The originally Persian title of dewan (also quite commonly known as Diwan; also spelled -van) has, at various points in Islamic history, designated various differing though similar functions.

Etymology[link]

The word is Persian in origin, and was loaned into Arabic. The original meaning was "bundle (of written sheets)", hence "book", especially "book of accounts," and hence "office of accounts," "custom house," "council chamber". The meaning divan "long, cushioned seat" is due to such seats having been found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers.

Council[link]

The word first appears under the Caliphate of Omar I (A.D. 634–644). As the Caliphate state became more complicated, the term was extended over all the government bureaus.

The divan of the Sublime Porte was the council or Cabinet of the state. In the Ottoman Empire, it consisted of the usually (except in the Sultan's presence) presiding Grand Vizier and other viziers, and occasionally the Janissary Ağa.

In 19th Century Romania the Ad hoc Divan was a body which played a role in the country's development towards independence from Ottoman rule.

In Javanese and related languages, the cognate Dewan is the standard word for council, as in the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or (Indonesia's Council of People's Representatives) and Dewan Negara (Senate of Malaysia).

Title[link]

During the effective rule of the Mughal empire, the dewan served as the chief revenue officer of a province.

Later, when most vassal states gained various degrees of self-determination, the finance — and/or chief minister and leader of many princely states (especially Muslim, but also many Hindu, including Baroda, Hyderabad, kot Fateh khan state, Mysore, Kochi, Travancore — referred as Dalawa until 1811) became known as a dewan.

Exceptionally, a ruler was himself titled Dewan or Nawab notably

• in Jaso (Jassu) and in Bandhora (which was split from it circa 1750)
• in Khilchipur till 1873, then Rai Bahadur
• in Attock, where Gheba Khan, having married the foster sister of Mughal Emperor Akbar and was granted the hereditary title of Diwan in 1551 for his services in command of the force that took Attock from the Afghans, till the dynasty was promoted in 1910 to the rank of Nawab, with the full style Zubdat ul-Mulk Diwan Mahakhan, Sardar ul-Mulk and latter Nawab of kot
• in Junagadh, where Shah Nawaz Bhutto was the prime-minister of the former princley state.

Nowadays, the title is used amongst certain upper-middle-class families in the South Asia; several landlords in villages and provinces across the subcontinent have names prefixed with this title. The title, in its variant form "Dewan", is especially common amongst Muslim land-owners in Bengal and the Punjab.

Derived and compound titles[link]

Diwan Deo was the hereditary title borne by the Chief Minister of Cooch, held by a junior branch of the ruling Narayan dynasty

In India[link]

As a title used in various Middle kingdoms of India, Diwan denoted the highest officials in the court after the king; the suffix '-ji' is added as a mark of respect in India.

Abstract use[link]

The term Diwani is sometimes used to refer to British sovereignty or suzerainty over India, either just before or during the British Raj.

French India[link]

In French India, one of its colonies, Yanaon, had Zamindar and Diwan. They were active in its local and municipal administration during French rule. The Zamindar of Yanam was given a 4 gun salute by French counterparts.

• Zamindar — Manion Canacaya
• Diwan — Bouloussou Soubramaniam Sastroulou
• Sovereignty — French Colonial Empire

Sources and references[link]

(incomplete)

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• RoyalArk- see each princely state mentioned above
• WorldStatesmen- India

See Also[link]

• Diwan

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (January 2010)

Jenna Dewan
Dewan at the 71st Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon 2012
Born	Jenna Lee Dewan (1980-12-03) December 3, 1980 (age 31) Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, model, dancer
Years active	2002–present
Height	5'3" (1.60 m)
Spouse	Channing Tatum (m. 2009–present)
Website
http://www.jennadewanunwrapped.com

Jenna Lee Dewan-Tatum (born December 3, 1980), better known by her birth name Jenna Dewan, is an American actress, dancer, and former model. She has worked in films like Step Up and American Virgin. Jenna is married to film actor Channing Tatum and is also co-founder of "33andOut Productions" and "Iron Horse Entertainment".

Early life[link]

Dewan was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Nancy Lee (née Bursch) and Darryll Dewan, who was a running back on the 1972 Notre Dame Football team.^[1] Dewan is of half Lebanese ancestry.^[2] Her parents divorced when Dewan was young and her mother remarried, to Claude Brooks Smith. During high school at Grapevine High School in Grapevine, Texas, Jenna was a varsity cheerleader and won many dance competition awards. She graduated in 1999 and was voted prom queen her senior year. She went to USC and was a member of the California Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi (ΠΒΦ).

Dance career[link]

Prior to starring in film, she was a dancer working for various famous performers such as Clinton Troupe, 'N Sync, Sean Combs, Toni Braxton, Celine Dion, Pink, Missy Elliott, Ricky Martin, Billy Crawford, and tour with Janet Jackson on her All for You Tour and appeared in music videos accompanying the album All For You. Jenna also featured in Christina Aguilera's music video for the single "Not Myself Tonight

Acting career[link]

Dewan at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

Jenna has had small roles in films such as The Hot Chick, The Grudge 2, Dark Shadows, Waterborne as well as guest appearances in television series such as Quintuplets, The Young and The Restless and Joey.

She starred in the independent 2005 horror film Tamara from the producers of Final Destination. The film failed to have box office success only earning worldwide a total of $206,871. The film was released to negative reviews with a rating of 38% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In 2006, she appeared in her most known role to date as Nora Clark in Step Up. A box office success, it earned a total of $119,193,847 worldwide but received mixed to negative reviews. She appeared in another Dance film Take The Lead as Sasha in a supporting role. The film received extremely negative reviews, but still managed to rank third at the box office.

In 2008, she appeared as the lead role of Amber in the Straight to DVD Romance/Action film Love Lies Bleeding. She appeared as Emma Carr in the Lifetime Made For Television movie Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal, which premiered August 2, 2008.

In 2009 she appeared in Falling Awake and Magdalena. She starred alongside Rob Schneider in the comedy film American Virgin, which follows a night of debauchery threatening a sexually abstinent student's college standing. She then appeared in The Six Wives of Henry Lefay alongside Elisha Cuthbert. In January 2010 she also appeared in The Jerk Theory with her Step Up co-star Josh Henderson.

She also signed on to play the character of Kendra Wilson in a two-episode arc in the 2009 Melrose Place reboot on The CW.

Along with friends Reid Carolin, Adam Martingano, Brett Rodriguez^[3] and husband Channing Tatum, Dewan started a production company called 33andOut Productions.^[4] Their first production is a documentary called Earth Made of Glass that follows the Rwandan President Paul Kagame and genocide survivor Jean-Pierre Sagahutu. The film was selected to premiere at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Dewan with husband Channing Tatum in February 2010

In 2006, Dewan met Channing Tatum on the set of Step Up. They began dating shortly after filming had finished.^[6] The couple got engaged in early September 2008 in Maui, Hawaii.^[7] On July 11, 2009, they were married on the grounds of Church Estates Vineyards in Malibu, California.^[8]

Filmography[link]

Television Movies[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jenna Dewan

• Jenna Dewan at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Jenna Dewan on Twitter
• Jenna Dewan on Facebook
• "Talking Tamara with Jenna Dewan" at UGO.com

Brian Dewan is a multi-media artist, who produces music, audio-visual performances, decorative painting, furniture, poetry, filmstrips, illustrations, and musical instruments. He has released three albums of songs and performed extensively in clubs and concert halls as a solo artist and as a member of various ensembles. He lives in Catskill, New York. Brian is the brother of artist Ted Dewan and the cousin of musical instrument builder/musician Leon Dewan.^[1]

Music[link]

Dewan has a cross-genre approach to music, although he is predominantly known for his folk-tinged vocal stylings and instrumental electronic music, which on a performance level are generally mutually exclusive. His vocal repertoire references folk music, hymns, popular songs from bygone eras (especially topical songs from the 19th and early 20th centuries), and rock music. He also composes original songs reflecting these influences. These genres permeate his first two full-length albums, Brian Dewan Tells the Story (1993, Bar None Records) and The Operating Theatre (1998, Instinct Records). His songs often contemplate the nature of submission to authority, often in a storytelling manner. His lyrics are by turns humorous, philosophical, and contemplative. His historical song repertoire often betrays a post-modern irony in the re-telling.

In live performance, Dewan accompanies his singing with a home-built electric zither, outfitted with eight humbucker pickups and 88 strings, sometimes piped through a leslie cabinet or guitar effects pedals. He also plays a variety of other instruments, including autoharp, koto, organ, and accordion. His electronic music, either solo or in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan, tends to be more sprawling and free-form, often evoking the dissonance of early analog electronic music.

Dewan has worked with They Might Be Giants, Blue Man Group, Sesame Street, Flaming Fire, Jed Davis, The Music Tapes, Loser's Lounge, The Shondes and The Musical Stones of Skiddaw. He is a member of the Raymond Scott Orchestrette, a group dedicated to reinterpreting Scott's compositions, and appeared on their 2002 album Pushbutton Parfait. He also composes and performs with the Patient Island Singers, a project loosely centered around the topic of Roosevelt Island.

Dewan's 2007 album Words Of Wisdom (Eschatone Records) was the first in a series of folk archival recordings called the Humanitarium Series. Each record in the series will collect a set of song artifacts by theme: temperance, school songs, hymns, folksongs ancient and modern, institutional music, advertisement and persuasion, ditties, jingles, and popular music.^[2]

He has also performed a song for the original soundtrack CD for the "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" television series, though this track was commissioned for the CD and never used in any other context.

Visual and Multi-Media Art[link]

Brian Dewan's series of I Can See filmstrips use the technology of the educational filmstrips from the mid-twentieth century as a point of departure for imaginative personal invention.

Each panel features one of Dewan's fanciful drawings, usually skillfully rendered in magic marker or watercolor. The images are accompanied by elaborate soundtracks in which Dewan is heard, adopting a deadpan narrator's voice, and playing various musical instruments to create a different miniature soundtrack for each panel of the filmstrip. When it is time for the projectionist to advance the strip to the next panel, Dewan's voice is typically heard singing "boop" in close imitation of the noise traditionally used for this purpose. The themes of the strips often seem as though they could have been taken from actual educational strips - Grimm's Fairy Tales, Civic Pride, a short history of the Organ, Biblical stories have all served as conceits for the filmstrips. The strips tend to take many free-associative liberties and are by turns satirical and surreal, often whimsical and sometimes touching on serious themes. "Before the White Man Came" seems as though it might be about colonialism or racism, but the "White Man" of the filmstrip starts to seem more likely to be a folkloric evil spirit, with a charged and ambiguous relationship to racial stereotypes.

In 2003, Dewan created an installation at the Pierogi 2000 Gallery in Brooklyn which transformed the appearance of the gallery into that of an American classroom from an indeterminate bygone era, perhaps from the 1940s. He presented his filmstrips regularly during the course of the month-long exhibition, to audience members seated in old schooldesks.

Dewan has created a series of what he terms "shrines", constructed of wood and other materials, such as light bulbs, clocks, photographs and bottles. Perhaps the best known shrine is the one appearing on the cover of They Might Be Giants' album Lincoln. The shrines range from about one to six feet tall and often evoke New England church architecture with their lean geometrical spires. While the word "shrine" might connote a site created for devotion to a spiritual entity, Dewan's shrines seem to exist not as a conduit for worship, but as playful aesthetic objects.

Dewan created a number of shrines for New Year's Eve parties and performances, and those shrines often have some sort of illumination which could be turned on at midnight. At least one had a drink-dispenser built into it. The cabinetry he built for his recent series of electronic instruments, created in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan, often continue some of the visual ideas behind the shrines. His New Year's Eve shrine ritual involves completing the shrine only moments before midnight.

Brian Dewan currently works with his cousin Leon Dewan under the name Dewanatron. Together they have designed, and built a series of synthesizers in custom cabinetry, often reminiscent of either New England churches or 1940's school house architecture.^[3] The instruments create sounds evocative of the early electronic music. The instruments were exhibited and concertized at the Pierogi 2000 gallery in Brooklyn in December 2005, Pierogi Liepig in Germany in April 2006 and at "Another Year in LA" gallery as well as the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles in August and September 2007.

Dewan has created album art for others, such as the cover of David Byrne's Uh-Oh, They Might Be Giants' Lincoln, Beat Circus' Dreamland, and the interior artwork of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Tells the Story (1993)
• The Operating Theatre (1998)
• Dewanatron (as Dewanatron) (2005)
• Live at the Auk (2005)
• Sleep on It - Electronic Excursions (2007)
• Words of Wisdom (2007)

E.P.s[link]

• Hello Recording Club E.P. (March, 1993)
• Hello Recording Club E.P. (September, 1994)

Guest appearances[link]

• "The Violin" (w/ Eileen Ivers on violin), Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? soundtrack

References[link]

1. ^ Cyclemas Bio
2. ^ Maltempi, Domenic. "Brian Dewan - Interview and Ruminations". Perfect Sound Forever. http://www.furious.com/perfect/briandewan.html. Retrieved 22 April 2012. 
3. ^ http://www.pierogi2000.com/flatfile/dewanbrDewanatron06.htm

External links[link]

• Brian Dewan's page at Eschatone Records
• Dewanatron site which describes many of the Dewan cousins recent musical inventions
• Brian Dewan: Tells the Story bio from Bar/None Records

Adam Levine
Levine during a press conference in Singapore in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Adam Noah Levine
Born	(1979-03-18) March 18, 1979 (age 33) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock, funk rock, pop rock, soul, rhythm and blues
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, piano
Years active	1994–present
Labels	A&M Octone
Associated acts	Maroon 5, Kara's Flowers, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, Natasha Bedingfield, Ying Yang Twins, Alicia Keys, K'naan, Rihanna, Slash, Gym Class Heroes, Christina Aguilera
Website	www.maroon5.com

Adam Noah Levine^[1] (born March 18, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front man and guitarist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. He is also a coach on the American talent show The Voice.

Early life[link]

Levine was born in Los Angeles to Fred and Patsy (née Noah) Levine. His uncle is journalist and author Timothy Noah.^[2] He has a brother, Michael, and a sister, Julia.^[3] When he was six years old, he made the winning shot of his local YMCA championship basketball game (on a team his father coached) with no time left on the clock. He has said that the incident changed his life and gave him the confidence to be successful.^[4][5]

Levine attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts Camp (Hancock, NY) with best friend Jesse Carmichael, guitar player of the band known at that time as Kara's Flowers. He graduated from Brentwood School in 1997.

Levine has Jewish ancestry on both sides of his family (his father and maternal grandfather were Jewish), and considers himself Jewish, though according to The Jewish Chronicle, who interviewed Levine, he "has rejected formal religious practice for a more generalized, spiritual way of life". He chose not to have a Bar Mitzvah as a child.^[6]

Original band Kara's Flowers[link]

Having met at Brentwood School in Los Angeles, the band released their first album titled The Fourth World in 1997 as high school seniors. That same year the band appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. The album had little success, and its only single, "Soap Disco", failed commercially. Disappointed with the results of their album, the band members went their separate ways.^[7]

Levine and Carmichael left Los Angeles for New York. This was the first time the two Los Angeles natives were exposed to a completely different music scene, a cultural awakening for the young men.^[8] On MTV News, in 2002, Levine said, "That's when I started waking up to the whole hip hop, R&B thing. We had friends named Chaos and shit. It was not Brentwood High."^[9]

Maroon 5 and mainstream success[link]

During this time, Levine worked a two-week stint as a waiter at Johnny Rockets.^[10] After dropping out of Five Towns College, Levine and Jesse reunited with Mickey and Ryan, but added former Square guitarist, James Valentine in 2001. Renaming the band Maroon 5, Levine and his friends began to compile all of their newfound musical influences into their music. While Levine was working as a writer's assistant on the television show "Judging Amy," he spent time writing the lyrics about his ex-girlfriend, Jane. Those lyrics became the album "Songs About Jane."^[10]

Other work[link]

Levine (right) with bandmate Jesse Carmichael in 2007

Levine has collaborated with various musical acts. In 2005, Levine was featured on the Ying Yang Twins song "Live Again". He appeared on Kanye West's Late Registration album, on the third single, "Heard 'Em Say".^[11] He is also featured in the song "Wild Horses" on Alicia Keys' third album Alicia Keys: MTV Unplugged. Over the next year, he co-wrote the track "Say It Again" on Natasha Bedingfield's album N.B.. He also performed the background vocals on this song. Most recently, Levine offered his vocals on Gym Class Heroes' newest album in the song "Stereo Hearts".

Levine has made four notable comic appearances on television. During 2007, he appeared on the 33rd season premiere of Saturday Night Live in an SNL Digital Short called Iran So Far with Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen and Jake Gyllenhaal. Levine played himself while singing a humorous bridge to a "love song" for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2008, he appeared on Comedy Central's "Night Of Too Many Stars". Levine also had a cameo on Jimmy Kimmel Live for the night of stars and endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election.

In October 2008, Levine collaborated with First Act to create the First Act 222 Guitar, fashioned to Levine's specifications. The guitar was made available for purchase at Target retail stores.^[12]

Levine has stated in various interviews that he does not plan on continuing in Maroon 5 forever, and may stop after the tour for Maroon 5's third album.^[13][14] In 2009, he recorded "Gotten", a song for Slash's first solo album Slash released in April 2010. "Gotten" was premiered at amazon.com on March 29, 2010.^[15] Levine is also featured as a singer for his band's song "She Will be Loved" in the music rhythm game Band Hero. In February 2010, he was among approximately 80 musicians who sang on the charity-single remake of "We Are the World" called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti".^{[citation needed]}

Levine is one of the contestant judges and coach mentors on the singing TV show, The Voice.^[16] The winner of the first season, Javier Colon, was on Levine's team. Levine also returned as a coach for Season 2 of The Voice. His team consisted of Mathai (singer), Pip (singer), Tony Lucca, Katrina Parker, Karla Davis, and Kim Yarbrough. Levine will appear in the second season of American Horror Story.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Levine's ex-girlfriend Jane is the inspiration behind the name of the band's debut album Songs About Jane. In a 2004 interview, he claimed that she had not contacted him despite the success of the album.^[18]

In September 2010, Levine said on the Howard Stern Show he had been dating Russian Sports Illustrated swimsuit and Victoria's Secret model Anne Vyalitsyna seriously for about eight months. The couple met when Maroon 5 performed at the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue release party in Las Vegas.^[19] In April 2012, Levine and Vyalitsyna announced that they had split.^[20]

Levine stripped naked for testicular cancer awareness for a centerfold in Cosmopolitan UK's February 2011 issue.^[21]

During Levine's teenage years, he was medically diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In 2011, he launched an educational campaign to raise awareness of ADHD, titled "Own It".^[22]

Levine, whose brother is openly gay, is an outspoken supporter of LGBT rights.^[23] In 2011, he made a video^[24] on Maroon 5's official YouTube account in support of the It Gets Better Project. In January 2012, he announced that Maroon 5 had changed the location of their post-Grammy Awards show because of the "unnamed Los Angeles restaurant's backing of Proposition 8".^[23]

Discography[link]

As a featured artist[link]

Other charted songs[link]

Guest appearances[link]

Further reading[link]

• Kimpel, Dan (2006), How They Made It: True Stories of How Music's Biggest Stars Went from Start to Stardom!. Location unknown:Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-634-07642-6

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Adam Levine

• Adam Levine at the Internet Movie Database
• "y’know – interviews with the famous". C.B.Liddell. February 10, 2008. http://yknow-interviews.blogspot.com/2008/02/adam-levine-maroon-5.html. 

Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States
In office January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
Vice President	Walter Mondale
Preceded by	Gerald Ford
Succeeded by	Ronald Reagan
76th Governor of Georgia
In office January 12, 1971 – January 14, 1975
Lieutenant	Lester Maddox
Preceded by	Lester Maddox
Succeeded by	George Busbee
Georgia State Senator from the 14th District
In office January 14, 1963 – January 10, 1967
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Hugh Carter
Constituency	Sumter County
Personal details
Born	James Earl Carter, Jr. (1924-10-01) October 1, 1924 (age 87) Plains, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rosalynn Smith (1946–present)
Children	Jack James Donnel Amy
Alma mater	Georgia Southwestern State Georgia Tech U.S.N.A. (B.S.)
Profession	Farmer Naval Officer
Religion	Baptist[1]
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1946–1953
Rank	Lieutenant
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize Grand-croix de l'Ordre de la Couronne

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served as a U.S. Naval officer, was a peanut farmer, served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia (1971–1975).^[2]

During Carter's term as President, two new cabinet-level departments were created: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. Throughout his career, Carter strongly emphasized human rights. He took office during a period of international stagflation, which persisted throughout his term. The end of his presidential tenure was marked by the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (at the end of 1979), 1980 Summer Olympics boycott by the United States of the Moscow Olympics and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

By 1980, Carter's popularity had eroded. He survived a primary challenge against Ted Kennedy for the Democratic Party nomination in the 1980 election, but lost the election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan. On January 20, 1981, minutes after Carter's term in office ended, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Iran were released, ending the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.^[3]

After leaving office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center in 1982,^[4] a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization that works to advance human rights. He has traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, observe elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. Carter is a key figure in the Habitat for Humanity project,^[5] and also remains particularly vocal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In March 2012, two months before President Barack Obama's declaration of support for same-sex marriage, Carter said he favors allowing same-sex couples to legally marry.^[6]

Early life[link]

Jimmy Carter (around age 13) his dog, Bozo, in 1937.

James Earl Carter, Jr., was born at the Wise Sanitarium^[7] on October 1, 1924, in the tiny southwest Georgia city of Plains, near Americus. The first president born in a hospital,^[8] he is the eldest of four children of James Earl Carter and Bessie Lillian Gordy. Carter's father was a prominent business owner in the community and his mother was a registered nurse.

Carter is descended from immigrants from southern England (his paternal ancestor arrived in the American Colonies in 1635),^[9] and his family has lived in the state of Georgia for several generations. Carter has documented ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, and he is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.^[10] Carter's great-grandfather, Private L.B. Walker Carter (1832–1874), served in the Confederate States Army.^[11]

Carter was a gifted student from an early age who always had a fondness for reading. By the time he attended Plains High School, he was also a star in basketball. He was greatly influenced by one of his high school teachers, Julia Coleman (1889–1973). While he was in high school he was in the Future Farmers of America, which later changed its name to the National FFA Organization, serving as the Plains FFA Chapter Secretary.^[12]

Carter had three younger siblings: sisters Gloria Carter Spann (1926–1990) and Ruth Carter Stapleton (1929–1983), and brother William Alton "Billy" Carter (1937–1988). During Carter's Presidency, Billy was often in the news, usually in an unflattering light.^[13]

He married Rosalynn Smith in 1946; they have four children.

He is a first cousin of politician Hugh Carter and a half-second cousin of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. on his mother's side, and a cousin of June Carter Cash.^[14]

Naval career[link]

After high school, Carter enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College, in Americus. Later, he applied to the United States Naval Academy and, after taking additional mathematics courses at Georgia Tech, he was admitted in 1943. Carter graduated 59th out of 820 midshipmen at the Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree with an unspecified major, as was the custom at the academy at that time.^[15]

Carter served on surface ships and on diesel-electric submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. As a junior officer, he completed qualification for command of a diesel-electric submarine. He applied for the US Navy's fledgling nuclear submarine program run by then Captain Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover's demands on his men and machines were legendary, and Carter later said that, next to his parents, Rickover had the greatest influence on him. Carter has said that he loved the Navy, and had planned to make it his career. His ultimate goal was to become Chief of Naval Operations. Carter felt the best route for promotion was with submarine duty since he felt that nuclear power would be increasingly used in submarines. Carter was based in Schenectady, New York, and working on developing training materials for the nuclear propulsion system for the prototype of a new submarine.^[16]

On December 12, 1952, an accident with the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown. The resulting explosion caused millions of liters of radioactive water to flood the reactor building's basement, and the reactor's core was no longer usable.^[17] Carter was now ordered to Chalk River, joining other American and Canadian service personnel. He was the officer in charge of the U.S. team assisting in the shutdown of the Chalk River Nuclear Reactor.^[18]

Once they arrived, Carter's team used a model of the reactor to practice the steps necessary to disassemble the reactor and seal it off. During execution of the actual disassembly each team member, including Carter, donned protective gear, was lowered individually into the reactor, stayed for only a few seconds at a time to minimize exposure to radiation, and used hand tools to loosen bolts, remove nuts and take the other steps necessary to complete the disassembly process.

During and after his presidency Carter indicated that his experience at Chalk River shaped his views on nuclear power and nuclear weapons, including his decision not to pursue completion of the neutron bomb.^[19]

Upon the death of his father James Earl Carter, Sr., in July 1953, he was urgently needed to run the family business. Lieutenant Carter resigned his commission, and he was discharged from the Navy on October 9, 1953.

Farming and personal belief[link]

Though Carter's father, Earl, died a relatively wealthy man, between Earl's forgiveness of debts owed to him and the division of his wealth among his heirs, Jimmy Carter inherited comparatively little. For a year, due to a limited real estate market, the Carters lived in public housing (Carter is the only U.S. president to have lived in housing subsidized for the poor).^[20]

Knowledgeable in scientific and technological subjects and raised on a farm, Carter took over the family peanut farm. Carter took to the county library to read up on agriculture while Rosalynn learned accounting to manage the businesses financials.^[20] Though they barely broke even the first year, Carter managed to expand in Plains. His farming business was successful, and during the 1970 gubernatorial campaign, he was considered a wealthy peanut farmer.^[21]

From a young age, Carter showed a deep commitment to Christianity, serving as a Sunday School teacher throughout his life. Even as President, Carter prayed several times a day, and professed that Jesus Christ was the driving force in his life. Carter had been greatly influenced by a sermon he had heard as a young man, called, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"^[22]

Early political career[link]

Georgia State Senate[link]

Jimmy Carter started his career by serving on various local boards, governing such entities as the schools, hospitals, and libraries, among others. In the 1960s, he served two terms in the Georgia Senate from the fourteenth district of Georgia.

His 1961 election to the state Senate, which followed the end of Georgia's County Unit System (per the Supreme Court case of Gray v. Sanders), was chronicled in his book Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age. The election involved corruption led by Joe Hurst, the sheriff of Quitman County; system abuses included votes from deceased persons and tallies filled with people who supposedly voted in alphabetical order. It took a challenge of the fraudulent results for Carter to win the election. Carter was reelected in 1964, to serve a second two-year term.

For a time in State Senate he chaired its Education Committee.^[23]

In 1966, Carter declined running for re-election as a state senator to pursue a gubernatorial run. His first cousin, Hugh Carter, was elected as a Democrat and took over his seat in the Senate.

Campaigns for Governor[link]

In 1966, during the end of his career as a state senator, he flirted with the idea of running for the United States House of Representatives. His Republican opponent, Howard Callaway, dropped out and decided to run for Governor of Georgia. Carter did not want to see a Republican Governor of his state, and, in turn, dropped out of the race for Congress and joined the race to become Governor. Carter lost the Democratic primary, but drew enough votes as a third-place candidate to force the favorite, liberal former governor Ellis Arnall, into a runoff election, setting off a chain of events which resulted in the nomination of segregationist Democrat Lester Maddox. Maddox would go on to be selected governor of Georgia by the Georgia General Assembly despite finishing a close second in a three-way general election race between Maddox, Callaway, and Arnall, who ran as a Write-in candidate. During the primary Carter ran as a moderate alternative to both liberal Arnall and conservative Maddox.^[23] Although he lost, his strong third place finish was viewed as a success for a little-known state senator.^[23]

For the next four years, Carter returned to his agriculture business and carefully planned for his next campaign for Governor in 1970, making over 1,800 speeches throughout the state.^{[citation needed]}

During his 1970 campaign, he ran an uphill populist campaign in the Democratic primary against former Governor Carl Sanders, labeling his opponent "Cufflinks Carl". Carter was never a segregationist, and refused to join the segregationist White Citizens' Council, prompting a boycott of his peanut warehouse. His family was also one of only two that voted to admit blacks to the Plains Baptist Church.^[24]

"Carter himself was not a segregationist in 1970. But he did say things that the segregationists wanted to hear. He was opposed to busing. He was in favor of private schools. He said that he would invite segregationist governor George Wallace to come to Georgia to give a speech.", according to historian E. Stanly Godbold.^{[citation needed]}

Carter's campaign aides handed out a photograph of Sanders celebrating with black basketball players.^[25][26] Following his close victory over Sanders in the primary, he was elected Governor over Republican Hal Suit.

After his election, Carter would make a statement that would displease the segregationists: "I say to you quite frankly, that the time for 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 of an education, a job, or simple justice."^{[citation needed]}

Leroy Johnson, Georgia State Senator reflected: "We were extremely pleased. Many of the white segregationists were displeased. And I'm convinced that those people that supported him, would not have supported him if they had thought that he would have made that statement."^[27]

Governor of Georgia[link]

Carter was sworn in as the 76th Governor of Georgia on January 12, 1971, and held this post for one term, until January 14, 1975. Governors of Georgia were not allowed to succeed themselves at the time. His predecessor as Governor, Lester Maddox, became the Lieutenant Governor. Carter and Maddox found little common ground during their four years of service, often publicly feuding with each other.^[28][29]

Civil rights politics[link]

Carter declared in his inaugural speech that the time of racial segregation was over, and that racial discrimination had no place in the future of the state, the first statewide office holder in the Deep South to say this in public.^[30] Afterwards, Carter appointed many African Americans to statewide boards and offices. He was often called one of the "New Southern Governors" – much more moderate than their predecessors, and supportive of racial desegregation and expanding African-Americans' rights.^{[citation needed]}

Abortion[link]

Although "personally opposed" to abortion, after the landmark US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, 410 US 113 (1973) Carter supported legalized abortion.^[31] He did not support increased federal funding for abortion services as president and was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union for not doing enough to find alternatives.^[32] In March 2012, during an interview on The Laura Ingraham Show, Carter expressed his view that the Democratic Party should be more pro-life. He explained how difficult it was for him, given his strong Christian beliefs, to uphold Roe v. Wade while he was president.^[33]

State government reforms[link]

Carter improved government efficiency by merging about 300 state agencies into 30 agencies. One of his aides recalled that Governor Carter "was right there with us, working just as hard, digging just as deep into every little problem. It was his program and he worked on it as hard as anybody, and the final product was distinctly his." He also pushed reforms through the legislature, providing equal state aid to schools in the wealthy and poor areas of Georgia, set up community centers for mentally handicapped children, and increased educational programs for convicts. Carter took pride in a program he introduced for the appointment of judges and state government officials. Under this program, all such appointments were based on merit, rather than political influence.^[34][35]

Vice-Presidential aspirations in 1972[link]

In 1972, as US Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was marching toward the Democratic nomination for President, Carter called a news conference in Atlanta to warn that McGovern was unelectable. Carter criticized McGovern as too liberal on both foreign and domestic policy, yet when McGovern's nomination became a foregone conclusion, Carter lobbied to become his vice-presidential running mate.

During the 1972 Democratic National Convention he endorsed the candidacy of Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington.^[36] Carter received 30 votes at the Democratic National Convention in the chaotic ballot for Vice President.^{[citation needed]} McGovern offered the second spot to Reubin Askew, from next door Florida and one of the "new southern governors", but he declined.^{[citation needed]}

Death penalty and crime[link]

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Georgia's death penalty law in 1972, Carter quickly proposed state legislation to replace the death penalty with life in prison (an option that previously did not exist).^[37]

When the Georgia legislature passed a new death penalty statute, Carter, despite voicing reservations about its constitutionality,^[38] signed new legislation on March 28, 1973^[39] to authorize the death penalty for murder, rape and other offenses, and to implement trial procedures that conformed to the newly announced constitutional requirements. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Georgia's new death penalty for murder. In the case of Coker v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional as applied to rape.

Many in America were outraged by William Calley's life sentence at Fort Benning for his role in the My Lai Massacre; Carter instituted "American Fighting Man's Day" and asked Georgians to drive for a week with their lights on in support of Calley.^[40] Indiana's governor asked all state flags to be flown at half-staff for Calley, and Utah's and Mississippi's governors also disagreed with the verdict.^[40]

Despite his earlier support, Carter soon became a death penalty opponent, and during Presidential campaigns (like previous nominee George McGovern and two successive nominees, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis), this was noted.^[41] Carter is known for his outspoken opposition to the death penalty in all forms; in his Nobel Prize lecture, he urged "prohibition of the death penalty".^[42]

United States Senate appointment[link]

Richard Russell, Jr., then-President pro tempore of the United States Senate, died in office on January 21, 1971. Carter, only nine days into his governorship, appointed state Democratic Party chair David H. Gambrell to fill an unexpired Russell term in the Senate on February 1.^[43] Gambrell was defeated in the next Democratic primary by the more conservative Sam Nunn.

Other activities[link]

In 1973, while Governor of Georgia, Carter filed a report on his 1969 UFO sighting with the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City.^[44][45][46] In 2007, Carter stated that he did not remember why he filed the report and that he believes he probably only did it at the request of one of his children. He also stated he does not believe it was an alien spacecraft, but rather that it was likely some sort of military experiment being conducted from a nearby military base.^[47]

Carter made an appearance as the first guest of the evening on an episode of the game show What's My Line in 1974, signing in as "X", lest his name give away his occupation. After his job was identified on question seven of ten by Gene Shalit, he talked about having brought movie production to the state of Georgia, citing Deliverance, and the then-unreleased The Longest Yard.

In 1974, Carter was chairman of the Democratic National Committee's congressional, as well as gubernatorial, campaigns.

1976 presidential campaign[link]

The electoral map of the 1976 election

When Carter entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries in 1976, he was considered to have little chance against nationally better-known politicians. He had a name recognition of only two percent. When he told his family of his intention to run for President, his mother asked, "President of what?" The Watergate scandal was still fresh in the voters' minds, and so his position as an outsider, distant from Washington, D.C., became an asset. The centerpiece of his campaign platform was government reorganization. Carter published Why Not the Best? in June 1976 to help introduce himself to the American public.^[48]

Carter and President Gerald Ford debating at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia.

Carter became the front-runner early on by winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. He used a two-prong strategy: In the South, which most had tacitly conceded to Alabama's George Wallace, Carter ran as a moderate favorite son. When Wallace proved to be a spent force, Carter swept the region. In the North, Carter appealed largely to conservative Christian and rural voters and had little chance of winning a majority in most states. He won several Northern states by building the largest single bloc. Carter's strategy involved reaching a region before another candidate could extend influence there. He traveled over 50,000 miles, visited 37 states, and delivered over 200 speeches before any other candidates even announced that they were in the race.^[49] Initially dismissed as a regional candidate, Carter proved to be the only Democrat with a truly national strategy, and he eventually clinched the nomination.

The national news media discovered and promoted Carter, as Lawrence Shoup noted in his 1980 book The Carter Presidency and Beyond:

What Carter had that his opponents did not was the acceptance and support of elite sectors of the mass communications media. It was their favorable coverage of Carter and his campaign that gave him an edge, propelling him rocket-like to the top of the opinion polls. This helped Carter win key primary election victories, enabling him to rise from an obscure public figure to President-elect in the short space of 9 months.

Carter was interviewed by Robert Scheer of Playboy for its November 1976 issue, which hit the newsstands a couple of weeks before the election. It was here that in the course of a digression on his religion's view of pride, Carter admitted: "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times."^[50] He remains the only American president to be interviewed by this magazine.

As late as January 26, 1976, Carter was the first choice of only four percent of Democratic voters, according to a Gallup poll. Yet "by mid-March 1976 Carter was not only far ahead of the active contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, he also led President Ford by a few percentage points", according to Shoup.

He chose Senator Walter F. Mondale as his running mate. He attacked Washington in his speeches, and offered a religious salve for the nation's wounds.^[51]

Carter began the race with a sizable lead over Ford, who was able to narrow the gap over the course of the campaign, but was unable to prevent Carter from narrowly defeating him on November 2, 1976. Carter won the popular vote by 50.1 percent to 48.0 percent for Ford and received 297 electoral votes to Ford's 240. He became the first contender from the Deep South to be elected President since the 1848 election. Carter carried fewer states than Ford—23 states to the defeated Ford's 27—yet Carter won with the largest percentage of the popular vote (50.1 percent) of any non-incumbent since Dwight Eisenhower, and only half a percent less than what Ronald Reagan would defeat him with in 1980.

Presidency[link]

Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States by Chief Justice Warren Burger, January 20, 1977.

Carter was elected over Gerald Ford in 1976. His tenure was a time of continuing inflation and recession, as well as an energy crisis. On January 7, 1980, Carter signed Law H.R. 5860 aka Public Law 96-185 known as The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 bailing out Chrysler Corporation and canceled military pay raises during a time of high inflation and government deficits.

While attempting to calm various conflicts around the World, most visibly in the Middle East resulting in the signing of the Camp David Accords, giving back the Panama Canal and signing the SALT II nuclear arms reduction treaty with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the final year of his administration was marred by the Iran hostage crisis, which contributed to his losing his 1980 re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan.

U.S. Energy Crisis[link]

On April 18, 1977 Carter delivered a televised speech declaring that the U.S. energy crisis during the 1970s was the moral equivalent of war. Carter encouraged energy conservation by all U.S. citizens and installed solar water heating panels on the White House,^[52][53] and wore sweaters while turning down the heat within the White House.

Carter meeting with the Shah of Iran, Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran

The Shah and Carter

EPA Love Canal Superfund[link]

In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the neighborhood of Love Canal in the city of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which was built on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation. Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish the approximately 500 houses, the 99th Street School, and the 93rd Street School, which were built on top of the dump and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area. This was the first time that such a thing had been done. He then said that there were several more "Love Canals" across the country, and that discovering such dumpsites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".

Deregulation[link]

American beer industry[link]

U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the
Airline Deregulation Act.

During 1979, Carter deregulated the American beer industry by opening access of the home-brew market back up to the craft brewers, making it again legal to sell malt, hops, and yeast to American home brewers for the first time since the effective 1920 beginning of Prohibition in the United States.^[54]