James Earl Carter Jr., former peanut farmer, Governor of Georgia, US Navy veteran, 39th President of the United States of America, and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died at age 100 on Sunday, 29 December 2024, over 22 months after he began receiving hospice care. Upon his 100th birthday in October of 2024, Carter became the first former U.S. president to reach the century mark, with George H. W. Bush the closest, who died at the age of 94 in 2018.
Carter served as Commander in Chief from 1977 until 1981, defeating Gerald Ford in 1976, who had been President for the previous two-and-a-half years following Richard Nixon’s resignation in August of 1974. Following 8 years of the Nixon and Ford presidencies, Carter assumed office during high inflation in the country, a condition that constrained many of his economic plans. During Carter’s term, U.S. relations with China continued to be normalized, and the cooling of tensions with the Soviet Union progressed gradually, until the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Exactly a year before the 1980 Presidential Election, however, in which Carter was already being challenged in the primaries by Ted Kennedy, the Iran Hostage Crisis broke out following the Iranian Revolution, throwing Carter’s re-election campaign into turmoil.
Carter would eventually lose in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, making him at the time only the 7th U.S. President who had failed to win re-election, later joined in this infamous club by the aforementioned Bush and Donald Trump. The pressure on President Carter incited by the outbreak of the hostage crisis was compounded in April 1980 when the attempted rescue mission Operation Eagle Claw went awry as a withdrawing American helicopter collided with a transport aircraft, killing eight US servicemen. While all 53 American hostages were eventually granted safe passage back to the United States – they were released on the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January of 1981 – the debacle surrounding the situation is largely seen as the greatest failure of the one-term Carter presidency and remains at the forefront of the administration’s legacy to this day.
President Jimmy Carter in 2002, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development” (Photo from ABC11)
Post-presidency, Carter remained committed to his activism and work toward global peace, founding ‘The Carter Center’ in 1982, an organization “guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering”, seeking to “prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health”, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts two decades later. Under the auspices of the center, Carter conducted travel around the world, assisting in peace negotiations, disease prevention and eradication, as well as the monitoring of elections. Furthermore, Carter was a significant supporter of and contributor to the American non-profit Habitat for Humanity, helping the organization build, renovate or repair nearly 5,000 homes in over a dozen countries over the span of three decades, all the while “raising awareness of the critical need for affordable housing”. Elsewhere, Carter put pen to paper and authored over thirty books, ranging from poetry anthologies to reflections on the struggle of the Palestinian people, a book which he received heavy scrutiny for at the time.
Then-President Joe Biden delivers the eulogy at Jimmy Carter’s Funeral (Photo from U.S Embassy and Consulates in Italy)
Carter’s death prompted an outpouring of condolences and support from world leaders and the international community as a whole, receiving tributes from countless current and former heads of state, chief among them French President Emmanuel Macron, King Charles III, Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as Pope Francis and The Dalai Lama. At Carter’s funeral, then-President Joe Biden delivered a heartfelt eulogy and was accompanied by a tribute from Ted Mondale, delivered on behalf of his father Walter, who served as Carter’s Vice President. Carter was buried beside his late wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who passed away in November 2023 and is survived by his four children, along with 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Featured image: Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States of America (Photo from The White House).
