The same year, he married Rosalynn, and together they operated Carter’s Warehouse, a seed and farm store in Georgia.
Carter’s political career took off in 1962, when he was elected to the Georgia Senate, later becoming governor of the Peach State in 1971.
Five years later, he was elected president of the United States, during which he oversaw several international diplomacy efforts, including the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords and the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union.
“We have learned that ‘more’ is not necessarily ‘better,’ that even our great nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems,” he said in his inauguration speech. “We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future. So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best.”
Following his time in the White House, he turned his attention to education. Carter became a professor at Emory University in Atlanta in the 1980s, founding The Carter Center and authoring more than 30 books throughout his life.
