Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on Tuesday — the first-ever former US president to reach the century mark and another milestone for the one-time peanut farmer who found his way to the White House.
Carter’s longevity — he began hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, more than 19 months ago — has defied all expectations.
No longer regularly appearing in public, the Democratic ex-president spent his birthday in the home he and his late wife, Rosalynn, had built in Plains in the 1960s.
Photo: Reuters
Celebrations included a lunch with extended family.
“It’s south Georgia, so you know, we had fried chicken and we had grilled cheese sandwiches, then we had family and lively discussion,” the ex-president’s grandson, Josh Carter, said downtown afterward.
Jimmy Carter was also able to watch a flyover of four F-18 jets and several vintage planes that graced the skies over Plains as part of the town’s celebrations.
In a video posted on X, US President Joe Biden hailed Jimmy Carter as a “beloved friend” and “one of the most influential statesmen” in US history.
“Your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us,” Biden said.
Beyond serving as president for a single term from 1977 to 1981, Carter worked as a global mediator, rights advocate and elder statesman, founding the Carter Center in 1982 to pursue his vision of world diplomacy before winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
His presidency included the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, the establishment of diplomatic relations with China following a rapprochement initiated by former US president Richard Nixon and the return of control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
However, his administration faced challenges, including the Iran hostage crisis and a renewed oil crisis in 1979 and 1980, which saw Ronald Reagan sweep into the presidency in a landslide.
Carl Lowell, a 59-year-old retired firefighter who has lived in Plains since infancy, said that his grandfather helped build the Carters’ house, and that he himself even went dove hunting with him once.
“Jimmy’s a good man, he’s a godly man, and that’s what people like about him,” Lowell said.
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