Amy Carter

Early life and education

Amy Carter was born on October 19, 1967 in Plains, Georgia. In 1970 her father was elected Governor of Georgia, and then in 1976, President of the United States. Amy was raised in Plains until her father was elected governor, whereupon she moved with her family into the Georgia Governor's Mansion, and the White House when her father was elected President. Carter attended majority African American public schools in Washington during her four years in Washington; first the Stevens Elementary School and then the Rose Hardy Middle School. Mary Prince was her nanny from 1971 until Jimmy Carter's presidency ended. After her father's presidency, Amy moved to Atlanta and attended her senior year of high school at Woodward Academy in College Park. She attended Brown University but was academically dismissed in 1987, and eventually earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) from the Memphis College of Art and a master's degree in art history from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Life in the White House

Carter lived in the White House for four years from the age of nine. She was the subject of much media attention during this period, as young children had not lived in the White House since the early 1960s presidency of John F. Kennedy (and would not again do so after the Carter presidency until the inauguration of Bill Clinton).

While in the White House, Carter had a Siamese cat named "Misty Malarky Ying Yang", who would be the last cat to occupy the White House until Socks, owned by Bill Clinton. Carter was also given an elephant from Sri Lanka from an immigrant; the animal was given to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Carter attended Washington, D.C., public schools, including Stevens Elementary School and Hardy Middle School. Later, she attended Tri-County High School in Buena Vista, Georgia.

Carter roller skated through the White House's East Room and had a treehouse on the South Lawn. When she invited friends over for slumber parties in her treehouse, Secret Service agents monitored the event from the ground.

Carter did not receive the "hands off" treatment that most of the media later afforded to Chelsea Clinton. President Carter mentioned his daughter during a 1980 debate with Ronald Reagan, when he said he had asked her what the most important issue in that election was and she said, "the control of nuclear arms". Once, when asked whether she had any message for the children of America, Amy replied with a simple "no". Controversy resulted when Carter was seen reading a book during a state dinner at the White House, which was seen as being offensive to foreign guests.

Activism

Carter later became known for her political activism, participating in a number of sit-ins and protests during the 1980s and early 1990s, aimed at changing U.S. foreign policy towards South African apartheid and Central America. Along with activist Abbie Hoffman and 13 others, she was arrested during a 1986 demonstration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for protesting CIA recruitment there. She was acquitted of all charges in a well-publicized trial in Northampton, Massachusetts. Attorney Leonard Weinglass, who defended Abbie Hoffman in the Chicago Seven trial in the 1960s, utilized the necessity defense, successfully arguing that because the CIA was involved in criminal activity in Central America and other hotspots, preventing it from recruiting on campus was equivalent to trespassing in a burning building. This occurred during Carter's sophomore year at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She was eventually dismissed from Brown for academic reasons.

Personal life

In September 1996, Carter married computer consultant James Gregory Wentzel, whom she had met while attending Tulane. Carter chose not to be given away, stating that she "belonged to no one". Carter kept her own family name and the couple moved to the Atlanta area, where they continue to live and focus on raising their son, Hugo James Wentzel (born July 29, 1999). In Atlanta, Hugo attended Paideia. Since the late 1990s, Carter has maintained a low profile, neither participating in public protests nor granting interviews. She is a member of the board of counselors of the Carter Center that advocates human rights and diplomacy as established by her father. Carter illustrated her father's book for children The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer (1996).