Former US President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at the age of 100, a statement issued by the Carter Center confirmed.
Carter, who was the longest-living US president, died on December 29, more than a year after entering a nursing home in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, last February, after a series of short stays in the hospital.
Carter, who was born a month before Calvin Coolidge was elected in 1924, said he wanted to live long enough to cast a ballot for president in 2024 — and he achieved that goal.
His death comes shortly after the death of his wife, Rosalyn, at the age of 96 last November. Carter attended her funeral in Atlanta despite his failing health.
Jason Carter, Carter’s grandson, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in August that the elder Carter said he was “just trying to vote for Kamala Harris” in the presidential election scheduled for November.
News of Carter’s health struggles sparked an outpouring of well-wishes and remembrances from across the political spectrum, showing how Carter’s reputation had grown from his tumultuous tenure in office and decades of advocacy work in his post-presidential life.
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Carter was an unknown governor of Georgia when he announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election. He used his outsider status to ride the wave of resentment against Washington sparked by the Vietnam War, the Watergate resignation, and Richard Nixon to narrowly defeat President Gerald Ford.
While he oversaw some successes at home and abroad, Carter’s presidency was overshadowed by inflation exceeding 10% and a stifling energy crisis that led to gasoline shortages and rationing.
It was further undone by the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 which saw 52 US diplomats and citizens detained inside the US Embassy in Tehran for 444 days. The military operation ordered by Carter to rescue the hostages failed and resulted in the deaths of eight American soldiers. It came seven months before the 1980 election, effectively sealing Carter’s crushing defeat by Republican Ronald Reagan.
FILE – In this file photo taken on Dec. 13, 1978, President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, lead their guests in dancing at the annual Congressional Christmas Ball at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ira Schwartz, File).
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However, after Carter left the White House, he arguably had more influence. He and Rosalynn founded the Carter Center in 1982, focusing on diplomacy and the defense of human rights and democracy around the world. His work, including supervising elections in developing countries and mediating international disputes, earned Carter the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
He also volunteered extensively with Habitat for Humanity, making annual trips with Rosalyn to help build homes with the organization. The Carters continued to travel for their volunteer and advocacy work into their 80s and 90s.
Carter only began to show signs of slowing down in the past two years, when the COVID-19 pandemic limited his public appearances.
Carter celebrated his last birthday in October with family and friends in Plains, the small town where he and Rosalynn were born. The couple married in 1946 and had four children.
More to come…
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