The New York Times
The former president, a peanut farmer and Democrat from Georgia, was known as much for his charity and diplomatic work later in life as he was for his single presidential term, which ended in 1981.
He lived longer than any other U.S. president. Here’s the latest.
Former President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga., after deciding nearly two years ago to forgo further medical care following a series of medical crises, according to two people close to the family and The Carter Center, the nonprofit he and his wife founded.
At 100, he was the longest-lived president in American history and became known as much for his post-presidential diplomacy and charitable works as for his single, economically turbulent term in office.
Tributes poured in on Sunday from his White House successors, including President Biden, who said in a statement that “America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian.” President-elect Donald J. Trump said in a statement that Mr. Carter “did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”
Mr. Carter, a peanut farmer and former Naval officer who served aboard submarines and studied nuclear physics, was elected governor of Georgia as a Democrat in 1970. With a promise never to lie to the American public, Mr. Carter positioned himself as the reformist antidote to an era of deep political mistrust after Watergate and the Vietnam War and won the presidency in 1976.
He presided over four tumultuous years plagued by long gas lines, high inflation and the Iran hostage crisis. But he also signed a strategic arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union and helped forge the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. Mr. Carter cemented his legacy with a deeper engagement in public affairs than any other former president of modern times and was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
Chip Carter, the former president’s son, said in a statement his father was a hero to “everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love.” He added, “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.”
Here is what to know:
Memorial services for Mr. Carter will play out over the next eight days, according to plans that have been in the works for years. The plans call for Mr. Carter to be taken by motorcade to Atlanta, where he will lie in repose for 36 hours at the Carter Center. He then will be flown to Washington and lie in state at the United States Capitol for a day and a half before a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral. After that service, Mr. Carter will be flown back to Georgia and taken by motorcade to Plains, where he will be buried in the family compound.
Mr. Carter — who survived a series of health crises in recent years, including a bout with melanoma that spread to his liver and brain — entered hospice care in February 2023.
As Mr. Carter’s health declined, a former Texas politician came forward claiming that he took part in a 1980 tour of the Middle East with a clandestine agenda to sabotage Mr. Carter’s re-election campaign.
In November 2023, Mr. Carter’s wife, Rosalynn Carter, died at age 96, two days after the Carter Center, the nonprofit they founded in Atlanta in 1982, said she had entered hospice care at home. Theirs was one of the great love stories in American politics — they were married for nearly eight decades and weathered the coronavirus pandemic together in the modest house they built in Plains, his hometown.
Mr. Carter’s funeral will be the first for a former U.S. president since that of George H.W. Bush in 2018, which Mr. Carter attended alongside four of his successors: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump.
Anushka Patil contributed reporting.
