Jimmy Carter, the oldest president of the United States, has died at the age of 100.
Carter, who was president between 1977 and 1981, died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, according to the Carter Center.
“Our founder, former US President Jimmy Carter, died this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the organization, which Carter founded a year after leaving the White House, said in a statement on X.
The death was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
No cause of death was immediately released, although Carter spent nearly two years in the hospital after being treated for skin cancer. He celebrated his 100th birthday at his home in October.
Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter's wife of 76 years, died in November 2023.
Our founder, former US President Jimmy Carter died this afternoon in Plains, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/aqYmcE9tXi
– The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) December 29, 2024
Despite working only one job, the former Georgia peanut farmer cast a long shadow over his leadership. This included winning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 for The Carter Center's work in fighting the Guinea worm disease in Africa and following elections around the world.
He also continued to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity toward the end of his life.
In his speech, US President Joe Biden called Carter “an extraordinary leader, political and humanitarian”.
“With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to end disease, build peace, advance human rights and civil liberties, promote free elections, accommodate the homeless, and always empower the least among us,” Biden said, adding that. he was calling for a state funeral for the former president.
“He saved, uplifted, and changed the lives of people around the world,” Biden added.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump wrote on his Social Truth agenda that “we all owe (Carter) a debt of gratitude”.
All past and present presidents of the United States have also suffered from depression. United States President Bill Clinton said Carter “worked tirelessly for a better world”; Former President Barack Obama said Carter “taught us all what it means to live a life of grace, honor, justice and service”; and former President George W Bush said Carter's life “will inspire the American people for generations”.
French President Emmanuel Macron was one of the first world leaders to react to the death, saying Carter “has been a champion of the rights of the most vulnerable and has been a tireless fighter for peace”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer added that Carter “has demonstrated leadership and a strong commitment to justice and human rights at home and abroad”.
Difficult leadership
Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a Southern Democrat with a national reputation. However, he saw an unexpected increase in anger over the US involvement in the Vietnam War and the terrible presidency of Richard Nixon.
But the pressures of the Cold War and the economic crisis at home weighed on his administration, which collapsed after 52 Americans were kidnapped at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. Republican challenger Ronald Reagan narrowly defeated Carter in the 1980 election.
However, Carter oversaw major diplomatic successes while in office, including helping broker an agreement between then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, which restored diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries, in 1978. The Camp David Accords reached only if Israel returns the Sinai Valley to Egypt.
In his speech on Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that “Carter's important role in achieving the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel will remain in the history books, and his humanitarian work is an example of love, peace, and love of the highest order,”
Although the agreement did not resolve the Palestinian issue, Carter became an advocate for Palestinian rights.
In 2006, he published the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, using a label that the major rights groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International would not adopt for more than a decade. He was also very critical of the pro-Israel lobby in the US.
In an article on X Sunday, writer Assal Rad described Carter as “one of the US presidents who spoke honestly about Palestine”.
Human Rights Watch said Carter “set a strong example for world leaders to advance human rights, and he continued to fight for human rights after he left office”.