Jimmy CarterWho is already the longest-living US president in history, will celebrate his 98th birthday on Saturday with family and friends in the plains. Georgia The city where he and his wife, 95-year-old Roslyn, were born in the years between World War I and the Great Depression.
The 39th president’s latest milestone comes as the Carter Center, which the Carters founded together after one of their White House tenures, promotes democracy and conflict resolution, oversees elections and advances public health in the developing world. A symbol of 40 years.
Jason Carter, The former president’s grandson, who now heads the Carter Center Board, described his grandfather, an outspoken Christian, as satisfied with his life and legacy.
“He is looking forward to his 98th birthday with confidence in God’s plan,” said little Carter, 47, “and it’s a beautiful blessing for all of us personally to know that he is at peace and happy where he is.” He has gone and where is he going.”
Jimmy Carter survived a cancer diagnosis in 2015
Carter Center The leaders said the former president, who survived a cancer diagnosis in 2015 and had a severe collapse at home in 2019, has already received congratulatory messages sent by well-wishers around the world through social media and the centre’s website. Have enjoyed reading. But Jason Carter said his grandfather is mostly looking forward to an ordinary day that involves watching his favorite major League Baseball team, the atlanta braveon television.
“He’s still 100% with it, even though things in daily life are a lot harder now,” Jason Carter said. “But one thing I guarantee. He will see all the brave games this weekend.”
James Earl Carter Jr., Won the 1976 presidential election after starting a campaign as a little-known governor of Georgia. His astonishing performance in the Iowa caucus established the small, midwestern state as the center of presidential politics. Carter went on to defeat President Gerald Ford in the general election, largely in the South, before shifting his core area to Republicans.
A Naval Academy alumnus, naval officer, and peanut farmer, Carter won in no small part because of his promise to never lie to voters weary as a result of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Richard NixonResigned from the presidency in 1974. Four years later, unable to contain inflation and quell voter anger over American hostages held in Iran, Carter lost 44 states. Ronald Reagan, He returned to Georgia in 1981 at the age of 56.
The former first couple started planning Carter Center almost immediately. It opened in 1982 in Atlanta as the first attempt of its kind for a former president. Declared Mission: Advancing peace, human rights and public health causes around the world. Carter won 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, Center has monitored elections in 113 countries, said CEO Paige Alexander, and Carter has also personally served as a mediator in several countries. The Carter Center’s efforts have almost wiped out the guinea worm, a parasite that is spread through unclean drinking water and is painful to humans. Roslyn Carter Has conducted programs designed to reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions.
“He is enjoying his retirement,” said Alexander, who assumed his role in 2020, about the time Jason Carter took over for his grandfather. But “he spends a lot of time thinking about the projects he started and the projects we’re continuing.”
Alexander cited the Guinea worm eradication effort as a highlight. Carter set the target in 1986, when there were about 3.5 million cases annually in 21 countries, with a concentration in sub-Saharan Africa. So far this year, there are six known cases in the two countries, Alexander said.
In 2019, Carter used his last annual message at the center to lament that he remained largely silent on climate change after his presidency. Jason Carter said the center’s leadership is still exploring ways to tackle the climate crisis. But he did not give any timetable. “We will not duplicate other effective efforts,” Carter said, explaining that one of the center’s strategic principles is to prioritize causes and places that no other advocacy organizations have engaged.
On elections and democracy, perhaps the most unexpected twist is that Jimmy Carter has lived to see the center’s efforts on the home front. The center now has programs in place to combat mistrust in the democratic process in the United States. Carter Center personnel monitored Georgia’s replay of US presidential ballots in the state in 2020, when then-President Donald Trump argued the results were rigged. Multiple counts in Georgia and other states confirmed the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory.
“Certainly, we never thought we would come home to democracy and conflict resolution around our elections,” Jason Carter said. “(But) we could not have seen this incredible democracy and human rights organization going overseas without making sure we were adding our voice and our expertise… to America.”
Ahead of America’s midterm elections, the Center has asked candidates – regardless of party they belong to – to sign a set of fair election principles, including committing to a peaceful transfer of power. Among those who signed the commitments: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams.
Carter himself has mostly withdrawn from politics. For years after his 1980 defeat, Democrats shunned him. He has enjoyed a resurgence in recent election cycles, from multiple 2020 Democratic presidential hopes and, in 2021, from President Joe Biden, who in 1976 was the first US senator to endorse Carter’s presidential bid. With inflation now at its highest level since the late 1970s and early 1980s, some Republicans are bringing Carter again as the line of attack on Biden and the Democrats.
Jason Carter said the former president reads and watches the news daily, and occasionally accepts calls or meets with political figures. But, he said, the former president is not expected to appear in public to endorse any candidate before November.
Jason Carter said, “His people with whom he feels the closest connection now are on the plains, in his church and other places.” “But, you know, her partner numbers 1, 2 and 3 are my grandmother, right? She has friends and many mentors and people she’s accomplished a lot in the past, but they’ve never been alone because they’ve always have been with each other.”