President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024)

29 December
Jimmy Carter, Peacemaking President Amid Crises, Is Dead at 100
Rising from Georgia farmland to the White House, he oversaw the historic Camp David peace accords, but his one-term presidency was waylaid by troubles at home and abroad.
(NYT) Tributes poured in from presidents, world leaders and many everyday people from around the world who admired not only Mr. Carter’s service during four years in the White House but his four decades of efforts since leaving office to fight disease, broker peace and provide for the poor.

Heather Cox Richardson January 9, 2025
Family members, friends, and political leaders gathered today at the Washington National Cathedral to honor the life of former president Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at age 100. All five living presidents and most of their wives attended: George W. Bush and Laura Bush were there, along with Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Melania Trump, and Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden.
Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, were also there, meeting Trump for the first time since January 6, 2021, when Trump tweeted to the rioters attacking the U.S. Capitol that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” redoubling the crowd’s fury and sparking chants of “Hang Mike Pence.”
Pence shook Trump’s hand; his wife stayed seated, looking straight ahead. While Obama, sitting next to Trump, spoke to him, former president Bush refused to acknowledge Trump, instead walking past him and giving a familiar greeting to Obama.
By virtue of living to age 100, Carter survived many of his contemporaries, and some left behind eulogies for him. Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, died in 2021 but recorded his memories of working with Carter in the White House from 1977 to 1981. His son Ted Mondale read the eulogy at today’s service.
Mondale recalled how he and Carter had redefined the role of the vice president of the United States, which had fallen into eclipse when President George Washington shut his own vice president, John Adams, out of his central circle of advisors and never recovered. Mondale recalled that Carter had honored his wish to change that pattern by becoming a full partner in the administration. Carter conferred with him regularly, put him in charge of certain central issues, and the two men became close friends.
Mondale also remembered that Carter was farsighted, ignoring short-term political interests to protect the next generations from harm. He tried to put the nation on a path that would find alternatives to fossil fuels, and did his best to advance women’s rights. He pushed for a law to extend the time for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to make women’s equality part of the nation’s fundamental law, and he appointed women to positions in his administration and the federal judiciary. Mondale noted that Carter “appointed five times as many women to the federal bench as all of his predecessors combined.”
Mondale recalled Carter’s “extraordinary years of principled and decent leadership, [and] his courageous commitment to civil rights and human rights.” He recalled that toward the end of their time in the White House, in the years immediately after the tumultuous years of President Richard Nixon, with his covert bombing of Cambodia and cover-up of the Watergate break-in, the two men were summing up their administration. The sentence they came up with was: “We told the truth, we obeyed the law, and we kept the peace.”
President Gerald Ford also left behind a eulogy for Carter, who had defeated Ford’s reelection attempt in 1976. Despite their political differences, the two men had become friends in 1981 when they traveled to and from the funeral of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who along with Israel’s Menachem Begin had signed the 1978 Camp David Accords negotiated by Carter’s administration that established a framework for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Over time, Ford and Carter became close friends and agreed to deliver eulogies for each other.
Carter fulfilled his promise in 2006, and today Ford’s son Steve fulfilled his father’s.
Ford spoke to Carter’s deep faith in God when he noted that the former president “pursued brotherhood across boundaries of nationhood, across boundaries of tradition, across boundaries of caste. In America’s urban neighborhoods and in rural villages around the world, he reminded us that Christ had been a carpenter.” “I’m looking forward to our reunion,” Ford concluded. “We have much to catch up on. Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome home, old friend.”
Carter’s grandson Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center’s board of trustees and a former Georgia state senator, emphasized Carter’s integrity: his grandfather’s political convictions reflected his private beliefs. “As governor of Georgia half a century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and an end to mass incarceration. As president in the 1970s…he protected more land than any other president in history…. He was a climate warrior who pushed for a world where we conserved energy, limited emissions, and traded our reliance on fossil fuels for expanded renewable sources. By the way, he cut the deficit, wanted to decriminalize marijuana, deregulated so many industries that he gave us cheap flights and…craft beer. Basically, all of those years ago, he was the first millennial. And he could make great playlists.”
Jason Carter called his grandfather’s life a “love story, about love for his fellow humans and about living out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.” He highlighted his grandfather’s work to bring cases of Guinea worm disease from 3.5 million cases in humans every year to fourteen.
Carter noted that “this disease is not eliminated with medicine. It’s eliminated…by neighbors talking to neighbors about how to collect water in the poorest and most marginalized villages in the world. And those neighbors truly were my grandfather’s partners for the past forty years [and have] demonstrated their own power to change their world.” When Jimmy Carter “saw a tiny 600-person village that everybody else thinks of as poor, he recognized it. That’s where he was from. That’s who he was.” He saw it as “a place to find partnership and power and a place to carry out that commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Essentially, he eradicated a disease with love and respect. He waged peace with love and respect. He led this nation with love and respect.”
President Joe Biden, who was the first senator to endorse Carter’s run for president in 1976, also gave a eulogy today. In what appeared to be a reflection on the incoming president in the audience, who for years has mocked Carter as the worst president in history, Biden focused on what he called Carter’s “enduring attribute: character, character, character.” And, Biden said, quoting the famous saying from ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Character…is destiny,” both in our lives and in the life of the nation.

Carter and Biden’s long friendship had wrinkles. It will be on display a final time with a eulogy
(AP) — Joe Biden is the consummate Washington insider. Jimmy Carter was anything but.
Yet the 46th and 39th U.S. presidents had a decades-long friendship starting when Biden, as a young Delaware lawmaker, became the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s outsider White House bid in 1976. Their bond will be on display one final time Thursday as Biden eulogizes Carter during his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.
Biden, days from leaving office, remembers fondly another one-term president
It was hard to overlook the similarities between the two presidencies as Joe Biden eulogized his longtime friend Jimmy Carter.
(Politico) Biden’s personal stake in reviving Carter’s legacy was hard to separate from his five decades of political friendship with the Georgian as he eulogized the 39th president on Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. During his remarks, Biden recounted his early support for Carter’s outsider bid for the White House, his last visit with the Carters in 2021 and the lessons he took away from their decade-spanning friendship.
Text of President Joe Biden’s eulogy from the state funeral for Jimmy Carter

All 5 living presidents attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral
All five living U.S. presidents are attending Jimmy Carter’s funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a rare occurrence that marks the first time the leaders have gathered publicly since 2018.
Mr. Biden and first lady Jill Biden were seated next to Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff in the first row Thursday for the funeral service. Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton were seated behind them, next to Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, Obama, Trump and former first lady Melania Trump. Obama and Trump could be seen talking and at times smiling before the service began. Former first lady Michelle Obama was not in attendance.
Seated behind the row of presidents and first ladies were also former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Mike Pence, who shook hands with Trump upon their arrival at the service.
Steven Ford, the son of President Gerald Ford, read a tribute from his father during the ceremony, as the late president quipped that “two presidents in a room is one too many” while the five in attendance smiled and laughed.
They take their places (YouTube)

Jimmy Carter lies in state at the U.S. Capitol as Americans pay their respects
Jimmy Carter lies in state for two days, followed by the official state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. All five living U.S. presidents are expected to attend. The service is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Carter’s remains traveled to the snow-covered nation’s capital Tuesday following a ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, where residents gathered for public viewing at the start of the week.

The legacy of President Jimmy Carter
Brookings experts pay tribute
Robert Einhorn, Tanvi Madan, Suzanne Maloney, Michael E. O’Hanlon, Ted Piccone, Itamar Rabinovich, Bruce Riedel, Angela Stent, and Shibley Telhami
– Defusing a nuclear crisis with North Korea
– Carter: A consequential president for U.S.-India relations
– Iran’s upheaval was Carter’s loss
– Carter’s huge contributions to defense policy
– Carter gave human rights a seat at the high table …

Jimmy Carter’s funeral plans, full service schedule in D.C. and Georgia
The former president will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, and President Joe Biden ordered much of the federal government to close Jan. 9.
(WaPo) Memorial services for former president Jimmy Carter are expected to span several days and include public events in Atlanta and Washington.
Carter’s state funeral will be held Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. inside Washington National Cathedral after a procession from Georgia and a ceremony in which his body will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol, according to a news release from the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region.
Jimmy Carter’s funeral will be Jan. 9.
Former President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral at Washington National Cathedral will be held on Jan. 9, featuring a eulogy by President Biden and culminating more than a week of ceremonies and tributes, organizers said on Monday.

Trudeau, Biden, Trump, other world leaders remember former U.S. president Jimmy Carter
(CTV) Former U.S. president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter died Sunday at the age of 100. Upon news of his death, political figures and heads of state from around the world gave praise to Carter, celebrating his faith and time both in office and afterwards.

An impressive compendium
He lived longer than any other U.S. president. Here’s what to know.
Former President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday [29 December] at his home in Plains, Ga., after deciding nearly two years ago to forgo further medical care following a series of medical crises, according to two people close to the family and The Carter Center, the nonprofit he and his wife founded.
At 100, he was the longest-lived president in American history and became known as much for his post-presidential diplomacy and charitable works as for his single, economically turbulent term in office.

Jimmy Carter worked tirelessly for peace and democracy, Nobel committee says
(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter should be praised for his “decades of untiring effort” to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy and human rights, the body awarding the Nobel Peace Prize said on Monday. …
“Upon the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Norwegian Nobel Committee would like to repeat its praise 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’,” the committee told Reuters.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2002
The Nobel Peace Prize 2002 was awarded to Jimmy Carter “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”

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, US President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House after signing the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979 in Washington

Camp David Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process
The Camp David Accords, signed by President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978, established a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt in March 1979. President Carter and the U.S. Government played leading roles in creating the opportunity for this agreement to occur. From the start of his administration, Carter and his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, pursued intensive negotiations with Arab and Israeli leaders, hoping to reconvene the Geneva Conference, which had been established in December 1973 to seek an end to the Arab-Israeli dispute.
Jimmy Carter: The father of Arab-Israeli normalisation
With the Camp David Accords, the late US president set in motion the gradual abandonment of the Palestinian cause by Arab states
Imad K Harb, Director of Research and Analysis at Arab Center, Washington D.C.
(Al Jazeera) Sworn in as president in 1977, Carter was given the opportunity by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to be the architect of the first normalisation deal between an Arab country and the Zionist state. He helped Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin conclude the 1978 Camp David Accords and negotiate the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty that formally ended the conflict between the two countries.
As developments in the past four decades have shown, neither the accords nor the treaty led to peace and justice in the Middle East.

The 444-day Iran hostage crisis that undid Jimmy Carter’s presidency
History has been kind to Jimmy Carter in a way the present never was during his one term as US president.
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)) His four years were dogged by economic “stagflation”, which began during the term of his predecessor Richard Nixon, and America’s stumbles on foreign policy.
The surprise 1980 landslide loss to Ronald Reagan was deemed a referendum on Carter’s leadership.
Voters had daily reminders that their commander in chief was unable to free the dozens of Americans held captive in an embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
The enduring myth that Carter failed to act was strengthened by the fact the release of the hostages came after his departure from the White House.
… The 52 hostages
On November 4, 1979, hundreds of Iranian students breached the gates of the US embassy in Tehran.
They quickly occupied the compound. Some had intended a peaceful sit-in, but the situation deteriorated rapidly.
The armed mob took 66 Americans hostage. … See below A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election

Jimmy Carter gave Panama control of the canal. It’s one of his most controversial achievements
(NPR) … Panamanian resistance to U.S. control of the Canal Zone had been growing for some years. By the 1960s, the canal had become a major flashpoint, with frequent protests against the U.S. This antipathy came to a violent head on Jan. 9, 1964. Zone authorities had decreed that neither U.S. or Panamanian flags would be displayed in schools in the Canal Zone. But a dispute over this burst into violence and led to the deaths of over 20 Panamanians and four U.S. soldiers.
… President Carter alongside Panamanian military leader Torrijos upended everything when they negotiated and signed the Panama treaties in September 1977.
The Panama Canal Treaty promised to give control of the canal to the Panamanians by midnight Dec. 31, 1999. The Treaty of Permanent Neutrality and Operation declared the canal neutral and open to vessels of all nations and allowed the U.S. to retain the permanent right to defend the canal from any threat. …

Jimmy Carter’s conservation legacy
The 39th U.S. president led the fight to preserve vast swaths of Alaskan wilderness. It forever changed the state and the National Park Service.
(Politico) Carter’s aggressive conservation push in the late 1970s resulted in the creation of 39 new park sites. And with the stroke of a pen on Dec. 1, 1978, he used his executive authority to designate 13 national monuments in Alaska alone, giving federal protection to 56 million acres of new land and more than doubling the amount of land managed by NPS.
Of all the American presidents, Carter arguably made the biggest impact on both the park service and the state of Alaska.
Perhaps no one knew that more than Carter himself. Often regarded as a humble man, the 39th president nevertheless was always quick to boast about his environmental record while serving just a single term in the White House from 1977 to 1981.

Habitat for Humanity mourns the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Habitat for Humanity joins the world in mourning the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. A champion for affordable and decent housing, he and Rosalynn Carter donated their time and leadership each year to build and improve homes with Habitat around the world.
… “President and Mrs. Carter began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity near their home in southwest Georgia more than 40 years ago, and soon brought worldwide attention to the need for decent and affordable housing. We are grateful for the incredible impact the Carters have had on Habitat and on the families who have benefited from their shining example. The Carters put Habitat for Humanity on the map, and their legacy lives on in every family we serve around the world.”
Carter’s Mission to Build More Housing Became an Urgent National Issue
After Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter linked themselves to Habitat for Humanity, it grew and built homes for millions. Now, their cause is a national crisis.

Jimmy Carter’s Quiet but Monumental Work in Global Health
In his decades as a former president, he and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, helped bring lifesaving treatments and sanitation to poor people around the world.
Jimmy Carter’s five decades of leadership in global health brought a hideous disease to the brink of elimination, helped deliver basic health and sanitation to millions of people and set a new standard for how aid agencies should engage with the countries they assist.
It was quiet work and drew relatively little attention because it was focused on afflictions that plague the poorest people in the most marginalized places, but it had enormous impact.
“The work in global health may turn out to be some of the most important work that he did,” said Dr. William H. Foege, who helped lead the successful effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s and played a key role in drawing the former president into the field of global health after he left office.
Mr. Carter, the former president who died on Sunday at age 100, saw his health-care work through the prism of a larger effort for basic rights and as a tool for peace building.

18 March 2023
A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election
A prominent Texas politician said he unwittingly took part in a 1980 tour of the Middle East with a clandestine agenda.
(NYT) … His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.
It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.
His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr. Connally had sought the Republican nomination in 1980 only to be swamped by former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Now Mr. Connally resolved to help Mr. Reagan beat Mr. Carter and in the process, Mr. Barnes said, make his own case for becoming secretary of state or defense in a new administration.
Mr. Connally, he said, took him to one Middle Eastern capital after another that summer, meeting with a host of regional leaders to deliver a blunt message to be passed to Iran: Don’t release the hostages before the election. Mr. Reagan will win and give you a better deal.

Before he was president, Jimmy Carter saved nuclear reactor after meltdown
On a cold day in December in 1952, a nuclear research facility in the small Canadian town of Chalk River experienced a nightmare scenario. The NRX research reactor suffered a partial meltdown after multiple fuel rods ruptured. The disaster left around 4.5 million liters of radioactive water sitting in the basement of the facility. The water was extremely radioactive and had to be cleaned up.
To deal with the disaster, Canadian and U.S. officials turned to one man who could deal with the situation.
They called 28-year-old Jimmy Carter.
Before his life as a peanut farmer, preacher, humanitarian, and definitely before his time in office, Carter was a fresh-faced officer in the U.S. Navy working in submarines. Just months before the nuclear disaster in Canada, Carter had begun working with the US Atomic Energy Commission.
… “It was a very exciting time for me when the Chalk River plant melted down,” he continued in the same interview. “I was one of the few people in the world who had clearance to go into a nuclear power plant.”
Carter himself was physically lowered into the damaged reactor, exposing himself to dangerous levels of radiation.