Jimmy Carter, our 39th president and the unstoppable force for peace who took office in 1977, has passed away at age 100, his team confirmed Sunday. After stepping away from the Oval Office, Carter spent the next few decades dominating the global humanitarian scene, championing peace deals and advocating for human rights like it was his personal mission.
Jimmy Carter is the first president to celebrate their 100th birthday
He’d been receiving hospice care since February 2023 in Plains, Georgia, the town he always called home. He shared that home with his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who passed on Nov. 19, 2023. Carter holds the impressive distinction of being the first U.S. president to celebrate their 100th birthday.
In October 2024, around Carter’s 100th birthday, President Joe Biden gave him a personal salute, calling him “a voice of courage, conviction, compassion,” and above all, a beloved friend. In classic Carter style, the man himself continued to steer clear of the spotlight and let his deeds speak for him.
Born and raised in Plains, Georgia, Carter was a Democrat who rode a wave of post-Watergate discontent all the way to the White House, defeating Gerald Ford in 1976. His single term was anchored by efforts like the Camp David Accords in 1978, where he helped broker peace between Israel and Egypt. Despite these triumphs, he was upended in the 1980 election by Ronald Reagan, with the Iran hostage crisis casting a large shadow over his reelection campaign.
Jimmy Carter Focused on Humanitarian Efforts
Carter may have left office in 1981, but he dove headfirst into a whole new arena, devoting over four decades to humanitarian efforts, election monitoring, and disease eradication. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for tirelessly working to resolve international conflicts and protect human rights. With the passing of George H.W. Bush in 2018, Carter became the oldest living former president—no small feat for someone once dubbed “the greatest ex-president” due to his massive philanthropic footprint.
If you kept tabs on Habitat for Humanity, you’d often spot Carter and Rosalynn pounding nails, hauling beams, and leveling floors—no star treatment, just honest labor. Together, they traveled worldwide under the banner of the Carter Center, pioneering work in conflict resolution, democracy building, and human rights advocacy.
From freeing journalist Luis Mora in Nicaragua back in 1986 to setting the stage for a North Korea “treaty of understanding” in 1994, Carter seemed to pop up wherever there was a chance to broker peace. It’s no wonder that when world leaders talk about him, words like “humanitarian” and “peacemaker” are thrown around liberally.
Carter’s White House years saw a few shining moments, like the Camp David Accords and a strong stance on human rights that ultimately helped put the Soviet Union on the defensive. However, domestic challenges proved tougher to conquer. High inflation, energy shortages, and a notoriously deflating “crisis of confidence” speech earned him a reputation as a scolding micromanager. The 444-day Iran hostage crisis sealed his fate in the public eye, and the disastrous 1980 mission to rescue the hostages left scars on the nation’s psyche.
Carter left the military and became peanut farmer
Before politics, Carter served in the Navy under Admiral Hyman Rickover, the mastermind behind the nuclear submarine program. When his father passed in 1953, Carter walked away from a promising military career, returning home to run the family peanut business. He quickly pivoted to local politics, advocating for civil rights as chairman of the Sumter County School Board and serving in the Georgia Senate. He went on to become governor in 1970, though his campaign tactics that year—leaning into segregationist rhetoric—would haunt him later.
Post-Watergate, America was itching for a candidate with integrity, and Carter positioned himself as just that—famously vowing, “I will never lie to you.” Even though he started off as “Jimmy who?” in a crowded Democratic field, his relentless campaigning and everyday-guy image eventually led him to triumph over President Gerald Ford in 1976.
Once he left office, Carter reinvented himself as the ultimate humanitarian. Alongside Rosalynn, he spent decades building homes, monitoring foreign elections, fighting diseases, and defending the underrepresented. His faith, humility, and relentless drive defined him until his final days.
Tributes poured out from past and present presidents
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Carter in 2021 and praised him as a “dear friend” who lived a life measured by deeds, not words. Former Presidents Clinton, Obama, Bush, and even Trump all shared their respect and gratitude for Carter’s lifetime of public service and compassion.
Carter announced in 2015 that he had melanoma, which had spread to his brain. Thanks to an experimental immunotherapy, he not only bounced back but even resumed teaching Sunday school in Plains until the pandemic hit. Throughout health challenges in 2019, he remained, as he said, “absolutely and completely at ease with death.”
For Jimmy Carter, the final chapter may have arrived at the century mark, but his story is far from over. Just like a determined competitor who never quits, Carter made sure his legacy of compassion and moral fortitude would echo well beyond his time in the White House. The rest, as they say, is history.
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