“Jimmy Who?” Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist, former naval officer, peanut farmer, and traditional family man from Plains, Georgia whose rooted values and good morals resonated with many of his fellow Southerners — both whites and blacks. Jimmy Carter was a southerner who prided himself as such. Carter used his “southern identity” as an electoral strategy to win office in 1976 and re-election in 1980. Carter expressed his “regional identity” when he associated his region with country music. When campaigning for southern states, Carter was certain to reassure the people that “I’m a southern, and I’m proud of it.” During many campaigns across the South, Carter gave speeches on what being a southerner means to him. In the article “‘I’m a Southerner’: The Regional Pride and Burden of President Jimmy Carter,” Carter stated that southerners “have a conviction that a better life must depend on hard work, on a belief in God, on strong families, on farming the land, on giving people the chance for a job, on taking care of those who can’t care for themselves.” Carter’s ability to represent the South and all the things that it stands for was widely viewed by his southern supporters as an identity that they could relate to. …show more content…
He also expressed his love for country music. He used country music to associate with his southern identity, but he also referenced how it is associated with the south as a whole. Carter’s strategy was to show people how he connected to the South and how they should vote for someone like him. That is, someone who is southern. Carter also associated the south as a region that was committed to the military and a strong defense. An example in history that Carter used to show how his “regional identity” connects with his diplomatic approach and foreign policy perspective is the Civil War, or the war between the