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Jimmy Carter Dead at Age 100: Statement on the Former U.S. President’s Death and Legacy
Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. His death was announced on Sunday, December 29.
“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the Carter Center said in a statement shared on X. His family also confirmed the news to The Washington Post.
Tributes poured in for Carter on social media. “Jimmy Carter, former US president who was committed to human rights, has died. He was 100 years old,” Human Rights Watch wrote on X. “Carter set a powerful example for world leaders to make human rights a priority, and he continued to fight for human rights after he left office.”
Carter had suffered a number of health issues in the years leading up to his death. In February 2023, the Carter Center announced that he was being placed on hospice care.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the statement from the former president’s foundation read. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”
The former governor of Georgia became the 39th Commander in Chief after beating out incumbent president Gerald R. Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
Upon entering office, Carter got right to work with one of his first orders of business being to pardon all Vietnam War draft evaders, which he signed on his second day in office. While Carter worked to calm global conflicts – including signing the Camp David Accords and giving the Panama Canal back to Panama – his presidency was plagued by economic and energy crises.
Carter served just one term as president and was defeated in the 1980 presidential election by republican candidate Ronald Reagan.
Despite losing the re-election, Carter remained active in various diplomatic and humanitarian efforts. He worked extensively with Habitat for Humanity and founded the Carter Center in 1982 in an effort to help advance human rights and improve the quality of life of people around the world. In 1998, he received the United Nations Human Rights Prize and just four years later, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Born James Earl Carter Jr. on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, Carter was the first child of Bessie Lillian (née Gordy) and James Earl Carter Sr. and would later be joined by siblings Gloria, Ruth, and Billy. Following his high school graduation, Carter went on to attend Georgia Southwestern College before transferring to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and earning admission to the Naval Academy in 1943.
He met his future wife, Rosalynn Carter, while at the academy and the two were wed shortly after his graduation in 1946. Rosalynn died on November 19, 2023.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” he said at the time. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
Carter is survived by their four children – sons Jack, James and Donnel and daughter Amy — and more than 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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