Over more than two centuries, American Presidents have run the gamut from the very able to borderline incompetent. Some have increased the prestige of the office; others have diminished it. Very few, however, have brought dignity and gravitas to the office itself after they left it. And none has done so to the degree of the thirty-ninth president, Jimmy Carter. Twenty-two years after he lost his campaign for re-election, President Carter's exemplary devotion to peace, justice, and human dignity was recognized by his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor no American president had achieved since Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Theodore Roosevelt (1906). In 1980 a repudiated national leader, Carter emerged from devastating political and personal defeat to manifest the very best in American…
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Citation: Dougherty, David C.. "Jimmy Carter". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5827, accessed 22 November 2024.]
