Joseph Lester "Jody" Powell, Jr. (September 30, 1943 – September 14, 2009) was the White House Press Secretary during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. He later founded a public relations firm.
Born in Cordele, Georgia, Powell grew up on a farm in Vienna, 35 miles east of Carter's home town of Plains.
He attended the United States Air Force Academy beginning in 1961, but was expelled three years later for cheating on a history exam. He then enrolle...
More
Joseph Lester "Jody" Powell, Jr. (September 30, 1943 – September 14, 2009) was the White House Press Secretary during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. He later founded a public relations firm.
Born in Cordele, Georgia, Powell grew up on a farm in Vienna, 35 miles east of Carter's home town of Plains.
He attended the United States Air Force Academy beginning in 1961, but was expelled three years later for cheating on a history exam. He then enrolled at Georgia State University, finishing his bachelor's degree in 1966, and enrolling in a Ph.D. program in political science at Emory University.
While at Emory in 1968, he sent paper he had written on southern populism to Jimmy Carter, and began working for the future president, who at the time, was running for governor of Georgia. Powell's first job for Carter was as a volunteer gofer and driver, with Powell taking Carter to various campaign stops throughout Georgia. Powell then became Carter's close friend and functionally served as his...
Less
