Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President And Humanitarian, Dead At 100

Jimmy Carter, who served as president from 1977 to 1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died at age 100 on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. Some might even argue he's the first U.S. president who was better known and loved for his contributions after he left the White House than when he was in office.

The Carter Center took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce the sad news. "Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia," they wrote.

Jimmy was pre-deceased by his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died on November 19, 2023, at age 96. He's survived by his four children — daughter Amy and sons Jack, Donnel, and James, as well as his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The man who would become the 39th president of the United States was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924 and was named after his father, James Earl Carter, a farmer and entrepreneur; his mother, Lillian, was a registered nurse.

Like many children in his town, Jimmy went to public school in Plains, but he was a standout, at least where his father's side of the family was concerned, because he was the first person to earn his high school diploma, according to Constitution Center. 

Jimmy didn't just earn his high school diploma, though; he went on to study at Georgia Southwestern College and Georgia Institute of Technology. He eventually received his Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 — the same year he married Rosalynn Smith. Carter became a submarine specialist and, for a while, worked in the nuclear submarine program, where he focused on reactor technology and nuclear physics. Carter remained with the Navy until his father died in 1953, at which time he resigned to take over the family peanut farm in Georgia. 

Jimmy Carter put down political roots after he returned to Georgia and became a community leader. He served on community boards overseeing education, hospitals, and libraries. He later became a two-term state senator before launching a bid for the Georgia governorship. Constitution Center said his first attempt at winning the office crashed and burned thanks to his support for civil rights. With a focus on getting elected, Carter became more centrist, and ultimately became governor of Georgia in 1970.

Carter announced his bid for the White House in 1974, and he built his campaign on the promise that he would never tell a lie. Position himself as a Washington outsider also proved to be a winning strategy, as the country was emerging from the Richard Nixon and the Watergate era. Carter went on to won the Democratic nomination and the presidential election in 1976.

Jimmy Carter faced formidable challenges as president. There was a major energy crisis and a double economic whammy that covered both high inflation and unemployment. His foreign relations policy was marked by building formal ties with Beijing and through his attempts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. But his challenging first term would be his last, as he faced a hostage crisis in Iran and ultimately lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

While few expected Carter to bounce back after his presidency, his second act proved to be far more memorable than his first. Two years after he left office, he founded The Carter Center, which has played an important role in conflict mediation throughout countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter also volunteered for Habitat for Humanity by helping build and renovate homes across the country. 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 Nobel Committee awarded Jimmy the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, more than two decades after he was voted out of office.

Beloved as a humanitarian after an unremarkable presidential term, NPR said it best when it noted that, in the decades that followed, Jimmy Carter became "the best ex-president the country's ever had."