PBS American Experience - Jimmy Carter (2002)

Jimmy Carter traces the ascent of an ambitious country boy from a peanut farm in Plains, Georgia, to the Oval Office; it examines the families of Carter's political leadership in the context of the turbulent 1970's and explores the role religion played in his career. Jimmy Carter ran for president as an outsider on a wave of post-Watergate disaffection with Washington politics. But inexperience, inflation, recession, and the Iran hostage crisis, derailed his presidency dramatically. His crowning achievement, the Camp David Accords, created a framework for Middle East peace, inspiring his life since. Jimmy Carter's story is one of the greatest dramas in American politics. In 1980, he was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a humiliating defeat. He promoted human rights, education and foreign affairs but was seen as a soft touch and seemed to get the blame for everything from returning the Panama Canal or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the eruption of Mount St Helens. Over the subsequent two decades, he became one of the most admired statesmen and humanitarians in America and the world, and honoured with a Nobel prize for his humanitarian work and efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Jimmy Carter, part of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE's award-winning Presidents series, traces his rapid ascent in politics, dramatic fall from grace and unexpected resurrection.

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