Presidency of Jimmy Carter taken on the eve of the election showed a close race, Reagan won a decisive victory. In polls of historians and political scientists, Carter is usually ranked as a below-average president. Carter was elected as the Governor of Georgia in 1970, and during his four years in office he earned a reputation as a progressive, racially moderate Southern governor. Observing George McGovern's success in the 1972 Democratic primaries, Carter came to believe that he could win the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination by running as an outsider unconnected to establishment politicians in Washington, D.C. Despite scant backing from party leaders, McGovern
Franklin Carter for Europe before assuming his appointment at Williams. He took up teaching in 1865, becoming head of the Latin department in 1868 before becoming Professor of German at Yale College in 1873. Franklin was the head of a language scholar organisation called the Modern Languages Association. He later became president of the Williams College in 1881, the first president of the university to also be a scholar. As president, Carter doubled the size of the faculty and completed eight buildings. He brought his friend John Haskell Hewitt to Williams, who became acting president upon Carter's retirement in 1901. Franklin Carter