Want a break from the venality of Don Jr and siblings? Had enough of hearing about Hunter Biden? Let’s take the Wayback Machine to the seventies — the nineteen seventies.
William Carter, better known as “Billy,” ran for mayor of Plains Georgia in 1976. He lost by a narrow margin. That same year, his older brother James, better known as “Jimmy,” was elected president of the United States.
After attending Emory University in Atlanta for a while and four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Billy came beck home to Plains and joined brother Jimmy in the family’s peanut business. In 1972 he purchased a gasoline service station in Plains. When Jimmy began his run for president, Billy began to attract notice from the news media.
As a self-described redneck, Billy Carter appeared to thrive on the attention he began to receive and enjoyed playing the role of a beer-drinkin’ good ol’ boy. He famously said, “My mother went into the Peace Corps when she was 68. My one sister is a motorcycle freak, my other sister is a Holy Roller evangelist and my brother is running for president. I’m the only sane one in the family.” He was always ready with a good story for any interviewer.
A dedicated Pabst Blue Ribbon drinker, — hip before his time — he switched loyalties when he signed on with another brewer to promote newly-branded “Billy” Beer. At its peak, Billy Carter’s service station sold 2,000 cases per month of the namesake brew and 45,000 gallons of gasoline. Billy Beer ceased production in 1978 and Billy renewed his allegiance to Pabst.
Billy Carter even had his own “-gate” scandal. In 1980 he was summoned to appear before a Senate sub-committee investigating a $220,000 loan he’d received from Libya, purportedly to purchase crude oil through an American oil company. He had visited Libya with a contingent from Georgia and had registered as a foreign agent of the Libyan government. The investigation found nothing illegal. The press dubbed the short-lived affair “Billygate.” President Jimmy Carter felt it necessary to issue a statement: “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.” The Senate investigation concluded that Billy had, in fact, influenced no one on any side.
Billy had married at age eighteen; his bride was two years younger. They produced six children and remained together until his death in 1988 at age fifty-one. Billy Carter succumbed to pancreatic cancer, the same disease that claimed his two sisters and both parents.
