Turning Point; A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age

Few individuals in our world today call match the achievements and moral stature of former President Jimmy Carter. Not only did he attain America's highest office, but since leaving the White House he has worked to bring peace and hope to the least fortunate of our world. It has been said, without exaggeration, that Jimmy Carter is the only man ever to have used the presidency as a stepping-stone to greater service.
Turning Point is President Carter's story of how he first sought public office in 1962 and how the social and political conflicts in the South during that era shaped his vision of how people of good faith can join forces to right the wrongs of our society. By 1962, segregation laws had been declared invalid, and confrontations were taking place at lunch counters, universities, and bus depots. That spring, the Supreme Court's "one man, one vote" decision mandated equal representation for all citizens, but when Carter decided to run for the newly reconstituted Georgia state senate, his career was nearly strangled at birth. A political boss of the district, who supported Carter's opponent, was not about to let civil rights or Supreme Court decisions stand in the way of his thirst for power.
In re-creating his own experiences amid the volatile atmosphere of that time, Carter paints a vivid portrait of America poised on the verge of political and social change that nearly tore it apart - an image that applies just as aptly to our nation today.
We continue to wrestle with the same issues of fairness and equal opportunity that were the themes of Carter's first political campaign thirty years ago, and it is this persistence of inequity that has led President Carter to embark on another campaign - this one to find solutions to the problems of endemic poverty in cities. The Atlanta Project, spearheaded by The Carter Center, flows directly from our former chief executive's personal experiences and from his unshakable sense of right and wrong.
Turning Point illuminates the origins of President Carter's commitment to human rights and how he has labored to bring about real-life advancements for human decency. No one can read this book and not be touched by this remarkable man.

In this engrossing account of his first campaign for public office, the former President describes himself as a naive 38-year-old farmer and small-businessman who got an education in the rough-and-tumble of Georgia politics. The year was 1962, and the "one man, one vote" ruling had just been handed down by the Supreme Court. On Election Day Carter watched helplessly as Joe Hurst, a supporter of his opponent in the race for state senator, stole the election with blatant ballot-stuffing. Carter hired a lawyer and, aided by a journalist's expose, forced a recount to come up a winner. A suspenseful narrative about a neophyte's harsh introduction to regional politics, the story of Carter's local victory also illuminates the end of the legalized system of white supremacy, rural domination of government and deprivation of civil rights for blacks in the South. Noting that the race issue has returned to American politics, Carter characterizes the U.S. as a once-again segregated nation. In the concluding chapter he discusses the Atlanta Project, which he heads with the former First Lady, a project aimed at improving the quality of life in the inner cities. Photos. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Former President Carter has written an account of his successful 1962 bid for a seat in the Georgia State Senate. The campaign occurred as Georgia and the remainder of the South were struggling with federal court mandates to end racial segregation in schools and to reapportion state legislatures to provide greater representation for urban areas. As one of the "New South" Democrats who emerged in the region in the 1960s and 1970s, Carter was a "moderate" on racial issues. He does not, however, clearly explain here what his views on segregation were at the time or how they evolved. Carter's account of the campaign does capture the colorful flavor and the not infrequently irregular election practices that characterized rural Southern politics during this era. General readers will appreciate these aspects of the book, but they may find Carter's discussions of Georgia's unusual "county unit" electoral system and the legal issues raised in his battle against voting fraud somewhat difficult to follow. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/92.
- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.