He married Rosalynn Smith on July 7, 1946. A fter leaving the navy, he returned to Plains and became a farmer and peanut warehouse owner. He served in the United States Navy, then became a farmer and warehouse owner. From 1963 until 1967, he served as a representative to the Georgia legislature, and from 1970 until 1974, he was the Governor of Georgia. He won the Democratic Party nomination in 1976, and narrowly defeated incumbent Gerald Ford to become the 39th president of the United State, serving from 1977 to 1981.
H is Domestic policies included emphasis on energy, deregulation and environmental protection.
During his tenure as president, Carter created a comprehensive energy program, deregulation of energy, transportation, communications, and finance, and undertaking major programs under the new Department of Education, and the passage of the Alaska Lands Act. C arter's foreign policy achievements included negotiating the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. However, his popularity suffered as a result of mounting domestic economic pressures, the long seizure of U.S. hostages in Iran, and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. President Carter sought a second term of office, but Ronald Regain won the 1980 election. A fter his term of office as President, he and his wife, Rosalynn Smith Carter, founded The Carter Center and The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, both which share the same campus in Atlanta, Georgia.