We had a front-row seat to Jimmy Carter’s ’76 win. See our never-before-published images.
In the summer season of 1976 I was unwillingly paddling the Suwanee River for a National Geographic story, among my very first-- and one I was distinctively unqualified for. I was a reporter, not a traveler, at heart.In the close-by Georgia town of Plains, Jimmy Carter was running his unlikely governmental project. I needed to go take a look. I discovered a location both captivating and complex, similar to Carter himself. This small town had actually formed the peanut farmer-turned-politician, and Plains was his example throughout his life. I discovered the important things that specified him-- faith, humbleness, empathy-- the important things he in turn provided to the world. The town was giddy with the success of their home town child.A bird's-eye view of downtown Plains and its renowned...