FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jimmy Carter, a boy from a small Georgia farming community, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to a career in the elite nuclear submarine program. After his father's death, Carter returned home to run the family peanut farm and warehouse business. In the early 1960s, he entered politics, first as a state senator, then as governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.

Carter, a Washington "outsider" with an honest reputation, became president of the United States in 1976. His many achievements included negotiating the Panama Canal treaties and brokering peace between Israel and Egypt. Unfortunately, President Carter was plagued by domestic and international problems, from double-digit inflation to the Iran hostage crisis, and he was overwhelmingly defeated in his 1980 bid for reelection.