Jimmy Carter has the distinction of outliving all other former presidents and holds the record for being part of the longest-married presidential couple along with his late wife.
In Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, passed away at the age of 100. After his presidency, Carter dedicated his life to championing human rights and actively participated in building homes through Habitat for Humanity.
The Carter Center announced Carter’s passing in Plains, Georgia on a Sunday afternoon. Earlier in February 2023, it was revealed that the former president had entered into home hospice care. Shortly after, it was disclosed that his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, had been diagnosed with dementia and she passed away in November 2023.
While family members have since shared they didn’t expect the former president to go on much longer after Rosalynn’s death, Carter defied expectations and on Oct. 1 became the first U.S. president to live a full century.
James Earl Carter, Jr. was born in Plains, Georgia, on Oct. 1, 1924. Peanut farming and devotion to the Baptist Church were mainstays of his upbringing.
After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1946, Carter went on to marry Rosalynn Smith. After he served seven years as a naval officer, Carter returned to Plains.
He first entered the political world in 1962, serving two terms in the Georgia state senate. Eight years later, Carter was elected governor of Georgia, and held that office from 1971 to 1975.
Carter was the Democratic nominee for president in 1976 and went on to defeat incumbent Pres. Gerald Ford in the general election, 297 electoral votes to 240. Carter is the last Democratic presidential nominee to win the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
“I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, based not on weapons of war, but on international policies that reflect our own most precious values,” Carter said in his inaugural address.
Among his accomplishments in the Oval Office, Carter helped calm tensions in the Middle East as he facilitated the Camp David Accords, signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978. Carter also created two new cabinet-level departments – the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.
But there were controversies, particularly in the final 14 months of his presidency. The Iran Hostage Crisis saw 66 American diplomats and citizens held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Iran. In an attempt to free the hostages, Carter ordered a military operation that failed, killing eight American servicemen. After 444 days, the hostages were freed on January 20, 1981 — the day Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, took office.
Carter also ordered a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan. Sixty other nations also boycotted. The Soviets would return the gesture by boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Carter lost a bid for a second term to Reagan in what was both an electoral vote and popular vote landslide.
After leaving Washington, Carter’s spent his time advancing human rights around the world. In 1982, he established The Carter Center in Atlanta.
“I’ve been humbled to get to know people around the world and to see that, in effect, all people on earth are the same in the eyes of God, and should be the same in the eyes of each other – worthy of respect, care and love,” Carter said.
His work abroad won him the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
Carter also continued to give back at home through his involvement with Habitat for Humanity. He also taught Sunday school and was a deacon at the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains.
“We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes — and we must,” Carter once said.
Carter holds the distinction of living longer than any other former president. He and wife, Rosalynn, also hold the record of the longest-married couple in presidential history – with the couple celebrating their 77th wedding anniversary on July 7, 2023.
Carter is survived by three sons, one daughter, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
President Joe Biden has scheduled a state funeral in Washington for former President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 9, according to the Associated Press.
Biden also declared Jan. 9 as a National Day of Mourning across the U.S. He also ordered U.S. flags to fly at half-staff for 30 days from Sunday.
