The White House Years: 1977-1981

Jimmy Carter was sworn in as President of the United States on January 20, 1977, by Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

The Carters surprised onlookers when they left their car and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Inaugural Parade on January 20, 1977. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale in the Rose Garden on Dec. 4, 1979. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian General Omar Torrijos with other dignitaries at the signing ceremony for the Panama Canal Treaties, June 16, 1978, in Panama City. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

On January 14, 1979, President Carter accepted the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolence Peace Prize at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter viewing a gift from Vice Chairman Deng Xiaoping during a state visit at the White House on January 31, 1979, following the announcement of the normalization of relations with China. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter on a train in Alexandria, Egypt, during a trip to the Middle East, March 9, 1979. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

White House portrait of the Carter family, March 26, 1979. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

In September 1978, Jimmy Carter negotiated the Camp David accords, which created a framework for a peace agreement in the Middle East. Pictured are Egypt President Anwar Sadat, President Carter, and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the March 26, 1979, White House signing of the resulting Israel-Egypt peace treaty that began an era of lasting peace between the two nations. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

President Carter endorsed the use of solar power as part of a comprehensive plan to strengthen the nation’s energy security by conserving energy and developing alternative energy sources. On June 20, 1979, he showed reporters and other guests new solar panels on the West Wing providing hot water for the White House. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

Jimmy Carter accepts the presidential nomination of his party at the Democratic National Convention, August 14, 1980. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

Jimmy Carter greets a crowd of supporters in Saginaw, Mich., during his campaign for re-election, October 30, 1980. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)

Jimmy Carter with freed American hostages in Wiesbaden, West Germany, January 22, 1981. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library)