Jimmy Carter Annotated Primary Source

Jimmy Carter

Annotated Primary Source Bibliography

Former President Jimmy Carter and the influence of his faith

Jimmy Carter, a Government as Good as Its People, (Arkansas: University of Arkansas (Press, 1996) is a book that attempts to offer a moral biography of the former president. When Carter came to office, the American people's confidence in their leaders had been shaken by two political earthquakes -- the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Carter, presenting himself as a simple, Christian Georgian peanut farmer was able to win the trust of the American public. Ironically, the same above-the-board honesty that won him office proved in part to be his undoing, as Carter often seemed politically naive in dealing with politicians at home. The book praises Carter's leadership as a statesman as president, both in formulating the Camp David accords and after he left office. Carter's honesty and clear sense of morality gave America credibility abroad, but this credibility did not translate into votes in the Senate and House and home, and thus domestic difficulties, like the energy crisis, were not addressed. This book is an excellent introduction to Carter's ideology and captures the spirit of the time he was in office.

Jimmy Carter, an Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood, (New York: (Simon & Schuster, 2001) is a wonderfully honest memoir by Jimmy Carter about growing up in Georgia in the segregated South. Carter depicts, with unsparing honesty, the hard work of growing up a farmer's son, as the young Carter rose before daylight, plowed the fields with mules, and cut corn and sugar cane by hand. The Carter family was unprejudiced and lived next to and befriended Black families, but in larger Southern society, segregation and prejudice was so accepted, Carter admits he did not question the rightness of the Jim Crow system until much later in life. By learning about the environment in which he grew up, and detailing his moral awakenings as a Christian and as an America, Carter's later passion for justice shines through in this memoir. He explains how the faith of Black farmers influenced and solidified his own system of beliefs as a politician.

Jimmy Carter, Living Faith, (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998) suggests that faith is not an idea, it is a living, breathing thing that must be put into practice, at least according to Jimmy Carter in this spiritual memoir. Carter explains why even after leaving office, he remains committed to the cause of social justice. This is rooted in his Christianity. The book provides important insight into Carter's personal understanding of his Southern Baptist religion, and its positive role in making the world a better place and making him a better man and advocate for social justice.

Jimmy, Carter, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, (New York: Simon & (Schuster, 2006) states that America is in crisis, not simply in an immediate political crisis regarding the Iraq War. In his most recent prose offering, Carter takes on what he sees are the most serious issues of the present day, including the war, violence at home, and global warming. He criticizes the growing gap between rich and poor and the lack of charity at home and abroad. America also seems out of touch in viewing itself as a global policeman that does not need the United Nations, and America is one of the few remaining democratic world powers to still allow citizens to own handguns, and to allow the death penalty. Most interesting is the book's critique of the current Christian evangelical movement Carter used to identify with as a Southern Baptist, which Carter sees as ignoring the true call for moral leadership for social equality justice and instead passing judgment against 'others' such as homosexuals.

Primary Sources: The 'Crisis of Confidence' Speech," Jimmy Carter: The American