Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, and the longest-lived Commander-in-Chief in American history, has died. Defying the odds until the very end, he celebrated his 100th birthday on October 1st, 2024.
His son James E. Carter III, who goes by Chip, announced on Sunday, December 29 that the former president had passed away, almost two years after it was announced he had entered hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, his hometown. It's the only home the president ever owned, and he built it himself in 1961.
Chip, paying tribute, shared in a statement: "My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and unselfish love. My brothers, sister and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common 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."
© GettyThe former president's wife Rosalynn Carter, who he married in 1946 and is considered the most politically active first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, died on November 19, 2023, months after the Carter Center revealed her dementia diagnosis. During their 77-year marriage, the couple had four children together, Jack, 75, James, 72, Donnel, 70, and Amy, 55, as well as 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. While Carter himself famously claimed to not be a politician at heart, his wife was, and together they became a package deal for the White House, long before the Clintons were later also recognized as such; Carter described his late wife as "an almost equal extension of myself." After his term ended in 1981, they took on the longest and most active post-White House roles through their humanitarian work.
Born on October 1, 1924 in Plains Georgia, James Earl Carter Jr. was the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital. He was both a peanut farmer and a U.S. Navy Lieutenant before going into politics.
A longtime advocate for world peace and human rights, he was first a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. He later became the governor of Georgia in 1971, serving in that post until 1975. Two years after the end of his gubernatorial term, on January 20, 1977, he was inaugurated president of the United States, after defeating the incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford, who had stepped in for former President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. After his inauguration, he became the first president to get out of the presidential limousine and walk among the crowd.
© GettyHis presidency, which only lasted one term, was marred by economic struggles for the nation, due to a continuing recession and inflation, as well as the 1979 energy crisis. During the energy crisis, he stressed the urgency for energy conservation, wearing sweaters after he opted to turn off the heat in the White House. He submitted a plan to ration gasoline, plus, as an early advocate for climate change prevention, he installed the first solar water heating panels on the White House, though they were later taken down by his successor, President Ronald Reagan.
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Another challenge of his presidency was the Iran hostage crisis, which many consider to have cost him a second term. On November 4, 1977, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, after which 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for the following 444 days. They were only released after Reagan was inaugurated as Carter's successor in 1981. The New York Times recently uncovered a plan on behalf of Reagan's campaign team to convince Iranian leaders to not release the hostages before the election, reasoning that the late Republican president would give them a better deal.
© GettyBefore, during, and after his presidency, Carter was an advocate for civil rights, and during his tenure as governor of Georgia, he angered the Ku Klux Klan when he hired Black employees and added the portraits of three prominent Black Georgians to the capitol building. As President, he appointed more women and minorities to federal judgeships than all 38 Presidents before him, combined. Additionally, citing cost concerns for taxpayers, he sold the presidential yacht, the USS Sequoia.
Still, he is most lauded for his work after he left office — particularly his humanitarian efforts — and he became arguably far more liked as a former president than he was during his administration. He wrote several books, among them Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in 2006, and A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power in 2014. He leaves behind a legacy of unwavering public service, which he upheld for long after the end of his presidency, and right until his passing. Shortly after his 95th birthday in 2019, he suffered a fall that left him with a black eye, several bruises, and requiring 14 stitches. Nonetheless, the next day, he honored his commitment to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. He had worked alongside and volunteered for the organization since 1984.
