James Earl Carter Jr., the peanut farmer and naval officer from Plains, Georgia, who served as the 39th President of the United States and became the first American president to reach the age of 100, passed away peacefully in his hometown, leaving a global standard for moral service after public office.
Born on October 1, 1924, in rural Sumter County, Georgia, Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946 and served in the fledgling nuclear submarine program before returning home to steward his family’s agricultural business and enter state politics during the pivotal years of the Civil Rights era.
Elected president in 1976 on a promise of candor and ethical governance, Carter placed universal human rights at the center of American foreign policy. His tireless thirteen-day personal mediation between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin yielded the historic 1978 Camp David Accords, alongside the Panama Canal Treaties, full diplomatic normalization with China, and visionary White House investments in renewable energy and land conservation.
Yet it was after leaving the Oval Office in 1981 at age 56 that Carter redefined the modern post-presidency. Founding The Carter Center in 1982 with his beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, he monitored more than 100 elections across emerging democracies and spearheaded an international public-health campaign that brought Guinea worm disease from 3.5 million annual cases in 1986 to the brink of total global eradication.
Well into his nineties, images of the former commander-in-chief wearing a carpenter’s tool belt alongside volunteers for Habitat for Humanity inspired millions worldwide. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter remained rooted in his modest ranch home in Plains, teaching Sunday school and welcoming visitors from every corner of the globe.
"The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices."
