The 39th President of the United States, James Earl Carter, Jr., affectionately referred to as Jimmy Carter, has died. He passed away peacefully at his home in Plains, Georgia, with his family surrounding him. Carter was 100 years old.
The Last of the Presidents of the Greatest Generation
Born on October 1, 1924, at the Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia, a facility where his mother worked as a registered nurse. He was the first president to be born in a hospital at that time. The name of the Sanitarium was changed in 1976 to the Lillian G. Carter Health and Rehabilitation Center in honor of his mother.
Numerous members of the Carter family lived as cotton farmers. His father, who had served in the U. S. Army, ran the local general store and invested in farmland in the area. The family moved around a lot while Carter was an infant. They finally settled in nearby Archery on land mostly populated by impoverished African Americans who worked the land.
The Carters added three more children, Gloria, Ruth, and Billy, to their growing family. As a young teenager, senior Carter gifted his oldest son a plot of land to cultivate, and the enterprising lad built a successful peanut business, befriending many of the local farmhands’ children and renting parts of his land to help the community.
Carter was a good student with a fondness for reading, played basketball on the Plains High School team, and even joined a club called the Future Farmers of America where he gained a lifetime appreciation of woodworking. It was said that he would have been class valedictorian if he hadn’t been disqualified after ditching school with his friends to ride in a “hot rod.” His truancy was mentioned in the local paper.
Carter began serving his country at an early age. After attending Georgia Southwestern College as an engineering undergraduate, he moved on to Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned admission to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1943. He met the love of his life while a student there. Rosalynn Smith was a friend of Carter’s sister, Ruth. The two fell head over heels in love and married shortly after his graduation with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Academy in 1946.
The young couple lived in many parts of the United States, such as Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York, and California, while Carter was deployed there from 1946 through 1953. He would gain officer training for submarine duty aboard the USS Pomfret. Later, he served as commander and executive officer on the USS Barracuda.
In 1952, the young naval officer began work on the beginnings of the Navy’s nuclear submarines’ earliest origins under Captain Hyman G. Rickover. Carter once said that next to his parents, the captain was the greatest influence on his life. During this time, there was a nuclear accident at Chalk River Laboratories in which he was a part of the cleanup. His experience there led him to cease the development of the neutron bomb.
Carter planned to work on the second U.S. nuclear submarine, the USS Seawolf, in 1953, but when his father passed away due to pancreatic cancer, he obtained a release from active duty to take care of the family business. He packed up Rosalynn and the kids and moved them back to Georgia but continued to serve in the Navy Reserve. His service awards included American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, China Defense Medal, and The National Defense Service Medal. On the submarine, he earned a “dolphin” badge.
Back in Georgia, tensions were inflamed when the U.S. Supreme Court’s anti-segregation ruling in 1954. Carter, due to his early upbringing and his Christian faith was passionate about tolerance and integration. In the beginning, he kept silent about his feelings but soon actively pursued positions in local government where he could make a difference.
Politics, Presidency, And Beyond
In 1963, Carter won the Senate race in the 14th District with a lot of help from Rosalynn, who turned out to be quite savvy on the campaign trail. He went on to become the 76th Governor of his home state from 1971 – 1975. In a narrow defeat against Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, James Earl Carter, Jr. became the 39th President of the United States.
He quietly began his White House residency by doing what he had always done best: working hard, doing his research, and serving the people. His second day consisted of pardoning all Vietnam Draft evaders. During his term, he created the Departments of Energy and Education, two things he felt strongly about. He established a national energy policy that was the umbrella for conservation, price control, and new technology.
His kindness was often taken as a weakness by more ambitious and ruthless politicians who did their best to circumvent his efforts. The end of his term was marred with problems such as the Iran Hostage crisis, the incident at Three Mile Island, the 1979 energy crisis, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election by a landslide. Carter continued a life of service and went on to write more than 30 books, was a key figure in the non-profit organization of Habitat for Humanity, and partnered with Emory University to create the Carter Center in 1982 with the goal of alleviate human suffering and advance human rights which also works to eradicate diseases around the world.
In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work “to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” He also worked very closely with the World Health Organization to improve the quality of health around the world
The leader continued to work tirelessly through The Carter Center, Habitat For Humanity, WHO, the World Justice Project, the Continuity of Government Commission, all while teaching at Emory University and Sunday School at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Georgia.
At 98, James “Jimmy” Earl Carter, Jr. will be known as the oldest living president, longest-lived president, the longest-to-live post-presidency, and the third oldest person to serve as a state leader. He met Rosalynn when he was just three, and she was just a day old. They went on their first date in 1945, and they married in July of the following year. The couple celebrated 76 years as a married couple in 2022, making the Carter marriage the longest in presidential history.
He beat brain cancer in 2015. After a series of illnesses and falls, Carter declined any more medical intervention and voluntarily accepted hospice care on February 18, 2023, so he could be close to his loved ones at his long-time home in Georgia.
The ex-president is survived by Rosalynn, his children, James, Jack, Donnell, and Amy, along with 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Arrangements for his funeral are still pending. Soap Hub sends its sincere condolences to his family, all those touched by his public works, and a grateful nation. Thank you for your service, Mr. President.
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