Former President Jimmy Carter, the 39th leader of the United States, a Navy veteran and the only commander-in-chief to graduate from the United States Naval Academy, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia. He was 100 years old.
Carter, who began hospice care at his home in Georgia in February 2023, is often remembered as the one-term president who led the nation in the wake of the Vietnam War and who oversaw treaties involving the Panama Canal and a diplomatic relationship between Egypt and Israel.
But before Carter’s 1977-81 presidency, Carter served his nation in the sea service.
Born James Earl Carter Jr. in Plains, Georgia, the sailor-turned-president attended Georgia Institute of Technology as a Navy ROTC student before receiving an appointment to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Inspired by his uncle to join the service, he graduated in June 1946 and commissioned as an ensign, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.
Carter received his first assignment with the battleship Wyoming, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, where he served until the vessel was decommissioned in 1947. He then served on the battleship Mississippi as a training and education officer.
Following a six-month course at the U.S. Navy Submarine School in New London, Connecticut, Carter served aboard the Balao-class submarine Pomfret, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and later as an engineering officer with the K-1 submarine.
After a promotion to lieutenant in 1952, Carter began working with the Navy’s nuclear submarine development team. Only a few months later, he successfully helped prevent a nuclear disaster.
When a power surge at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada, caused fuel rods to melt in a nuclear reactor, damaging its core, Carter and his team assisted in the response, according to the Navy. Each person was allowed up to only 90 seconds at a time for the cleanup work due to the extreme radioactivity.
“We were fairly well instructed then on what nuclear power was, but for about six months after that I had radioactivity in my urine,” Carter previously told CNN.
While preparing to work aboard one of the first subs to operate on atomic power, Carter’s father passed away in July 1953 and the young naval officer opted for an honorable discharge to return to Georgia and assist his family’s peanut-growing business.
“It was a very torturous decision for me to make,” Carter previously told CNBC.
Carter remained in the Naval Reserve until 1961, transferring to the retired reserve at the rank of lieutenant before beginning a career in politics.
Five other presidents also served in the Navy, including Carter’s four presidential predecessors as well as George H. W. Bush, according to the Navy’s heritage command.
The third Seawolf-class nuclear-powered submarine is named after the former president. Last year, a building at the Naval Academy was renamed after Carter following a congressionally-mandated decision to redesignate military assets across all branches with ties to the Confederacy.
Carter’s grandson indicated in May that his grandfather was “coming to the end” during an event with The Carter Center, the nonprofit the former president — and eventual Nobel Peace Prize recipient — founded after he left office to advance human rights internationally.
Carter’s wife Rosalynn died in November 2023.
Jonathan is a staff writer and editor of the Early Bird Brief newsletter for Military Times. Follow him on Twitter @lehrfeld_media
