Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter visited the Sacramento region and Northern California several times while on the campaign trail or during his presidency.
Jimmy Carter died Sunday, Dec. 29, at age 100. His wife Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023 at age 96. The Carters were married for more than 77 years.
The former president, who is the longest-lived American president, entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, in February 2023.
Carter was a little-known Georgia governor when he began his bid for the presidency ahead of the 1976 election. He went on to defeat then-President Gerald R. Ford, capitalizing as a Washington outsider in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon from office in 1974.
Then-California Gov. Jerry Brown unsuccessfully ran against Carter for the presidential nomination in 1976 and 1980.
The 1976 presidential campaign
Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, Democratic candidate for president, answers a reporter’s question during a news conference at the Hotel Senator in Sacramento on Oct. 9, 1975. It was his eighth to California since announcing his candidacy. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
Jimmy Carter speaks to the California Senate while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president in May 1976. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
Rosalynn Carter. wife of Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter, greets campaign workers at her husband’s Sacramento county campaign headquarters in September 1976. She was invited to Northern California by March Fong Eu, secretary of state, and the Democratic Women’s Club. Frank Stork Sacramento Bee file
Jimmy Carter flashes the victory sign while campaigning on Oct. 31, 1976, at the EI Mirador Hotel in Sacramento with Sen. Alan Cranston, left, and to Carter’s right, Rep. John E. Moss, Secretary of State March Fong Eu and Gov. Jerry Brown. Harlin Smith Sacramento Bee file
Surrounded by news cameras, presidential candidate Jimmy Carter talks to SMUD workers in a utility yard on 59th Street in East Sacramento on May 31, 1976. The Sacramento Bee
Jimmy Carter talks to Penny Fererda, 7, the daughter of a Sacramento Municipal Utility District employee, during a campaign visit on May 31, 1976. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
A smiling Jimmy Carter was awash in a sea of hardhats during a visit with Southern Pacific workers in the downtown Sacramento railyard on Nov. 1, 1976. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
Drought visit
President Jimmy Carter, center, walks with rancher Manuel Silva, left, soil conservationist Red Marin, behind Carter, and Charles Kryder, right, through Kryder’s orchards near Navelencia in Fresno County on May 17, 1977. Carter was visiting the San Joaquin Valley to see the effects of the state’s drought first-hand. Joseph A. Frisina, Jr. Fresno Bee file
Campaigning for Democrats in 1978
President Jimmy Carter walks to rally in K Street Mall on Nov. 3, 1978, with congressional hopefuls Robert Matsui, left, and Vic Fazio, behind Matsui. Mervyn Dymally, right, is incumbent candidate for lieutenant governor. Harlin Smith Sacramento Bee file
President Jimmy Carter shakes hands during his visit to Sacramento in 1978. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
A crowd of some 10,000 jammed the K Street Mall to see President Jimmy Carter campaign for Democratic office-seekers in 1978. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
A crowd of some 10,000 jammed the K Street Mall to see President Jimmy Carter give a boost to Democratic office-seekers on Nov. 3, 1978. He is joined on stage by Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally, left, Attorney General candidate Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, at podium, and Gov. Jerry Brown, right. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
Supporters climb one of the concrete sculptures of the K Street pedestrian mall to get a better view of President Jimmy Carter speaking in front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in November 1978. The Sacramento Bee
President Jimmy Carter deplanes at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento on Nov. 3, 1978. He was in town to give a boost to Democratic office seekers Vic Fazio, center left, Robert Matsui, and Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally. Harlin Smith Sacramento Bee file
A large crowd awaits President Jimmy Carter outside the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sacramento during his visit in November 1978. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
First lady visits Davis
First Lady Rosalynn Carter is greeted by fellow cyclists in Davis during her visit to the city on March 21, 1979, to promote its energy-conserving solar homes and bicycle paths. She kissed children at almost every stop, according to news reports. Frank Stork Sacramento Bee file
First Lady Rosalynn Carter is greeted by Davis city leaders in March 1979. Frank Stork Sacramento Bee file
First Lady Rosalynn Carter examines Davis developer Mike Corbett’s solar energy home in the city’s Village Homes neighborhood in March 1979. Sacramento Bee file
Rosalynn Carter’s 1980 visit
Mark Meaker, a spectator to Rosalynn Carter’s visit to the Sacramento Childrens Home on Oct. 14, 1980, talks with the first lady as she holds Meakers’ 4-month-old son Matt, who has Down’s syndrome. Meaker said he wanted to see the Carter because of her interest in hleping children like his son. “I’m a Republican, but I like Mrs. Carter’s stand on mental illness. Her support of a program provides federal federal funds that help my son,” he said. Harlin Smith Sacramento Bee file
First Lady Rosalynn Carter, right, is interviewed by radio host Mary Jane Popp of KGNR News Radio, which broadcast at the time from a studio at 19th and W streets in Sacramento, on Oct. 13, 1980. Harlin Smith Sacramento Bee file
This story was originally published February 18, 2023 at 5:53 PM.
Bee visuals editor Nathaniel Levine joined the staff in 2003. His work has received awards from the Society of News Design, the Best of the West journalism competition and the California News Publishers Association, among others. A native Californian, Levine grew up in Grass Valley and attended UC Davis.
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