Former President and humanitarian Jimmy Carter dies at age 100

Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer and one-time US president his time after the White House for widespread humanitarian work, died Sunday at the age of 100.

Carter, who became the oldest living former president after the death of George HW Bush in November 2018, also had the longest post-presidency in US history, having left the White House in January 1981.

The Democrat and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner died peacefully surrounded by family at his home in Plains, Georgia, according to the former president’s charity, The Carter Center.

“My father was a hero, not just to me, but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and selfless love,” said the ex-president’s son, Chip Carter. said in a statement. “My brothers, sister and I shared it with the rest of the world through these shared beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

In February 2023, The Carter Center said the former president would begin hospice care at home after undergoing a “series of short hospital stays.” Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter ended up in hospice myself in November of that year after being diagnosed with dementia, according to the center. She died two days later, sending the country into a state of mourning. Despite still being in hospice care, Jimmy Carter attended his wife’s funeral.

On May 14, 2024, Carter’s grandson Jason, the chairman of The Carter Center, said the former president was nearing the end of his life.

“He’s really coming to the end, I think, which, as I’ve said before, is part of his faith journey that’s so important to him,” he said. ‘And there is a part of that journey of faith that you can only experience at the very end. And I think he’s been there in that room.

In the coming week, Carter is expected to have a state funeral in Washington, D.C., as well as public celebrations in Atlanta and a private funeral in his small town of Plains.

Although details have not yet been formally announced, plans have long been in the works for the former president to rest in peace at the Carter Center before being flown to the capital.

The Carters made their last public appearance together in September 2023, when they were spotted driving a black SUV at the Plains Peanut Festival in Plains, Georgia, seven months after the former president entered hospice care.

Carter made few public appearances in the last years of his life. He and his wife skipped Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in January 2021, the first time they missed the ceremonies since Carter was sworn in as the 39th president in 1977.

But Carter continued to speak out on humanitarian and political issues.

In January 2021, Carter joined other former living presidents in condemning the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, calling it a “national tragedy” and “not who we are as a nation.” The following year Carter wrote one op-ed for The New York Times He expressed concern about American democracy and called on leaders and candidates to “uphold the ideals of liberty and high standards of conduct.”

He spoke out in February 2022 against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that the “unjust attack” threatened “security in Europe and the entire world.”

Following news of his death, the Bidens released a statement calling Carter “an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian.”

“With his compassion and moral clarity, he has worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always stand up for the least among us.” , they said. “He saved, uplifted and changed the lives of people all over the world.”

Carter suffered several health setbacks in his later years. That was him admitted to hospital in November 2019 for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by several falls. He continued to struggle with health problems that year, including a broken hip, a pelvic fracture and a urinary tract infection.

In August 2015, Carter revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He received radiation treatment for melanoma and was cleared cancer free in december and four months later he announced that he no more needed to get treatment.

The battle with cancer forced Carter to come to terms with mortality. In a 2019 speech to a church in his hometown, he said he was “completely comfortable” with death.

“I obviously assumed I was going to die very soon,” Carter told the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. “I prayed about it, of course. I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a right attitude toward death. And I found myself absolutely and completely at ease with death.”

He was born James Earl Carter Jr. in Georgia in October 1924, the first of his parents’ four children. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, then served in the Navy for seven years before returning to Georgia, where he operated a peanut farm and then served as a senator and governor.

Carter, a Democrat, began his presidential bid in December 1974 and chose Walter Mondale as his running mate. In November 1976, he defeated Republican Gerald Ford, who had become president two years earlier when Richard Nixon resigned.

During his four years in the White House, Carter faced a national energy crisis, expanded and installed the national park system solar panels at the White House. He signed the bill that created the U.S. Department of Education.

Perhaps his greatest achievement, the Camp David Accordssettled hostilities between Egypt and Israel and established diplomatic relations. But it failed to realize its hopes for serious negotiations on Palestinian statehood.

His administration was dogged by other foreign policy issues, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Hostage crisis in Iran. Carter was deeply unpopular by the time Republican Ronald Reagan defeated him in the 1980 election and left office with a 34% approval judgement, according to Gallup.

After becoming president, Carter became a champion of international human rights. He followed elections around the world and spent time building houses for the charity Habitat for Humanity. His efforts through the Carter Center have nearly eliminated Guinea worm disease, an infection that has plagued Africa for centuries. He became a self-styled international diplomat, sometimes working unofficially.

“Jimmy Carter’s character and dedication, like his crops, were the fruits of all-American soil,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday. “After each season when life took him far from home to exalted service, he returned home determined to use his unique experiences and influence to help others.”

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work “to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to promote democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development” through The Carter Center.

“He remains such a controversial figure,” said Julian Zelizer, professor of history at Princeton University and Carter biographer. The Atlantic Ocean in 2012. “But like it or not, he reinvented the post-presidency.”

He wrote books and expressed his opinions on contemporary political issues. In 2003, Carter wrote criticizing the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq, and in 2012 he went after the Obama administration for using drones to bomb the Middle East and for destroying the Guantanamo Bay prison had not closed.

“The 39th President should be remembered both for his willingness to speak candidly about America’s global role today and for his belief that the country must strive to act as a force for good in the world,” he said. Ruth Lawlor, affiliated with Cornell University. assistant professor and historian of American foreign relations.

In July 2015, Carter said the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed unlimited campaign donations, had turned America into an “oligarchy.”

“It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system,” Carter said. “Now it’s just an oligarchy, where unlimited political bribery is the essence of getting the presidential nominations or electing the president.”

He also spoke out against then-President Donald Trump, to The Washington Post in August 2018, he called Trump “a disaster” after previously arguing that the The media was too harsh and said he had prayed for him.

Carter married Rosalynn in 1946. They had four children: 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. The couple celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary in 2021 with a private reception attended by former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, country artists Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, and more.

Rosalynn was deeply involved in her husband’s humanitarian work after he left the White House, and advocates for several causes on her ownincluding mental health care and informal care.

Carter, a Baptist, was deeply religious, and told The Atlantic in July 2015, he believed he had led “several hundred” people to Christ through one-on-one interaction. For decades after leaving the White House, he taught Sunday school classes every other week at Maranatha Baptist Church.

He told JS Live in 2015 that he endorsed gay marriage, saying he believed Jesus would too.

“I think Jesus would encourage any loving relationship if it was honest and sincere and didn’t harm anyone else, and I don’t see same-sex marriage harming anyone else,” he said.

While speaking at The Carter Center in 2019, Carter described his ambitions for the Center’s future initiatives. He said he hoped it would speak out against armed conflict and “wars by the United States.”

“I just want to keep peace around the world,” Carter said.

Ryan Grenoble, Shruti Rajkumar and Carla H. Russo contributed reporting.