A rather unfortunate news hitting the United States, Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States of America passed away peacefully in his home Plains, Georgia on December 29th, 2024.
He passed on at the age of 100, surrounded by his family. Following the publicity of his death, several celebrities and politicians have extended their sympathy to the bereaved family.
The late president was born James Earl Carter Jr on 1 October 1924, in the small town of Plains, Georgia. He was the eldest of four children. His father, James Earl Carter, started the family peanut business, his mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, was a registered nurse.
He was a star basketball player in high school. He went on to spend seven years in the US Navy – rising through the ranks of a submariner to lieutenant. On July 7, 1946, Jimmy Carter married Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister. Upon the death of his father in 1953, he returned to Georgia to run the family farm.
Although, the first year’s crop failed due to drought, Carter turned the business around and made himself wealthy in the process. He quickly became a leader in the community. He began active politics from the grassroot serving on county boards of local schools and library.
He won the election and became Georgia’s 76th governor on January 12, 1971.
On December 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He won the party’s nomination on the first ballot and was elected president on 2, November, 1976. Jimmy Carter served as president of the US from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. Only one term.
Some significant policies under his government included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union among many others.
His government is characterized by a promise never to lie to the American people.
The former president also authored thirty-two books, many of which are in revised editions now. Some of the books are: Why Not the Best? (1975, 1996), A Government as Good as Its People (1977, 1996), Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982, 1995).
Together with his wife Rosalynn Carter, they founded the Carter Center, a nonpartisan and nonprofit Center that addresses national and international issues of public policy.
President Carter and The Center have engaged in conflict mediation in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Haiti, Liberia, Bosnia, Sudan, North Korea and many other nations.
Jimmy and his wife later embarked on humanitarian ventures helping needy people in the US and other countries by building or renovating their homes until 2020. The Carters have three sons and a daughter.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy Carter on December 10, 2002 recognizing his decades of ceaseless effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.
The late president Jimmy Carter decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care in February, 2023.
His wife Rosalynn died in November of 2023. Carter became the oldest living former president surpassing the record of late George Bush in 2019.
Now reacting to the news of his death, some American figures including politicians have taken to social media to extend sympathy to the family.
President Joe Biden wrote in a statement that “America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” as well as a man of “great character and courage, hope and optimism.”
President-elect Donald Trump also posted, “He (Jimmy Carter) worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed.”
We here at TheNewsGod also extend our deepest condolences to the Carter family.
