Former President Jimmy Carter Dies

Jimmy Carter, a one-term U.S. president who dedicated his time after the White House to widespread humanitarian work, has died at age 100.

Carter, who became the oldest living ex-president after the death of George H.W. Bush in November 2018, had the longest post-presidency in U.S. history, having left the White House in January 1981.

On Feb. 18, 2023, The Carter Center ― a charity founded by the former president ― announced that after a “series of short hospital stays,” Carter would begin receiving hospice care at home “instead of additional medical intervention.” On Nov. 17, the Center announced his wife Rosalynn Carter had also entered hospice care after previously being diagnosed with dementia. She died two days later. Despite being in hospice, Carter appeared at her funeral.

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

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

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

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

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

In January 2021, Carter joined with other former living presidents to condemn 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 penned an op-ed for The New York Times expressing concern about U.S. democracy and called on leaders and candidates to “uphold the ideals of freedom and adhere to high standards of conduct.”

He spoke out in February 2022 against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing the “unjust assault” threatened “security in Europe and the entire world.”

Carter experienced several health setbacks in his later years. He was admitted to the hospital in November 2019 for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by several falls. He continued to face health issues that year, including a broken hip, pelvic fracture and a urinary tract infection.

In August 2015, Carter revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer. He received radiation treatment for melanoma and was declared cancer-free that December, announcing four months later that he no longer needed to receive treatment.

The bout with cancer forced Carter to come to terms with mortality. In a 2019 address to a church in his hometown, he said he was “completely at ease” with death.

“I assumed, naturally, that I was going to die very quickly,” Carter told the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. “I obviously prayed about it. I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was 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 seven years in the Navy before returning to Georgia, where he operated a peanut farm, then served as state senator and governor.

Carter, a Democrat, kicked off his presidential run in December 1974, choosing Walter Mondale as his running mate. In November 1976, he defeated Gerald Ford, who had become president two years earlier when Richard Nixon resigned.

During his four years in the White House, Carter dealt with a national energy crisis, expanded the national park system and installed solar panels on the White House. He signed the bill that allowed for the creation of the U.S. Department of Education.

Perhaps his greatest achievement, the Camp David Accords, settled hostilities between Egypt and Israel and established diplomatic relations. But it failed to live up to his hopes for serious negotiations toward Palestinian statehood.

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

After the presidency, Carter became a champion for international human rights. He monitored elections across the globe and devoted time to building houses for the charity Habitat for Humanity. His efforts through The Carter Center nearly eliminated Guinea worm disease, an infection that has plagued Africa for centuries. He became a self-styled international diplomat, sometimes working unofficially.

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

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

He wrote books and spoke his mind on contemporary political issues. In July 2015, for example, he said the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that 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, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president.”

He also spoke out against then-President Donald Trump, telling The Washington Post in August 2018 he thought Trump was “a disaster” after previously arguing that the media were too harsh and saying 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 heavily involved in the humanitarian work her husband did after leaving the White House, and advocates for several causes on her own, including mental health and caregiving.

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

He told HuffPost Live in 2015 that he approved of same-sex marriage, saying he believed Jesus would as well.

“I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else,” he said.

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

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

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