Gloria Carter Spann - Carter Presidency: 1977-1981

Carter Presidency: 1977-1981

Although she had some level of fame of her own before Jimmy's election, she was not forced into the spotlight until her brother was elected President. Gloria was probably the sibling who shunned the spotlight most during her brother's years in office. Prior to Jimmy Carter's achieving the presidency in 1976, Spann had participated in several prior campaigns for her brother. In his bids for the governorship of Georgia, she made countless phone calls and mailed numerous pamphlets in order to win votes for Carter. Mrs. Spann maintained a relatively low profile as she and her husband, Walter, participated in cross-country cycling on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Mrs. Spann's son caused her great distress. He became a nocturnal wanderer and often disappeared for three or four days at a time, leaving Mrs. Spann frantic. As her husband made good money, Gloria was not required to work, but since her son was continually expelled from schools, Gloria Spann began work as a secretary in order to send her son to a private school. Gloria discussed her trouble with her evangelist sister, Ruth Stapleton. At Ruth's cabin in the mountains, Gloria picked up material that encourages the reader to give his problems to God. Spann expected to be bored to sleep by the material but finally took her sister's advice.

William Carter Spann moved to California in 1969 and Gloria turned her interests in other directions. William Spann often said that his mother rejected him and used this as a means to justify his unconventional behavior. Gloria Carter Spann did not see her son even once during the last twenty-one years of her life.

Though William had moved out to California and severed contact with his family, this did not keep him out of the spotlight. During Jimmy Carter's 1976 Presidential campaign, the media's intense scrutiny found them at William's jail cell out in California. When interviewed about his uncle's success, he stated: "He's in the White House, I'm in the big house." Gloria also received a phone call threatening to reveal that "Jimmy Carter's got a nephew in jail" if she did not pay a sum of money to keep the caller quiet.

During their years as motorcyclists, Gloria and her husband became "den mother" and father to the younger riders. The Spanns planted a large garden for the bikers each year and canned the vegetables to serve as they often had unexpected guests. Their farmhouse was arranged for multiple cots or sleeping bags. Walter constructed a four-hole outhouse to accommodate bikers who were cruising through the South or headed down to the races at Daytona.