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Atlanta – Jimmy Carter, already longest-lived U.S. president in historywho turned 98 on Saturday, was the latest milestone he shared with family and friends in Plains, where he and his wife Rosalynn, 95, were born between World War I and the Great Depression. Georgia town.
Carter Centerwhich the 39th president and former first lady co-founded after one of their White House terms, marked 40 years of promoting democracy and conflict resolution, overseeing elections and promoting public health in the developing world.
The former president’s grandson Jason Carter, who now leads the Carter Center board, described his grandfather as an outspoken Christian who was happy with his life and legacy.
Young Carter, 47, said: “He’s celebrating his 98th birthday, believing in God’s plan for him, and it’s been a wonderful blessing for all of us, and personally, he feels great about his life. Peaceful and happy. He’s been there, where’s he going.”
Carter Center leader says the former president Survived a 2015 cancer diagnosis and a Severe falls at home in 2019, already enjoy reading the congratulatory messages sent by well-wishers around the world via social media and the Centre’s website. But Jason Carter said his grandfather was looking forward to a simple day that included watching his favorite Major League Baseball team, the Atlanta Braves, on TV.
“He still accepts it 100 percent, even though things are more difficult in everyday life now,” Jason Carter said. “But I promise one thing. He’s going to watch all the Warriors games this weekend.”
James Earl Carter Jr. won the 1976 presidential election after starting his campaign as a little-known one-term governor of Georgia. His stunning performance in the Iowa caucuses has put the small Midwestern state at the center of presidential politics. Carter went on to defeat President Gerald Ford in the general election, largely by sweeping the South before his hometown turned heavily against the Republican Party.
As a Naval Academy alumnus, naval officer and peanut grower, Carter largely won because he promised never to lie to voters tired of Vietnam and the war. The Watergate scandal led to Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency in 1974. Four years later, uncontrolled inflation and Calm voters’ anger over Iran’s taking of American hostages, Carter lost 44 states to Ronald Reagan. In 1981, at the age of 56, he returned to Georgia.
The former first couple began planning the Carter Center almost immediately. It opened in Atlanta in 1982, the former president’s first. Mission Statement: To advance peace, human rights and public health around the world. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He traveled internationally in his 80s and 90s and did not officially retire from the board until 2020.
Since opening, the center has monitored elections in 113 countries, it said CEO Paige Alexander, and Carter has also served as a solo mediator in many countries.Carter Center Efforts almost eradicated guinea worm, a parasite that spreads through unclean drinking water and causes suffering to humans. Rosalynn Carter has a plan to reduce stigma around mental health conditions.
“He’s enjoying his retirement,” said Alexander, who took on her role in 2020 when Jason Carter succeeded his grandfather. But “he spent a lot of time thinking about the projects he started and the ones we’re continuing.”
Alexander cited the eradication of guinea worm as a highlight. Carter set the target in 1986, when there were about 3.5 million cases per year in 21 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. So far this year, there have been six known cases in the two countries, Alexander said.
In 2019, Carter used his last annual message at the center to lament that he has remained largely silent on climate change since he became president. Jason Carter said the center’s leadership is still exploring ways to tackle the climate crisis. But he did not provide a timetable. “We’re not going to repeat other effective efforts,” Carter said, explaining that one of the center’s strategic principles is to prioritize why and where other advocacy groups are not involved.
Perhaps the most unpredictable twist on elections and democracy is when Jimmy Carter lives to see the center turn its efforts inward.This The center now has programs to combat mistrust in the American democratic process. Carter Center staff after Georgia’s recount of the state’s 2020 U.S. presidential ballot Then-President Donald Trump argued the results were rigged. Multiple recounts in Georgia and other states confirmed the legitimacy of a Joe Biden victory.
“Certainly, we never thought that we would end up back home with democracy and conflict resolution around our elections,” Jason Carter said. “(But) we cannot be this incredible organization for democracy and human rights abroad without making sure that we increase our voice and our expertise in the United States…”
Ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, the center has asked candidates — regardless of party affiliation — to sign off on a set of fair election principles, including a commitment to a peaceful transfer of power. Those who signed the pledge included Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams.
Carter himself has largely stayed out of politics. Democrats shunned him for years after his 1980 defeat. He has bounced back in the recent election cycle, attracting visits from several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and, in 2021, President Joe Biden, who was the first to endorse Carter’s presidential bid in 1976. U.S. Senator. With inflation now at its highest level since the late 1970s and early 1980s, some Republicans are again using Carter as a line of attack against Biden and Democrats.
Jason Carter said the former president reads and watches the news every day and sometimes takes calls or visits from politicians. However, he added that the former president is not expected to make a public appearance in support of any candidate until November.
“He feels like the people he’s closest to right now are the people in Plains, at his church and elsewhere,” Jason Carter said. “But, you know, his partner number one, number two, number three is my grandma, right? His friends, many of his advisors, and people with whom he has accomplished so much in the past outlived him, but they Never felt alone because they always had each other.”
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Associated Press reporter Alex Sands contributed to this report.
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