americans hostage in the embassy in Teheran. Still, President Carter's administration is remembered as successful in achieving the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty (between Israel and Egypt)--personally negotiated by Carter--and full diplomatic relations with China. Domestically, Carter accomplished civil-service reform, environmental legislation, and energy policy. Carter's tenure as president was marked by high standards of morals and idealism growing from his evangelical faith. An active Baptist, he infused his political activities with religious values and saw his public service as a calling from God.

As such, Jimmy Carter's political philosophy drew from a Conservative, evangelical Christianity, theologically drawn from St. Augustine, John Calvin, and Reinhold Niebuhr. As a Baptist he believed in the strict separation of church and state refusing to allow worship services in the White House. His evangelical Christianity believes in a personal, individual relationship to God that would lead to noble social work and dedication. This Reformed Protestant worldview also believed in realism: that humans are naturally sinful and selfish and the world always dominated by love of money and power. Quoting Niebuhr, Carter said, "The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world." Like St. Augustine, Carter never expected politics to create a perfect humanity or society, but he believed that Christians are obliged to strive to improve the world with greater justice, freedom, equality and charity. Internationally, this led Carter to work for human rights around the world, especially in the Soviet Union. Domestically, this was expressed in his famous "national malaise" speech of July 1979, which criticized American materialism and consumerism from a Christian viewpoint. Despite his enjoying the admiration of most Americans, the economic crisis in the late 1970s caused Carter to lose the presidential election to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

However, Jimmy Carter had even greater political influence after retiring from the presidency through his international diplomacy, various political and economic assistance programs out of his Carter Center, and his personal church and charitable activities. Carter negotiated peace accords in Haiti, Korea, and Sudan, preventing bloody wars. The Carter Center in Atlanta sponsors programs promoting worldwide democracy, economic development, health care, and urban revitalization (such as the African Governance Program; the Human Rights Program; Interfaith Health Program; the Commission on Radio and Television Policy; and the Task Force on Child Survival). Carter explained that after being president, he could effectively raise millions of dollars for such programs to improve the world. He also worked personally through Habitat For Humanity, a private organization dedicated to building houses for the poor. As a teacher, writer, poet, and lay religious leader, Jimmy Carter represented a Renaissance man to the 20th century and continued to influence the world greatly after the end of his official political career.

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