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. Despite being a dark-horse candidate who was little known outside of Georgia at the start of the campaign, Carter won the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. In the general election, Carter ran as an outsider and narrowly defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford. Carter was sworn in as the 76th Governor of Georgia on January 12, 1971. He declared in his inaugural speech that 'the time of racial discrimination is over. ... No poor, rural, weak, or black person should ever have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity for an education, a job or simple justice.' 'The rising stock of Jimmy Carter: The 'hands on' legacy of our thirty-ninth President'. Diplomatic History. 20 (4): 505–530.
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