Weeks later, with the loss still fresh in his mind, Jimmy went for a walk with his sister Ruth, an evangelical Christian and a spiritual healer. All of his life he had been a church going Christian, but now felt that his faith had been superficial. "We are both Baptists," he said, "but what is it that you have that I haven't got?" "Total commitment," she replied. "I belong to Jesus, everything I am." "Ruth," he answered, "that's what I want."

Doug Brinkley: At that point he decided that he'd always put Christ in his life first, and politics second. But that's been a struggle for him because politics is the ego and Christ is the humbleness.

Narrator: The "born again" Christian traveled North, to blighted neighborhoods in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts as a "personal witness" for Jesus Christ.

Doug Brinkley: He would go door-to-door, getting people to witness Christ take Jesus into their lives. I mean, can you imagine ten years later this man is president of the United States, and he's banging on doors, asking people do you want a bible? Will you take God in your life?

Peter Bourne: He wanted to understand theology. And so he began reading a lot of theologians and began to craft for himself a political theology that was compatible with his own personality.

Narrator: Carter found guidance in the writings of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

E. Stanly Godbold: Niebuhr said, "The sad duty of politics is to bring justice to a sinful world." A Christian has to get involved in politics. He has to soil his hands as a politician or in an immoral society, in order to improve it.

Doug Brinkley: Niebuhr taught him that there is good and evil in the world, that politics is corrupt, but it's honorable, as long as you kept your heart pure and your sense of morality pure.

Narrator: "I believe God wants me to be the best politician I can be," he said. In 1970, with renewed fervor, Carter ran for governor of Georgia a second time.

Carter (archival): I have been campaigning almost 18 hours a day without stopping for eight months. I've seen almost every factory shift in Georgia and been in almost every store.

Rosalynn Carter: It was just kind of an obsession. He had lost so we had to win. And we worked as hard as we could.

Narrator: It would not be the amateur run of 1966, but a well-coordinated effort. Carter brought in two Southwest Georgia boys: Jody Powell as his personal assistant and Hamilton Jordan to manage the campaign. Advertising man Gerald Rafshoon would handle the media. Bert Lance, a banker from Calhoun, played the role of adviser.

Bert Lance, Adviser (before presidency), Budget Director (during presidency): It was a tough, tough campaign. And there were many who thought that Carter could not possibly win.

Narrator: Carter's rival for the Democratic nomination, Carl Sanders, enjoyed a commanding 20 percent lead. He had the backing of the Atlanta business establishment, and the support of African Americans, voting in greater numbers since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Carter went after Sanders with a vengeance.

Carter Campaign Ad: Some candidates in this governor's race have large campaign contributions behind them -- big money asking big favors. Jimmy Carter only has the people of Georgia...

Narrator: Carter portrayed Sanders as a tool of the Atlanta business establishment and himself as a hard-working everyman.

Carter Political Ad: No wonder Jimmy Carter has a special understanding of the problems facing everyone who works for a living. Isn't it time somebody spoke up for you?

E. Stanly Godbold: He wanted to appeal to the large middle class, blue collar type, predominantly white, and most of these people are going to be segregationists.

Betty Glad: He courted the racist vote. There were some radio ads that he ran in 1970. He said that "Unlike Sanders, I am not trying to get the" -- and he sort of slid over whether it was "block" or "black" vote. But it sort of meant the same thing.

E. Stanly Godbold: Carter himself was not a segregationist in 1970. But he did say things that the segregationists wanted to hear. He was opposed to busing. He was in favor of private schools. He said that he would invite segregationist governor George Wallace to come to Georgia to give a speech.

Leroy Johnson: The only solace that we got and received was the fact that in private meetings, he convinced us that if he was given an opportunity he would make things better. He always came up with this question of trust. Trust me. I believe in doing the right thing.

Betty Glad: If you are really trying to accomplish good moral ends, you may have to be a lowlife politician to get there. And he didn't probably like doing it that much, but he was willing to do it.

Carter (archival): At the end of a long campaign I believe I know our people...

Narrator: On January 12, 1971, Jimmy Carter, age 46, was sworn in as governor of Georgia. In his inaugural address he revealed his true feelings on race.

Carter (archival): I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over. No poor, rural, weak or black person should ever have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity of an education, a job or simple justice.

Leroy Johnson: We were extremely pleased. Many of the white segregationists were displeased. And I'm convinced that those people that supported him, would not have supported him if they had thought that he would have made that statement.

Dan Carter: I do remember reading his inaugural address and thinking this is wonderful. We've got a governor in a Deep South state who is stating emphatically not just that it's time to accept change, but that it's time to really move far beyond that and end all forms of discrimination. I suddenly saw him as part of this new generation of southern politicians who were moving beyond the divisions of racial politics in the 1950s and 1960s.

Narrator: The Carters moved into the brand new governor's mansion, on eighteen acres in Atlanta's poshest district.

Carter (archival): This is the first time our family has really been together for the last four years. Our oldest boy has just gotten back from the Navy. And I've been campaigning for four years, so we're looking forward to living as a family again.

Reporter (archival): Mrs. Carter, have you had any special problems?

Rosalynn Carter (archival): No, not really. We packed the clothes in the car last night. And really the only furniture we had to bring was one sofa, which is just a favorite old sofa that my children love.

Rosalynn Carter: Going from Plains, Georgia, to the governor's mansion was much harder for me than going from the governor's mansion to the White House. I had never, ever been in the governor's mansion. When Jimmy was in the state senate, I didn't come to Atlanta because I was working at home. I was just not part of the Atlanta political community. It was a really difficult experience.

Chip Carter: She had to learn her own voice, how to project, how to make a speech, how to win people over, how to deal with legislators on her issues. She had to learn how to do all that.

Narrator: The people of Georgia came to meet the new first family, and fell in love with Amy, the Carter's three-year old daughter.

E Stanly Godbold: The public identifies with a small child, and Carter understood that and they kept Amy in the limelight. It made him human. He could be a successful politician, a successful governor, and a successful father, all at the same time.

Narrator: Carter appointed an unprecedented number of women and African Americans, stimulated foreign investment, reformed the state's criminal justice and mental health systems.

Carter (archival): I see unfair taxes and government waste and I see runaway spending...

Narrator: The centerpiece of his agenda was a radical plan to streamline state government -- with savings at every level.

Bert Lance: Everybody had to pay for their own lunch. You know, we had to put $2 into the kitty. Mary Beasley, who was his secretary at the time, would ask you want you wanted, so you felt honored to be able to go and spend money for a dried out sandwich.

Narrator: The governor's proposal to slash the number of government agencies provoked outrage.

Carter (archival): I welcome confrontation with heads of departments. I'm willing to fight with anybody who opposes a recommendation...

Leroy Johnson: I saw a completely different side of Carter. In the senate he was not assertive. As governor, he was assertive. He knew where he wanted to go, and he knew the direction he wanted to go in. And he wanted complete compliance.

Lester Maddox (archival): He's fighting for total submission and total control of the legislators and he's willing to use 100 million or 200 million or whatever it is...

Warren Fortson: Jimmy's character is such that he wants to get things done. He wants them done. And he has a tendency, I think, to run roughshod over anything that stands in his way.

Carter (archival): We need to remember who pays the taxes and who pays our salaries.

Dan Carter: He had a tendency to take his case to the people and then try to force the legislature to follow him. He never, as governor, broke what I think was an unfortunate habit of seeing personal politics, as kind of, that is with other politicians, as a kind of nuisance, something that had to be done, because you had to talk to these people. He never developed the interest in or really particularly good skills at working with individuals who may have disagreed with him.

Narrator: By the time his reorganization bill reached the Senate floor, Carter had alienated most of the Assembly. But his bill squeaked through -- by a handful of votes.

Warren Fortson: As I told the committee up there, he reminds me of a south Georgia turtle who's been blocked by a log. And he just keeps pushing, pushing, pushing straight ahead, he doesn't go around here until he finally gets a soft spot in the log and right on through he goes. He is a man of great determination and steel.