An Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline in 1975 read “Jimmy Carter is running for what?” and an Augusta Chronicle editorial published late that year was captioned “Preposterous!” Despite such incredulity and mockery, though, the Georgia peanut farmer and former governor was nominated by the Democrat Party as its presidential nominee in 1976 and was elected the 39th president of the United States.
It can be truly said that James Earl Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, lived an eventful life during an often-turbulent chapter of American and world history.
The Plains Georgia native entered the U.S. Naval Academy where he studied nuclear science and graduated with distinction in 1946. That same year, he married Rosalynn Smith — a marriage that spanned more than seven decades. They celebrated their 77th anniversary on July 7, 2023, the longest-married presidential couple in American history. And Carter is the longest-lived former president in the country’s history.
Arriving in Washington as president, he was considered an outsider. He supported tax-and-spend policies that fueled record high inflation— and this fueled his unpopularity. As The Wall Street Journal observes, “his foreign policy traveled a similar arc of naivete followed by realism that came too late.” In a major speech he derided America’s “fear of communism” at about the same time the Soviet Communists surprised him by invading Afghanistan.
Under Carter’s watch, America’s ally the Shah of Iran was overthrown by radical Islamists. (Carter coined that term.) The revolutionaries took 66 American hostages at our embassy there—a major embarrassment. And the then-president was unsuccessful in rescuing them, which further damaged his political career. Ultimately, he was defeated for re-election by Republican Ronald Reagan (and the hostages were released the day of Reagan’s inauguration).
Carter did, however, have a crowning accomplishment. He worked hard to persuade two old enemies—Israel and Egypt— to smoke the peace pipe, recognize each other diplomatically, trade with each other and pledge not to fight one another. It is a peace pact that has held to this day, and he deserved receiving the Novel Peace Prize for a monumental diplomatic effort that few at the time thought could be accomplished.
After his presidency, Carter remained active in working with and promoting various charitable and humanitarian causes. “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and unselfish love,” said Chip Carter, the former president’s son, in a statement provided by the Atlanta-based Carter Center that houses his papers and features his work. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
Matt Towery, chairman of James and James Magazine Online, remembers that he had the pleasure as a young person of being around Carter:
“Over the years I came to know so many of his staff and later other members of his family. My view has always been that Jimmy Carter was a better president than most realize. He fought against the Democratic House and, later, Ted Kennedy to preserve more traditional values and approaches to government. If it were not for Jimmy Carter, much of our advanced military technology would have never been developed.
“And the Iranian hostage situation, which was his undoing, was a result of his resolute belief in standing behind long term U.S. allies, even those with whom he disagreed, such as the Shah of Iran.
“President Carter deserves far more credit as both a governor and president than current day analysts give him. He truly represented a generational shift both for the South and the nation.”
There will be public observances in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., followed by a private interment in Plains, the Carter Center announced.
