Jimmy Carter turns 100: Why the longest living president isn’t done just yet
Jimmy Carter turns 100 today and has expressed his birthday wish: he can vote for Kamala Harris.
The 39th president is already the longest-lived in US history and is now the first to reach a centenary.
When he entered hospice care at home in Georgia in 2023, it was thought he had only days to live.
But he has reportedly “perked up” in recent months and told his grandchildren that his new goal is to make it to Election Day and vote for the Democratic candidate.
His vote could be important as Georgia is a key swing state, with polls showing him on a razor’s edge between Harris and Donald Trump. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump by just 12,000 votes.
According to his family, Carter is following the election and respects his friend Joe Biden’s decision to step aside.
Jimmy Carter turns 100 today and has expressed his birthday wish: he can vote for Kamala Harris. He is pictured at the funeral of his beloved wife Rosalynn last year
Harris has called several times and the ex-president has developed a “real personal relationship” with her, his grandson Jason Carter told the New York Times.
The former president is “compelled by her story as a true example of the American dream,” the younger Carter said.
Carter’s last public appearance was almost a year ago, at the funeral of his beloved wife Rosalynn.
They were the longest married first couple, having been married for 77 years.
Carter had a “low period” afterward, but is now “reengaged in the world,” his grandson told the New York Times.
According to his family, Carter is following the election and respects his friend Joe Biden’s decision to step aside
Carter decided last year to receive hospice care and “spend his remaining time at home with his family” in lieu of additional medical intervention
“I think we’re all surprised to see him still leaving.” He could very well be immortal, said Jason Carter.
His birthday will be celebrated in the small town of Plains, Georgia, of 500 people, where he lives.
Celebrations include a flyover by military aircraft, a concert and a naturalization ceremony for 100 new U.S. citizens.
According to his family, Carter now spends his time at home listening to music, including Bob Dylan, and following the Atlanta Braves.
Earlier in September, a star-studded concert was held at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, raising $1.2 million to support the international programs of The Carter Center, which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded in 1982 to “make peace, fight disease and build hope’.
Always by Jimmy’s side was Rosalynn, who died last November, after 77 years of marriage that produced four children, and 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren (the family is pictured in the late 1970s)
Carter’s vote could be important as Georgia is a key swing state, which polls show is on a razor’s edge between Harris and Donald Trump. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump by just 12,000 votes
Meanwhile, thousands of Habitat for Humanity volunteers recently gathered to build 30 homes over five days in St. Paul, Minnesota, led by country music giants Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who worked with the Carters for years, starting with Hurricane projects. The Katrina disaster area.
Presidential historian Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a Virginia Black professor of history and culture at Norfolk State University, said the strength of Carter’s legacy lies in his morality.
She said, “I think he’s probably done more personally than anyone in his post-presidency because he’s not looking for attention.
‘He wants to change things. He’s not trying to make money for himself. He tries to live the life of a Christian, a real Christian, someone who cares about the poor, the homeless and the children.”
She added, “In many ways, he set the standard for how presidents should behave after their presidency, as someone who will continue to do good, someone who will continue to have a positive impact on society.”
In addition to President Carter’s 100 years as a U.S. Navy submariner, peanut farmer and successful businessman, governor of Georgia and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The 99-year-old served as the country’s 39th president for just one term and had maintained a low public profile in recent years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter embraces his wife Rosalynn after receiving the latest news of his victory in the national general election on November 2, 1976
He won the White House in 1976 as a little-known former Southern governor, promising honesty and competence after the Vietnam quagmire and the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon.
But neither in Atlanta nor in Washington did Carter wield the power that many politicians can.
Even 28 years after his humbling defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter could not get an invitation to speak at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
A young candidate named Barack Obama was wary of any association with the one-term president voters had rejected.
“It was still a nickname: ‘another Jimmy Carter,’” said David Axelrod, Obama’s top adviser and confidant, calling it a “painful” decision for Obama.
Joe Trippi, who worked for Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Carter’s liberal rival, said: ‘His was a unique presidency because it came entirely from outside the party establishment and continued to operate that way even in Washington. The Democratic Party never belonged to Jimmy Carter.”