Jimmy Carter, who rose from humble peanut farmer to president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, dies aged 100
James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr, a naval officer, Nobel Peace Prize winner and peanut farm operator who became governor of Georgia and later the 39th president of the United States, has died.
Carter, who was the longest-living former US president, died at the age of 100 on Sunday, 29 December, his son announced. An immediate cause was not given.
He served as president for one term from 1977 to 1981, but is just as well-known for his humanitarian service after leaving Washington DC, working for Habitat for Humanity and negotiating peace deals.
“Earlier in my life, I thought the things that mattered were the things that you could see, like your car, your house, your wealth, your property, your office. But as I’ve grown older I’ve become convinced that the things that matter most are the things that you can’t see — the love you share with others, your inner purpose, your comfort with who you are,” Carter said.
He continued his volunteer work for decades after leaving office until he entered hospice care in February 2023.
Carter, who throughout his political life went by Jimmy rather than James, was a towering figure in Democratic politics, both during and after his time in the White House. As president, he emphasized human rights in his foreign policy, championed environmentalism at a time when it was not yet popular and appointed record numbers of women and people of color during his administration.
However, he was considered a “failure” by some as president, a view Carter believed was attributed to him because he only served one term. But, he continued to serve the public after leaving office — including building homes for the poor through Habitat for Humanity.
“In all of our lives, there are usually a few precious moments when we feel exalted — that is, when we reach above our normal level of existence to a higher plane of excitement and achievement,” Carter said in 2009.
“I predict that every one of you who volunteers to help others in need will feel this same sense of exaltation. I believe that, in making what seems to be a sacrifice, you will find fulfilment in the memorable experience of helping others less fortunate than yourself.”
Carter was born in 1924 in the small farm town of Plains, Georgia. His father, James Earl Carter Sr, was a farm supply businessman, and his mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, was a nurse. The young Carter attended public school in Plains, and as a teenager, he used an acre of his father’s land to grow and sell peanuts.
Carter continued his studies at Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 1946, he obtained a bachelor’s degree from the United States Naval Academy. Over the next several years, he devoted his life to the navy, serving on submarines and earning the rank of lieutenant. While stationed in Schenectady, New York, he studied nuclear physics and became a senior officer on one of the United States’ first nuclear submarines.
During his senior year of studying at the Naval Academy, he was reintroduced to a girl he knew in his childhood: Rosalynn Smith.
“The moon was full in the sky, conversation came easy, and I was in love,” Rosalynn Carter described in her memoir First Lady from Plains.
The two married in 1946, the year he graduated. The next year, their first child, Jack, was born, followed by James in 1950, Donnell in 1952 and Amy in 1967.
