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Jimmy Carter was born and grew up in the tiny, southwest Georgia town of Plains. Jimmy Carter’s roots in Georgia were strong and deep. His family had originated in Virginia with the arrival in 1637 of Thomas Carter. Like other colonists, the Carter family spread out, some settling in eastern North Carolina, and others going farther south. Two hundred years ago, Jimmy Carter’s ancestor Kindred Carter arrived in Georgia. There he stayed, having found what he had been looking for-good, rich soil and lush forests that could be easily cleared, planted, and tilled. When Kindred Carter died in 1800, he left his family three hundred acres suitable for growing cotton and wheat and for raising horses, cattle, mules, and pigs. Farming was the work of the Carter family for generations. As the Carter sons grew to manhood, they branched into other Georgia counties where they bought more land and raised families of their own. Although the civil war temporarily interrupted their prosperity, in time they rebuilt their holdings. The Carters, after all, were known to be very hard workers. Life for Lillian and Earl Carter, Jimmy Carter’s parents, was worlds apart from the way most families live today. Like most southerners then, they had no electricity and no plumbing. On frigid winter nights, Jimmy would fall asleep snuggled against warm bricks that had been heated on the stove, wrapped, and carried to his bed. “We weren’t rich, but we weren’t poor,” Jimmy’s mother Lillian said, “We lived very, very well in terms of having what we wanted.” (Smith, P14) In 1929, the year his second sister, Ruth, was born, Jimmy became a pint-sized, five-year-old entrepreneur. Every morning he would get up at dawn. Jimmy Carter would be barefoot and shirtless, and would pull his little wagon out to the peanut fields, tug at the peanuts till they were on the ground, shake the dirt off their veins, then pile them into his wagon. Back home, he would then pull the nuts from the vines, wash them, and soak them overnight. The next morning he would build a fire in the backyard and boil his peanuts in a black pot over the fire. When that was done, he would carefully measure out half a pound of peanuts to put in each of twenty bags. After breakfast he would gather up the bags and set out on foot for Plains. At Plains, Jimmy Carter would sell each bag for five cents. He would usually earn a dollar a day. Years later, after high school, Jimmy wanted to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. He was unable to get an appointment and had to wait until one year later. Meaning, he would have to go to another college first. To Jimmy the delay seemed interminable. By then the United States had entered into World War II and he longed to be among the elite corps of future naval officers training at Annapolis to fight in it. When Jimmy Carter finally made it to Annapolis he spent his first year completely miserable and homesick. Others called him “Plebe”. Plebes were considered to be the lowest form of human life, they were subjected to a nonstop barrage of hazing, humiliation, and insults from upperclassman. Because of his southwest Georgia accent, he was constantly teased about being a hillbilly or a hick from the sticks or a hayseed. Despite everything, he was determind to make it through. As years went on he continued his education and married a lady named Rosalynn. He met Rosalynn through his sister. Rosalynn was there years younger than Jimmy, and he would oftentimes see her at his house with his sister. Jimmy Carter always dismissed her as “an insignificant little girl.” It wasn’t until he came home for a visit and saw her, and realized how things changed. Right after the wedding Jimmy was assigned to the United States Navy. The year 1946 was a difficult time to begin a career as a young officer in the United States Navy.
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