Carter, Jimmy

born 1924, Plains, Ga

39th President of the United States (1977-81). Since leaving office Carter has been active in international human-rights efforts, often as an impartial observer of first-time free elections. He has served as an international mediator in North Korea, Haiti, Bosnia, and elsewhere, and has worked to focus world attention on epidemics in Africa. He has been deeply involved with Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps working-class people in North America and abroad build and finance new homes. The Carter Center in Atlanta, founded in 1986, became an important arena for the discussion of international affairs.