Walkabout With Wheels Blog: The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum in Atlanta, Georgia

The Jimmy Carter Presidential
Library & Museum is located
on the grounds of the
Carter Center.

Founded in 1982, the Carter

Center, in partnership with

Emory University, works to:

alleviate human suffering;

improve health; prevent &

resolve conflicts & enhance

freedom & democracy.

This is where Eric & I
will start our tour.

I had our Passport to

Presidential Libraries

here.

After discovering President Hoover's Museum in Iowa, Eric and I have visited Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush's museums. The next time we are in California, Eric and I will visit President Reagan's Museum in Simi Valley.

President Carter's journey to
the White House started in
Plains, Georgia.

After graduating from Plains High School, Jimmy took college classes in preparation of acceptance to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Rosalynn Smith married

Ensign Carter in 1946.

Ensign Carter served on conventional submarines. Graduate studies in Nuclear Physics brought him to Union College in Schenectady, New York. He, Rosalynn and their sons, Jack and Chip, lived at military housing in nearby Rotterdam, just minutes from Eric's mom's house.

Lieutenant Carter was selected by

Admiral Rickover to for the engineering

officer position aboard the Seawolf,

America's second nuclear submarine.

Jimmy's father, Earl Carter, was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1953. Lieutenant Carter resigned his commission to return home to Plains and run the Carter family business... growing peanuts. After working on local boards and in the Georgia State Senate, Jimmy ran for Governor in 1966, and lost.

He won the Governor's race

in 1970 & worked hard to

end segregation in Georgia.

The Man from Plains ran
for President in 1976
& won.

A replica of the Oval Office

President Carter worked in.

This unique portrait of

President Carter is one

of Octavio Ocampo's

"Metamorphic portraits."

Ocampo created this portrait with symbols of United States and the President's personal history.

Like all presidents, Jimmy Carter's term of office was busy. America was struggling with the after effects of the Vietnam War. President Carter pardoned civilians who chose to evade service during the Vietnam War.

Major domestic issues during President Carter's Administration were a sluggish economy, rising inflation, higher fuel costs and conservation and protecting the environment.

Captain America joined

Rosalynn, Amy &

President Carter to

promote energy saving.

The military was strengthened
to increase our nation's
National Defense.

Presidents Carter & Xiaoping

of China agreed to begin

official diplomatic relations

on January 1, 1979.

President Carter & Soviet President
Breshnev signed the SALT II Treaty
on June 18, 1979 to further secure
nuclear weapons.

First Lady Rosalynn Carter

campaigned for the Equal

Rights Amendment.

Despite the efforts of many, the Equal Rights Amendment did not pass in the 38 states needed within its allotted ratification time frame.

Rosalynn started working on Mental Health issues in the White House.

It wasn't all work at the Carter White House.

The President & First Lady

entertained formally &

informally, with family

& friends.

There was time for games.

Music too....

Dizzy Gillespie & friends
"jammed."

Willie Nelson & the President
gave it their all.

Mstislav Rostropovich
performed at the
White House.

The Carter's youngest, Amy, grew up in the White House.

A tree house was built for her.

She met many famous visitors,

including John Travolta.

Amy traveled with her parents

& her world view expanded.

President Carter believed that the United States could help bring peace to the ever-troubled Middle East.

He gambled on meetings at
Camp David with Israeli
Prime Minister Menachem
Begin & Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat.

The hard work paid off. Since the Camp David Accords were signed on September 17,1978, no Egyptians have been killed by Israelis and vice versa.

The Sadats & the Carters

in Egypt

On November 4, 1979,
the US Embassy in
Tehran was captured
by Iranian students.

Sixty-six Americans were taken hostage. Women and African American hostages were released, leaving fifty-one Americans imprisoned. The Carter Administration worked hard to free the hostages without overwhelming use of force.

The USSR invaded Afghanistan in late December, 1979. President Carter responded with economic sanctions, trade embargoes and a boycott of the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow. The United States sent military support tot the Afghan Rebels.

The Hostage Crisis ground on... A rescue attempt failed on April 24, 1980.

President Carter ran for re-election

in November,1980 & lost

to Ronald Reagan.

The US successfully negotiated the release of the US hostages in December, 1979. The Iranians would hold the hostages until the following year.

After 444 days in captivity,
the hostages were freed on
January 20, 1981.

Jimmy, Rosalynn and Amy returned to Plains, Georgia. The future was yet to be charted. The Carters started the Carter Center in 1982 and have been busy since.

The Carter Center is

dedicated to eradicating

preventable diseases.

The Carters and the Carter Center have been working on Mental Health, Guinea Worm, River Blindness, Trachoma, Lymphatic Filariasis & Schistosomiasis. Rosalynn continues working tirelessly on Mental Health education.

Besides all their work at the Carter Center, Jimmy and Rosalynn started building homes for Habitat for Humanity in 1984.