Billy Carter
Billy Carter | |
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Born | William Alton Carter March 29, 1937 Plains, Georgia, U.S. |
Died | September 25, 1988 Plains, Georgia, U.S. | (aged 51)
Alma mater | Emory University |
Occupation(s) | Farmer, businessman, politician |
Spouse |
Sybil Spires (m. 1955) |
Children | 6 |
Parents |
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Relatives |
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William Alton Carter (March 29, 1937 – September 25, 1988)[2] was an American farmer, businessman, brewer, and politician. The younger brother of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, he promoted Billy Beer and Peanut Lolita; and he was a candidate for mayor of Plains, Georgia.
Early life
[edit]William Alton "Billy" Carter was the fourth and youngest child of Lillian and James Earl Carter.[3] He attended Emory University,[4] served in the United States Marine Corps, and later worked in the Carter family's peanut business.[5]
1970s and later
[edit]In 1970, Billy Carter was managing partner and 15% owner of the Carter family's peanut business.[3] By 1976, Billy had increased revenues to $5 million per year.[3]
In 1972, Carter purchased a gas and service station in Plains. He owned and operated it for most of the decade.[6] At its peak he sold 2,000 cases of beer a month and more than 40,000 gallons of gas.[5] In 2009, the station became the Billy Carter Service Station Museum,[7] via the University of Georgia.[5]
Carter ran for mayor of Plains in 1976 but lost the election, 97 to 71 votes, to A.L. Blanton,[8] an Albany airport[9] air traffic controller.[10]
In the 1970s, Billy Carter was the official spokesperson for Peanut Lolita liqueur.[11]
In 1977, although a Pabst Blue Ribbon drinker,[5] he endorsed Billy Beer, introduced by the Falls City Brewing Company, who wished to capitalize upon his colorful image as a beer-drinking Southern good ol' boy.[12] Billy Carter's name was occasionally used as a gag answer for a Washington, D.C. trouble-maker on 1970s episodes of Match Game.[citation needed] He was known for his outlandish public behavior;[13] he once urinated on an airport runway in full view of the press and dignitaries.[14]
By 1979, he drank half a gallon of vodka and whiskey a day.[15] In February 1979, Carter was admitted to seven weeks of rehabilitation at the Long Beach, California Navy Hospital alcohol treatment facility.[16][17] He later became sober and reportedly extended support to other addicts in their own recovery.[15]
In 1981, he was forced to sell his Plains properties to pay taxes and debts and moved to Haleyville, Alabama where he worked in sales for Tidwell Industries.[18] In 1985, he became Vice President of Scott Housing Systems.[18]
Relationship with Libya
[edit]In late 1978 and early 1979, Billy Carter visited Libya three times with a contingent from Georgia. He eventually registered as a foreign agent of the Libyan government and received a $220,000 loan of which, The New York Times speculated,[19] only $1,000 was repaid.[20] However, Edwin P. Wilson claimed he had seen a telegram showing that Libya paid Billy Carter $2 million.[21] This led to a Senate hearing on alleged influence peddling which the press named Billygate.[22] A Senate sub-committee was called To Investigate Activities of Individuals Representing Interests of Foreign Governments (Billy Carter—Libya Investigation).[23]
"I am deeply concerned that Billy has received funds from Libya and that he may be under obligation to Libya. These facts will govern my relationship with Billy as long as I am president. Billy has had no influence on U.S. policy or actions concerning Libya in the past, and he will have no influence in the future."
— Jimmy Carter, August 4, 1980[24]
Death
[edit]Carter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the fall of 1987 and received unsuccessful treatments for the disease.[25] He died in Plains the following year at age of 51,[26] five years after the death of his sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, who also died of pancreatic cancer at age of 54; after two years following his death, his older sister Gloria Carter Spann, died at age of 63 with same pancreatic cancer.[19] Their father, James Earl Carter Sr., also died of the disease at the age of 58. And their mother Bessie Lillian Gordy, died from breast cancer at age of 85.
After Billy died, his wife Sybil opened a cafe.[27][12]
Bibliography
[edit]- Carter, William "Buddy" (1999) Billy Carter: A Journey Through the Shadows (ISBN 1-56352-553-4).
- Carter, Billy (1977). Rifkin, Jeremy; Howard, Ted (eds.). Redneck power : the wit and wisdom of Billy Carter. New York, New York: Bantam Books.[28]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^
- "Billy Carter's wife to discuss drinking". Tampa Bay Times. July 22, 1990. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- "The Big Heartaches of Billy and Sybil Carter". Washington Post. July 28, 1980. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- Carter, Billy; Carter, Sybil; Estes, Ken (1989). Billy: Billy Carter's Reflections on His Struggle with Fame, Alcoholism, and Cancer. Edgehill Publications. ISBN 978-0-926028-07-4. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- "Billy: Billy Carter's Reflections on His Struggle with Fame, Alcoholism, and Cancer by Billy Carter, Sybil Carter, Ken Estes". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Billy Carter". Biography.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
- ^ a b c Treadwell, David (September 26, 1988). "Billy Carter Is Dead of Cancer at 51 : Ex-President's Brother Capitalized on Country-Boy Image". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Pearson, Richard (September 26, 1988). "BILLY CARTER, EX-PRESIDENT'S BROTHER, DIES OF CANCER". Washington Post. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Soper, Susan (September 25, 2013). "Billy Carter: Beer Drinker, Book Lover". Legacy.com. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Billy Carter's Station
- ^
- "Billy Carter's Service Station". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- "Billy Carter's Gas Station Museum". National Park Planner. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- "Billy Carter Gas Station Museum, Plains, Georgia". Roadside America. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Ayres, B. Drummond Jr (December 7, 1976). "Billy Carter Loses". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Welcome". Southwest Georgia Regional Airport. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Ayres, Drummond (December 7, 1976). "Billy Carter Loses". The New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
- ^ Watson, Robert P. (2012). Life in the White House: A Social History of the First Family and the President's House. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0791485071. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
- ^ a b "Sybil, good ole boy..." The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. June 26, 1977. p. 65. Retrieved February 23, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
- ^
- Vardeman, Johnny (October 19, 2008). "First Brother left friends tales to retell". The Gainesville Times (Georgia). Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- Blanco, José F. (2010). "Becoming Billy Carter: Clothes Make the Man (and His Many Characters)". Southern Cultures. 16 (2): 6–30. doi:10.1353/scu.0.0108. S2CID 201768096.
- ^ "Billy Carter Curbs Tongue", Spokane Daily Chronicle, January 15, 1979
- ^ a b McLELLAN, DENNIS (January 27, 1990). "O.C. Writer Helps Tell Billy Carter Odyssey". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Bennett, Tom. "Billy Carter Dies of Pancreatic Cancer". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Betty Ford leaving Long Beach Naval Hospital, Calif". calisphere.org. May 6, 1978. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ a b "Billy Carter". Britannica. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ a b Hershey, Robert D. Jr (September 26, 1988). "Billy Carter Dies of Cancer at 51; Troubled Brother of a President". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Billy Carter Role in Iran Hostage Crisis Disclosed". The Los Angeles Times. July 23, 1980. p. 1. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ Joseph J. Trento, Prelude to Terror: Edwin P. Wilson and the Legacy of America's Private Intelligence Network (Carroll and Graf, 2005), p. 162.
- ^ Sabato, Larry (July 21, 1998). "Billygate – 1980". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^
- "inquiry into the matter of billy carter and libya report" (PDF). intelligence.senate.gov. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- Inquiry into the matter of Billy Carter and Libya: hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Activities of Individuals Representing the Interests of Foreign Governments of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-sixth Congress, second session, August 4, 6, 19, 20, 21, 22, September 4, 5, 9, 10, 16, 17, and October 2, 1980
- ^ Trento, Prelude to Terror, p. 164. Trento asserts that Libya's involvement with Billy Carter was instigated by Israeli intelligence in order "to compromise the president", who had ended Israel's "special status inside the CIA". Trento, 160, 157.
- ^ "Billy Carter Has Surgery". The New York Times. September 12, 1987. p. 34 (section 1).
- ^
- "Mourners Arrive In Plains For Billy Carter's Funeral". AP NEWS. September 26, 1988. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- "PLAINS SHUTS DOWN TO MOURN BILLY CARTER". Deseret News. September 26, 1988. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Jimmy Carter". booknotes.org. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Mitgang, Herbert (May 6, 1977). "Publishing: Words of the Carters". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
External links
[edit]- 1937 births
- 1988 deaths
- United States Marines
- Burials in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Carter family
- Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats
- People from Plains, Georgia
- Emory University alumni
- Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
- Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state)
- 20th-century American businesspeople