I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3665

To award congressional gold medals to former President Jimmy Carter and 

his wife Rosalynn Carter in recognition of their outstanding service 

to the United States and to the world. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 8, 2003

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To award congressional gold medals to former President 

Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter in recognition of their outstanding service to the United States 

and to the world.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) President Jimmy Carter and his wife, First 

6 Lady Rosalynn Carter, epitomize the best qualities 

7 in American service, volunteerism, and statesman8 ship, through their life work in Plains, Georgia, and 
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1 throughout the world. Since leaving the White 

2 House, the Carters have redefined the role of ex3 President to help broker peace and fight disease 

4 worldwide. 

5 (2) President and Mrs. Carter have selflessly 

6 distinguished themselves as exemplary public serv7 ants, both in the United States and throughout the 

8 world. 

9 (3) Jimmy Carter, born James Earl Carter, Jr. 

10 in 1924, attended Georgia Southwestern College and 

11 the Georgia Institute of Technology and received his 

12 B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946. 

13 He then served the United States from 1946 until 

14 1953, including service on the battleship USS 

15 Pomfret in the Pacific and on the nuclear submarine 

16 Sea Wolf. 

17 (4) Later, Mr. Carter did graduate work in nu18 clear physics at Union College. 

19 (5) After his service in the Navy, Mr. Carter re20 turned to Plains and became a successful business21 man and farmer. 

22 (6) In Plains, Mr. Carter dedicated himself to 

23 local public service as Chairman of the Sumter 

24 County School Board, Chairman of the County Hos25 pital Authority, President of the Plains Development 
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1 Corporation, and President of the Crop Improve2 ment Association. 

3 (7) After the landmark 1954 Supreme Court 

4 decision Brown v. Board of Education held that seg5 regation in the public schools was unconstitutional, 

6 a White Citizens’ Council movement in Plains was 

7 organized in opposition. When Mr. Carter refused to 

8 join in protest, his business was boycotted. 

9 (8) Jimmy Carter served two consecutive two10 year terms in the Georgia Senate. Rosalynn Carter 

11 was an important confidant. 

12 (9) Mr. Carter was elected Governor of the 

13 State of Georgia in 1970, and called for an end to 

14 racial discrimination in his 1971 inaugural address. 

15 (10) President Carter was inaugurated as the 

16 thirty-ninth President of the United States on Jan. 

17 20, 1977. 

18 (11) As First Lady of the United States, 

19 Rosalynn Carter focused national attention on the 

20 performing arts. She invited to the White House 

21 leading classical artists from around the world, as 

22 well as traditional American artists. She also took a 

23 strong interest in programs to aid mental health, the 

24 community, and the elderly. From 1977 to 1978, 

25 she served as the Honorary Chairperson of the 
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1 President’s Commission on Mental Health. She also 

2 served as the President’s personal emissary to Latin 

3 American countries. 

4 (12) President Carter’s domestic accomplish5 ments included a long-term program designed to 

6 solve the mounting energy shortfalls, including a 

7 limit on imported oil, gradual price decontrol on do8 mestically produced oil, a stringent program of con9 servation, and development of alternative sources of 

10 energy such as solar, nuclear, and geothermal power, 

11 oil and gas from shale and coal, and synthetic fuels; 

12 an overhaul of the civil-service system; creation of 

13 new Departments of Education and Energy; deregu14 lation of the airlines to stimulate competition and 

15 lower fares; and environmental efforts that included 

16 passage of a law preserving vast wilderness areas of 

17 Alaska. 

18 (13) President Carter’s foreign policy achieve19 ments included negotiating the Panama Canal trea20 ties; the historic Camp David Accords between 

21 Israeli Premier Menahem Begin and Egyptian Presi22 dent Anwar el-Sadat, which provided the foundation 

23 for a settlement of the Middle East dispute that had 

24 eluded peacemakers for more than three decades; the 

25 SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union; and the es-
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1 tablishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s 

2 Republic of China. 

3 (14) After serving as President and First Lady 

4 of the United States, President and Mrs. Carter 

5 built the Carter Center in Atlanta, a nonprofit orga6 nization promoting international peace, human 

7 rights, conflict resolution, democracy and economic 

8 development and the fight against poverty, hunger 

9 and disease in some 65 countries throughout the 

10 world, and particularly in developing countries. Mrs. 

11 Carter currently serves as Vice Chair of the Carter 

12 Center, where she leads a program to diminish stig13 ma against mental illness and to promote greater ac14 cess to mental health care. 

15 (15) Since 1982, President and Mrs. Carter 

16 have been active volunteers and serve on the Inter17 national Board of Advisors of the Habitat for Hu18 manity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy 

19 people in the United States and in some 44 other 

20 countries renovate and build homes for themselves. 

21 Since its founding in 1976, Habitat for Humanity 

22 has built over 30,000 homes. 

23 (16) In December 2002, President Carter re24 ceived the Nobel Peace Prize for his ‘‘decades of 

25 untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to inter-
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1 national conflicts, to advance democracy and human 

2 rights, and to promote economic and social develop3 ment’’. 

4 (17) President Carter currently teaches Sunday 

5 school and is a deacon in the Maranatha Baptist 

6 Church of Plains. He is a distinguished professor 

7 and lecturer at Emory University. 

8 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS. 

9 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

10 the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem11 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

12 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of gold 

13 medals of appropriate design to former President Jimmy 

14 Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, in recognition of 

15 their life work and service to the United States. 

16 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 

17 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

18 of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 

19 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike gold medals with suitable em20 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

21 Secretary. 

22 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

23 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre24 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

25 bronze of the gold medals struck pursuant to section 2 
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1 at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the bronze medals 

2 (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 

3 overhead expenses) and the cost of the gold medals. 

4 SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

5 The medals struck under this Act are national medals 

6 for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

7 SEC. 5. FUNDING AND PROCEEDS OF SALE. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be 

9 charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

10 Fund such amounts as may be necessary, not to exceed 

11 $60,000, to pay for the cost of the medals struck pursuant 

12 to this Act. 

13 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

14 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be 

15 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

16 Fund.

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