After the death of his father in 1953, Carter left his naval career and returned home to Georgia to take up the reins of his family's peanut-growing business. In the general election, Carter ran as an outsider and narrowly defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford. Carter attended the Plains High School from 1937 to 1941. By that time, Archery and Plains had been impoverished by the Great Depression, but the family benefited from New Deal farming subsidies, and Earl took a position as a community leader. Young Jimmy was a diligent student with a fondness for reading. Though they barely broke even the first year, the Carters grew the business and became quite successful.