Jimmy Carter was our 39th president, from 1977-1981. He was elected in 1976, the first presidential election I voted in (for Ford!)This museum chronicles Carter’s life from his birth in Plains GA.This was his high chair as a baby.Carter’s family raised peanuts, which became the source of many jokes during his rise on the national stage.Jimmy and Rosslyn at their wedding in 1946.Their marriage license.Pictures from Carter’s inauguration as governor of Georgia 1971.Carter burst on the national scene in 1976 running for President.Reproduction of President Carter’s Oval Office.Year by year in Carter’s presidency.December 2, 1980. President Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, protecting more than 100 million acres of land.October 28 debate with Ronald Reagan.Neat view of President Carter’s stored presidential records.A remarkable portrait by Octavio Ocampo 1979. Details are broken down below:President Carter negotiated a treaty (over much opposition) with Panama that would return control of the Panama Canal back to Panama in 2000. Bad move.President Carter’s energy and environment plan: turn down the thermostat and wear a sweater.President Carter normalized relations with China. And here we are.President Carter negotiated the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) with the Soviet Union, just prior to the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan, and the Islamic revolution swept over Iran and kidnapped Americans at the US Embassy in Tehran.First lady Rosslyn Carter played an active role in the Carter Administration. She was “Ambassador to the Americas” for the president. She was also honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, and she pushed for childhood immunizations for all 50 states.The singular greatest achievement by President Carter was the Camp David Accords, which created a peace between Egypt and Israel. This is a peace that has lasted to this day. A worthy accomplishment for the president to be proud of.Late 1979 into 1980 were a disaster for President Carter. Islamic revolutionaries in Iran stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took Americans as hostages. The daily Day count was a constant drip, drip reminder to the American public of our helplessness. Ultimately, President Carter’s accomplishment was that the hostages were able to come home alive, released at the very minute President Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president on January 20, 1981.The Soviets invaded Afghanistan shortly after President Carter had negotiated the SALT treat with the Soviets. Another world event that displayed our helplessness.Inflation was another issue that President Carter was unable to bring under control.The general malaise and obvious failures on both domestic and worldwide issues caused a great turning by the American electorate. Ronald Reagan defeated the incumbent President Carter in 44 of 50 states, an embarrassing landslide.The hostages return home.Four presidents: Reagan, Ford, Carter and Nixon.President Carter was much more successful as an ex-President. He started Habitat for Humanity, building and repairing homes for disadvantaged people.The Carters became active in monitoring elections around the world, working for fair elections, and against mail-in ballots. They monitored elections in Indonesia, Lebanon, Ghana, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Panama, among others.Election Observer badges for the Carters in Lebanon.Carter also became very involved in eliminating chronic diseases in the third world, particularly river blindness in Africa and Latin America.River blindness, elephantiasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and malaria affect millions of people, mostly the poor. All these diseases are preventable or have treatments. The Carter Center works to bring medicine and health education to these African and Latin American nations.President Carter was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.President Carter also won a Grammy for the Spoken Word.President Bill Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to both President Jimmy and First Lady Rosslyn Carter. It is the highest civilian honor in the US.Sightless Among Miracles. This sculpture brings attention to the prevalence of river blindness in Africa. For hundreds of years, a child leading a blind elder has been the fate of families stricken with river blindness in Africa and Latin America. Now the demise of this ancient scourge is in sight, as Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have donated hundreds of millions of doses of medicine for the work of the Carter Center.Mectizan (Ivermectin), Zithromax, Albendazole for treating diseases in the third world. Hmm, seems like Ivermectin is pretty important, huh?
Council of War, 1868, depicting General Grant, President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton.Council of War variation, 1868Bronze bust of Lincoln without the beardLincoln-Douglas Debate, by John D. WhitingYoung Lincoln, by Norman RockwellLincoln portrait by C.C. BeallLincoln in Prayer, by James Montgomery FlaggLincoln at Window, by James Montgomery FlaggLincoln portrait by F.C. CourterOriginal 1860 campaign flag
Mississippi State University houses the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library & Museum.Ulysses Grant was our 18th president, served from 1869-1877.2nd Lieutenant Grant at US Military Academy, West PointGrant rose from relative obscurity to national acclaim in the wake of his victory at Fort Donelson and his success at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the “Gibraltar of the West”.Ulysses Grant, President of the Unites States.This is a copy of a painting young Grant made while a cadet at the US Military Academy, circa 1842. The original painting hangs at the US Military Academy, West Point NY.The Grant familyPresident Grant and First Lady Julia Grant.After leaving the White House Grant and Julia travelled extensively around the world.Grant died in 1885, and is now buried at the General Grant National Memorial in New York City.
The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 was the deadliest single-day battle in the history of the United States. While the result of the battle was inconclusive, it did show that the Union could stand with the Confederates in the Eastern theater of the war. This gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation.
Cannons on display at the Visitor Center, which was closed because of the government shutdown.Model 1841 6-pounder gun.Model 1857 12-pound Gun-Howitzer3-inch Ordnance Rifle10-pounder Parrott RifleThe Dunker Church was badly damaged during the battle, then blown down during a wind storm in 1921, then rebuilt with mostly original materials.Maryland monument.The West Woods area of the battlefield, where the Philadelphia Brigade lost more than 550 men were lost in 20 minutes of fighting.The East Woods. This is where the first shots of the battle were fired during the evening September 16, 1862.The “Bloody Cornfield”, where for four hours the battle raged – 25,000 troops fought, the field changing hands several times.The Final Attack trailKnown as the Rohrbach Bridge before the battle, it was renamed for General Ambrose Burnside who commanded the Union soldiers who fought to take this crucial Antietam crossing during the battle.Joseph Poffenberger FarmThere are more than 22,000 casualties at the Battle of Antietam. Doctors at the scene are overwhelmed. Badly needed supplies are brought in by nurse Clara Barton, known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.”Ohio monumentDelaware monumentNew Jersey monumentIndiana monumentTexas monumentGeorgia monumentMississippi monumentInfantry monumentsMajor General Joseph K. F. Mansfield was mortally wounded near this spot September 17, 1862 while deploying his corps in action.Irish Brigade monument.Ohio monumentGeneral Robert E. Lee statueMonument to William McKinley, our 25th President, who was a Commissary Sergeant with the 23rd Ohio of Colonel Hugh Ewing’s Brigade. During the battle he bravely served the soldiers in his regiment. As President he was assassinated in September 1901.
