William Alton "Billy" Carter III (March 29, 1937 – September 25, 1988) was an American businessman who promoted
Billy BeerBilly Beer was a beer first made in the United States of America in July 1977, by the Falls City Brewing Company. It was promoted by Billy Carter, the younger brother of then-President Jimmy Carter...
, was a candidate for Mayor of
Plains, GeorgiaPlains is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 776 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Notable people:...
, and was the younger brother of
United States PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
William Alton "Billy" Carter III (March 29, 1937 – September 25, 1988) was an American businessman who promoted
Billy BeerBilly Beer was a beer first made in the United States of America in July 1977, by the Falls City Brewing Company. It was promoted by Billy Carter, the younger brother of then-President Jimmy Carter...
, was a candidate for Mayor of
Plains, GeorgiaPlains is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 776 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Notable people:...
, and was the younger brother of
United States PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
Early years
Born in
Plains, GeorgiaPlains is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 776 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Notable people:...
, Carter attended
Emory UniversityEmory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
in the Atlanta area but did not complete a
degreeAn academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
. He served four years in the
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, then returned to Plains to work with his brother in the family business of growing
peanutThe peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
s. In 1955, he married Sybil Spires (born 1938), also of Plains, Georgia. They were the parents of six: Kim, Jana, William "Buddy", Marle, Mandy and Earl, who was just 12 years old when his father died.
Billy Carter ran for mayor of Plains in 1976, but lost the election.
In 1977, he endorsed
Billy BeerBilly Beer was a beer first made in the United States of America in July 1977, by the Falls City Brewing Company. It was promoted by Billy Carter, the younger brother of then-President Jimmy Carter...
capitalizing upon his colorful image as a beer-drinking Southern
good ol' boyGood ol' boy is an American slang term that can have both positive and negative meanings, depending on context and usage.The term can be used for well socialized men who live in rural and generally Southern areas. If a man is humble and well thought of, he can be referred to as a "good old boy",...
that had developed in the
pressMass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
when his brother ran for President. Carter's name was occasionally used as a gag answer for a
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
trouble-maker on 1970s episodes of
The Match Game. Carter was known for his outlandish public behavior. For example, he once urinated on an airport runway in full view of the press and dignitaries.
Carter would go on to open and operate a gas and service station.
Libya
In late 1978 and early 1979, Billy Carter visited
LibyaLibya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
three times with a contingent from Georgia. He eventually registered as a foreign agent of the Libyan government and received a $220,000 loan. (
Edwin P. WilsonEdwin P. Wilson was a former CIA officer who was convicted of illegally selling weapons to Libya. It was later found that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case.-Early life:...
alleged that he had seen a telegram showing that Libyans paid Billy Carter two million dollars.) This led to a
SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
hearing over alleged influence peddling which some in the press dubbed "Billygate". A Senate sub-committee was called
To Investigate Activities of Individuals Representing Interests of Foreign Governments (Billy Carter-Libya Investigation). On Aug. 4, 1980, President Jimmy Carter wrote: "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."
After the failure of Billy Beer, Carter sold his house to settle back taxes with the
IRSThe Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
.
Death
Known as a heavy drinker for many years, Carter was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
in the fall of 1987, and received unsuccessful treatments for the disease. He died in Plains at the age of 51.
In 1999, Carter's son William "Buddy" Carter published a biography of his father titled
Billy Carter: A Journey Through the Shadows (ISBN 1-56352-553-4).
See also
- List of well-known U.S. presidential relatives
- List of scandals with "-gate" suffix
External links