Jimmy Carter’s family members carved their own paths under, and after, the public spotlight of his presidency.
His brother Billy Carter, who died of cancer in 1988, was the best known of the president’s siblings, the inspiration for the short-lived brew known as Billy Beer and the subject of several federal investigations.
Among his most highly publicized episodes was a federal investigation about his ties to Libya. Billy Carter, who owned a gas station, visited the country in 1978 and 1979 as part of his work on behalf of an American company seeking to get into the oil industry there.
A Senate committee report said there was no evidence indicating that Billy Carter had influenced American policy, but it added that President Carter was negligent in not disassociating himself from his brother’s unorthodox activities.
During the investigation, Billy Carter declared he was not “a buffoon, a boob or a wacko,” but told Senate investigators that he refused to conform to the image of what many thought a president’s brother should look like.
Billy Carter sometimes drank draft beer for breakfast but underwent treatment for alcohol addiction during his brother’s presidency, declaring himself a “reformed alcoholic” in 1979. When a reporter held up a can of Billy Beer, he responded, “Baby, I love it, I’d like to have it right now, but I ain’t going to drink it; I found out that water can be drank straight.”
The president’s sister Ruth Carter Stapleton was a believer in “inner healing,” writing two books on the topic, and decided not to undergo medical treatment after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Ms. Carter Stapleton believed in “faith imagination,” a combination of prayer and psychology, and said she would rely on prayer, meditation, diet and exercise. She died five months later in September 1983.
Gloria Carter Spann, who was the last surviving sibling of the president, was an avid motorcyclist. She died in 1990 of pancreatic cancer, the same illness that killed Billy Carter and Ruth Carter Stapleton, as well as their father.
Mr. Carter is survived by the four children he had with his wife, Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19 at age 96: John William “Jack,” 76; James Earl III “Chip,” 74; Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff,” 71; and Amy Lynn, 56.
Amy Carter has been perhaps the most well-known of the president’s children. She was 8 years old when her father was running for president in 1976, while her brothers were all in their 20s.
When President Carter was in the White House, Amy Carter notably attended public schools. In college, well after her father’s lone four-year term, she was arrested after protesting against the C.I.A. with a group at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ms. Carter and the group faced trespassing charges, but they were later acquitted after a two-week trial.
Jack Carter, a businessman, tried to follow his father as an elected official, running for senator of Nevada in 2006 but losing in the general election. Jeff Carter has largely stayed out of politics, and is the co-founder of a computer mapping firm.
Chip Carter worked for the family’s peanut warehousing business during his father’s presidency, and he worked as a leg man for the Democratic National Committee at its midterm mini‐convention in 1978. He also served on the Plains City Council in Georgia.
A grandson, Jason Carter, lost the race for governor of Georgia as the Democratic nominee in 2014.
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