Nation: No Chip off the Old Block

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A Carter marriage sours I think it's very important that we have stable family lives," Jimmy Carter told a gathering of Government employees last year. "Those of you who have left your spouses," he said with a smile, "go back home."

Last week, after five years of a far from stable marriage, Chip Carter, 28, the President's second son, and his wife, Caron, 27, separated. Caron went back to her parents in Hawkinsville, Ga., with their 20-month-old son James Earl Carter IV. Chip remained at the White House, where the couple had been living.

Chip, Caron and their parents refused to explain the marital problems or say whether they will divorce. But friends described differences in their personalities and the effects on each of life in the White House as the main reasons for the breakup. Chip, they said, is "just a kid" whose head was turned. Gregarious and the most politically attuned of the Carter offspring, he thrived on the razzle-dazzle of campaigning, particularly the opportunities to meet show-business stars, drink a lot of beer and raise some hell during his off-hours. He even envisioned a political future of his own some day. Since he went to work for the Democratic National Committee as a $26,500-a-year staff member, Chip has been an exuberant fund raiser and crowd catcher for the party.

The more serious and more mature Caron, who met Chip in 1970 when both were working on Carter's campaign for Governor, resented her husband's absences while she was usually left at the White House with the baby. Said a friend: "Chip likes a good time. He likes females. When one person mostly stays home and the other goes out and grabs the excitement and attention with both hands and all ten toes — well, that's a problem." Caron found living in the spotlight uncomfortable. Finally, she decided to leave.