Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100

Responding to a question about what lessons Trump can take away from Carter, Biden said ‘decency’ and praised Carter’s character.

“Decency. Decency. Decency. Everybody deserves a shot. Everybody,” Biden said. “Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking by someone who needs something and just keeps walking? Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way they look or the way they talk? I can’t. I can’t.”

Trump is well-known for launching personal attacks on his opponents and perceived foes, criticizing their looks and other personal traits.

Biden said he spoke to Carter’s children and some Carter family friends shortly before addressing reporters. He said his administration was working with the Carter family to plan a state funeral “to see to it that he is remembered appropriately here in the United States and around the world.”

“We’re going to do a major service in Washington, D.C.,” Biden said.

Biden called Carter “a model of what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose” and repeatedly praised his “simple decency” and his values, saying some will see him as a man of honesty and humility of a “bygone era.”

“I don’t believe it’s a bygone era. I see a man not only of our time but for all times.”

He said Carter embodied fundamental human values and said, “To know his core, you need to know he never stopped being a Sunday school teacher at that Baptist church in Plains, Georgia.”

The president also reflected on Carter’s seven-decade marriage to his wife Rosalynn, calling it “a love affair for the ages.”

“We’d all do well to try to be a little more like Jimmy Carter,” Biden said.

Biden spoke briefly Sunday evening about Carter, who he remembered as a humanitarian, a statesman and a friend.

In his remarks for roughly 10 minutes, he called today a “sad day” but one that “brings back an incredible amount of good memories.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Jimmy Carter for over 50 years,” Biden said.

He recalled the former president being a comfort to him and his wife Jill when their son Beau died in 2015 of cancer.

The president remarked how cancer was a common bond between their families, with Carter himself having cancer later in his life.

“Jimmy knew the ravages of the disease too well,” Biden said.

Biden will speak at a hotel in in St. Croix, where he is on a holiday vacation with his family.

“Above all, he was a lover of democracy and a defender of peace,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on X, noting Carter’s work with Brazil to mediate conflicts in Venezuela and to help Haiti and Carter’s criticism of “unilateral military acts by superpowers and the use of killer drones.”

“Throughout his life, Jimmy Carter has been a steadfast advocate for the rights of the most vulnerable and has tirelessly fought for peace,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.

“Jimmy Carter’s legacy is one of compassion, kindness, empathy, and hard work,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “He was always thoughtful and generous with his advice to me.”

“Jimmy Carter’s legacy is best measured in lives changed, saved and uplifted,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on X.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted in a post on X the special contribution Carter made by brokering the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt and through his work with the Carter Center.

“Motivated by his strong faith and values, President Carter redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad,” Starmer said.

“Everything to Gain,” a 1987 collaboration with Jimmy and his wife, Rosalynn, turned into the “worst threat we ever experienced in our marriage,” an intractable standoff for the facilitator of the Camp David Accords and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to Carter, Rosalynn was a meticulous author who considered “the resulting sentences as though they have come down from Mount Sinai, carved into stone.” Their memories differed on various events and they fell into “constant arguments.” They were ready to abandon the book and return the advance, until their editor persuaded them to simply divide any disputed passages between them.

“In the book, each of these paragraphs is identified by a ‘J’ or an ‘R,’ and our marriage survived,” he wrote.

His more than two dozen books included nonfiction, poetry, fiction, religious meditations and a children’s story. His memoir “An Hour Before Daylight” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, while his 2006 best-seller “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” stirred a fierce debate by likening Israel’s policies in the West Bank to the brutal South African system of racial segregation.

In one recent work, “A Full Life,” Carter observed that he “enjoyed writing” and that his books “provided a much-needed source of income.”

▶ Read more about Carter’s publication history

To commemorate Carter’s death, officials with the Empire State Building said in a post on social media that the iconic New York City landmark would be lit in red, white and blue on Sunday night “to honor the life and legacy” of the late former president.

In a statement issued Sunday, former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama recalled Carter’s beloved Maranatha Baptist Church “will be a little quieter on Sundays” following Carter’s death, but noted that the late former president “will never be far away -- buried alongside Rosalynn next to a willow tree down the road, his memory calling all of us to heed our better angels.”

Noting the “hundreds of tourists from around the world crammed into the pews” to see the former president teach Sunday school, as he did “for most of his adult life,” the Obamas listed Carter’s accomplishments as president and after his time in the White House as catalysts for making that trip.

But, they noted, “many people in that church on Sunday morning were there, at least in part, because of something more fundamental: President Carter’s decency.”

Former President George W. Bush released a statement in response to Carter’s passing.

“Laura and I send our heartfelt condolences to Jack, Chip, Jeff, Amy, and the entire Carter family.

“James Earl Carter, Jr., was a man of deeply held convictions. He was loyal to his family, his community, and his country. President Carter dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations.

“We join our fellow citizens in giving thanks for Jimmy Carter and in prayer for his family.”

In his 1975 book “Why Not The Best,” Carter said of himself: “I am a Southerner and an American, I am a farmer, an engineer, a father and husband, a Christian, a politician and former governor, a planner, a businessman, a nuclear physicist, a naval officer, a canoeist, and among other things a lover of Bob Dylan’s songs and Dylan Thomas’s poetry.”

A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer.

After he left office and returned home to his tiny hometown of Plains in southwest Georgia, Carter regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world.

House Speaker Mike Johnson commended Carter’s work “in brokering the Camp David Accords and his advocacy with Habitat for Humanity,” saying that “the world is a more peaceful place, and more Americans have a place to call home.”

“No one can deny that President Carter led an extraordinary life of service to his country,” the Louisiana Republican added.

President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, stateman and humanitarian” and that he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocate for the disadvantaged as examples for others.

“To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.”

Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington.

The White House Historical Association remembered Carter for the determination, commitment and leadership the organization said he brought to his role as the 39th president.

A condolence book for Carter will be available for members of the public to sign beginning at 9 a.m. ET, Monday, at The People’s House: A White House Experience, the association’s new educational center located a block from the White House at the corner of 17th St. and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Donna Brazile became the first Black woman to manage a major presidential campaign when she led Al Gore’s White House bid in 2000. She said Jimmy Carter inspired her career and “sealed the deal” by asking Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas to deliver the 1976 keynote address at his nomination, the first Black woman to have such a prominent slot at a Republican or Democratic convention.

Brazile volunteered for Carter’s campaign as a high school student that year, and became a top organizer for him four years later.

Brazile said some liberal Democrats misunderstood Carter because he was a white Southerner with a notable accent, associating him with segregationists of his generation of Southern politicians. But Brazile remembers Carter as “part of a wave of a new kind of governance.” He appointed more women and nonwhites to top federal posts, including the judiciary, than any of his predecessors.

She called Carter a “moderate with progressive tendencies” who accomplished more for human rights than those who criticized him.

Brazile also pushed back at the idea that Carter was a “great ex-president but failure in office.” She said his “humanitarian efforts and push for peace started in the White House,” and the 1980s economic growth “that people give Ronald Reagan all the credit for” began because of “hard decisions that Jimmy Carter made.”

President-elect Donald Trump posted a statement in response to Carter’s passing on his social media site Truth Social.

“I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History.

The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter Family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers.”

Former President Bill and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have released a joint statement in response to Carter’s passing.

“Hillary and I mourn the passing of President Jimmy Carter and give thanks for his long, good life. Guided by his faith, President Carter lived to serve others—until the very end.

From his commitment to civil rights as a state senator and governor of Georgia; to his efforts as President to protect our natural resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, make energy conservation a national priority, return the Panama Canal to Panama, and secure peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David; to his post-Presidential efforts at the Carter Center supporting honest elections, advancing peace, combating disease, and promoting democracy; to his and Rosalynn’s devotion and hard work at Habitat for Humanity—he worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.

Hillary and I met President Carter in 1975 and were proud, early supporters of his Presidential campaign. I will always be proud to have presented the Medal of Freedom to him and Rosalynn in 1999, and to have worked with him in the years after he left the White House.

Our prayers are with Jack, Chip, Jeff, Amy, and their families.”

Paige Alexander, who has led The Carter Center since 2020, became CEO after Jimmy Carter stepped away from day-to-day affairs at the Atlanta-based global outreach organization, so she missed out on traveling with him to the developing world where the center was fighting diseases like river blindness and Guinea worm.

But that doesn’t mean she won’t meet a “Jimmy Carter” in those remote villages.

The center knows of children named “Jimmy Carter” and “Rosalynn Carter,” and even one person named “Zithromax,” a common antibiotic distributed as part of the center’s public health efforts, she said.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s decades of work “have opened doors” for others to use by expanding the center beyond the conflict resolution and high-profile diplomacy work Carter could handle himself, she said. His legacy includes a sprawling organization full of people “with the expertise he didn’t have,” especially concerning public health.

Former Vice President Al Gore praised Jimmy Carter for living “a life full of purpose, commitment and kindness” and for being a “lifelong role model for the entire environmental movement.”

Gore and Carter both carved out impactful second acts after their political careers ended. Carter, who left the White House in 1981 after a landslide defeat to Ronald Reagan, concentrated on conflict resolution, defending democracy and fighting disease in the developing world. Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, remains a leading advocate for action to fight climate change. Both won Nobel Peace Prizes.

Gore said that “it is a testament to his unyielding determination to help build a more just and peaceful world” that Carter is often “remembered equally for the work he did as President as he is for his leadership over the 42 years after he left office.”

During Gore’s time in the White House, President Bill Clinton had an uneasy relationship with Carter. They kept their distance from their fellow Democrat during Clinton’s first presidential campaign. But Gore said he is “grateful” for “many years of friendship and collaboration” with Carter.

Jason Carter said his grandparents “never changed who they were” even after reaching the White House and becoming global humanitarians as leaders of The Carter Center.

The younger Carter said “the presidency was obviously the defining portion” of Jimmy Carter’s life, but it was just one four-year period of “putting his values into action.” The center his grandparents founded in Atlanta is another “extension of their belief in human rights as a fundamental global force,” he said.

Jason Carter, now the chairman of The Carter Center’s board of governors, said their hometown of Plains is essential to understanding the work of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. They traveled to villages all over the world advocating democracy and fighting disease, but he said they weren’t motivated by pity for people in the developing world, or arrogance that a former American president had all the answers.

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FILE - Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter waves to a crowd gathered in Atlanta, Dec. 12, 1974, where he announced that he is a Democratic candidate for the presidency. Carter promised to “restore integrity, confidence and businesslike management to the federal government.” (AP Photo, File)

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FILE - Outgoing President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd at the inauguration of 40th President Ronald Reagan in Washington, Jan. 20, 1981. In the background, new Vice President George Bush, Reagan, Barbara Bush and first lady Nancy Reagan applaud. Next to Carter is outgoing Vice President Walter Mondale, and at far right, Reagan’s son Ron applauds. (AP Photo, File)

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FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, right, watch election workers prepare ballots at a polling station in Managua, Nicaragua, Feb. 25, 1990. The Carters are in Nicaragua to monitor the elections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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FILE - From left, President Barack Obama, former President Jimmy Carter, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton wave from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington during a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, Aug. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

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FILE - South Koreans watch a TV news program showing former President Jimmy Carter arriving in Pyongyang, North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 25, 2010. Carter arrived in the capital of communist North Korea on a private, humanitarian mission to bring home an American sentenced to eight years’ hard labor for trespassing. The Korean letters on the screen read: “Visit of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in North Korea.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

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Georgia state Sen. Jimmy Carter hugs his wife, Rosalynn, at his Atlanta campaign headquarters, Sept. 15, 1966. (AP Photo, File)

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FILE - Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as President Jimmy Carter watches at Camp David, Md., in September 1978, during talks aimed at laying the groundwork for a permanent Middle East peace. (AP Photo, File)

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FILE - Jimmy Carter, the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate, points to his name in a voting machine as he casts his vote in Plains, Ga., Sept. 9, 1970. (AP Photo, File)

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FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter, center, speaks to the media at the ruins of the American International School, which was destroyed during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2009. Carter says he’s trying to persuade Hamas leaders to accept the international community’s conditions for ending its boycott of the Islamic militant group. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

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FILE - Jimmy Carter takes the oath of office as the 39th president of the United States at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 1977, as his wife Rosalynn holds the Bible. Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger administers the oath while Sen. Howard Cannon of Nevada stands behind the Carters. (AP Photo, File)

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Carter was a businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world. He forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s.

Here are some notable moments and milestones from Carter’s life:

• June 1946: Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy.
• Summer 1953: Carter resigns from the Navy, returns to Plains after father’s death.
• 1963-1966: Carter serves in the Georgia state Senate.
• 1966: Carter tries unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
• November 1970: Carter is elected governor of Georgia. Serves 1971-75.
• Dec. 12, 1974: Carter announces a presidential bid. Atlanta newspaper answers with headline: “Jimmy Who?”
• July 1976: Carter accepts the Democratic nomination and announces Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota as running mate.
• November 1976: Carter defeats President Gerald R. Ford, winning 51% of the vote and 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240.
• Nov. 4, 1980: Carter is denied a second term by Ronald Reagan, who wins 51.6% of the popular vote to 41.7% for Carter and 6.7% to independent John Anderson.
• 1982: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter co-found The Carter Center in Atlanta, whose mission is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights and prevent disease around the world.
• December 1998: Carter receives U.N. Human Rights Prize on 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• August 1999: President Bill Clinton awards Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Dec. 10, 2002: Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
• March 22, 2019: Carter becomes the longest-lived U.S. president, surpassing President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018.
• July 7, 2023: The Carters celebrate their 77th and final wedding anniversary.
• Nov. 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter dies at home, two days after the family announced that she had joined the former president in receiving hospice care.
• Oct. 1, 2024 — Carter becomes the first former U.S. president to reach 100 years of age, celebrating at home with extended family and close friends.

▶ Read more about the former president’s milestones

Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old.

The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said.

“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

▶ Read more about the life and legacy of the former president