John W. Carter graduated from Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut with a BA in Political Science.

He earned an M.S. in Systems Technology (C3) from the Naval Postgraduate School and an M.A. in Political Science from Virginia Tech.

He retired from the Navy on June 1, 2007, after twenty-two years as a surface warfare officer. His last tour of duty was at the U.S. Naval Academy as a military instructor in the Political Science Department. He mostly taught the introductory government course; however, he also taught civil-military relations, political philosophy, and a senior seminar on the political thought of the American founding.

Dr. Carter earned the Salvatori Fellowship for the study of the American Founding from the Intercollegiate Institute and was a summer fellow at the Lehrman Center for American Studies.

In 2009 Dr. Carter earned his Ph.D. in Politics from the Catholic University of America where he taught as a lecturer. He also taught American political thought and political philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and American government at the University of Maryland Global Campus and Ashford University. Dr. Carter taught applied leadership to midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy and has been a lecturer in leadership at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. He taught Introduction to leadership, Leadership through the ages, Leadership theory, and Values leadership.

His research interests center on the public role of religion in American politics.

Dr. Carter is married to Laura Smith of Olalla, Washington. They have three grown children: Falyn, Daniel, and Joseph. They currently reside in a restored 1895 farmhouse in Cincinnati, OH