page_title: Jimmy Carter
section_title: Governor of Georgia, 1971–1975
hierarchical_section_title: Jimmy Carter / Governor of Georgia, 1971–1975
caption_attribution_description: English: Florida Governor Reubin Askew and his wife (left) welcome Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and his wife to the reviewing stand to watch the Springtime Tallahassee Parade. Askew and Carter led the parade in the first two cars.
context_page_description: James Earl Carter Jr. is an American politician and philanthropist. He was the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a Georgia State Senator from 1963 to 1967 and the 76th Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.
  Born and raised in Plains, Georgia, Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science degree and joined the United States Navy. In 1953, Carter left his naval career and returned home to Georgia to take charge of the family's peanut-growing business. Carter was politically motivated to protest against racial segregation and support the growing civil rights movement. He became an activist within the Democratic Party. From 1963 to 1967, Carter was in the Georgia State Senate, and in 1970, he was elected as Governor of Georgia, beating former Governor Carl Sanders in the Democratic primary. Carter remained as governor until 1975.
  At first, he was seen as a dark-horse candidate since not many people knew him outside of Georgia at the start of the presidential campaign, Carter won the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination.
context_section_description: Carter became the 76th Governor of Georgia on January 12, 1971. In his inaugural speech, he said 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". Time ran a story on the progressive "New South" governors elected that year in a May 1971 issue. The cover of the magazine had an illustration of Carter.
  Lester Maddox, who Carter replaced as governor, became lieutenant governor. Richard Russell Jr., then President pro tempore of the United States Senate, died in office during Carter's second week in office. Carter appointed David H. Gambrell, state Democratic Party chair, to replace Russell's in the Senate.
  Carter wanted to expand the governor's authority while making the state government easier to run. He supported a bill allowing him to propose executive restructuring and to force a vote on it. The plan was submitted in January 1972, but had a negative reception in the legislature. But after two weeks of negotiations, it was passed. He merged about 300 state agencies into 22 agencies.
  In an April 1971 televised appearance, Carter was asked if he was in favor of a requirement that candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Georgia would have to run on the same ticket. He replied, "I've never really thought we needed a lieutenant governor in Georgia. The lieutenant governor is part of the executive branch of government and I've always felt—ever since I was in the state Senate—that the executive branches should be separate". In July 1971, during an appearance in Columbus, Georgia, Carter announced his plans to create a Georgia Human Rights Council that would work toward solving issues in the state ahead of any potential violence.
  In January 1972, Carter wanted the state legislature to give funding for an Early Childhood Development Program along with prison reform programs and 48 million in pay taxes for nearly all state employees. In April 1972, Carter traveled to Latin and South America for a possible trade deal with Georgia. Carter said that he had met with Brazilian President Emílio Garrastazu Médici. Many compared him to President Kennedy.
  Carter increased the number of black state employees, judges, and board members. He placed portraits of Martin Luther King Jr. in the capitol building, even as the Ku Klux Klan protested the ceremony. During a televised appearance with Governor of Florida Reubin Askew in January 1973, Carter said he supported a constitutional amendment to ban busing to make the process of desegregation in schools faster. He co-sponsored an anti-busing resolution with George Wallace at the 1971 National Governors Conference. which Carter also hosted. Carter signed a new death penalty law after the United States Supreme Court rejected it. Carter later regretted supporting the death penalty, saying, "I didn't see the injustice of it as I do now".
  Carter wanted reforms through the legislature that would give equal state aid to schools in the wealthy and poor areas of Georgia. He helped create centers for mentally handicapped children and education programs for convicts. He also wrote a program that made appointing federal judges based on their experience rather than political party.
  In a controversial decision, he vetoed a plan to build a dam on Georgia's Flint River. He argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was not giving the right numbers on the project's cost and its impact on the region. The veto became popular with environmentalists nationwide.
  Carter was not allowed to run for re-election because of term limits. Looking toward a possible presidential run, Carter became involved in national politics and public appearances. He was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, where Carter hoped he would be George McGovern's running mate. He supported Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, to distance himself from George Wallace. 
  In May 1973, Carter warned the Democratic Party to not make the Watergate scandal a political
caption: Governor Carter with Florida Governor Reubin Askew, 1971
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