James Earle Carter Jr., the thirty-ninth president of the United States and accomplished humanitarian, passed away on December 29th, 2024, at 100 years old. He was the first president to be born in a hospital.
A Nobel laureate, state senator, governor of Georgia, peanut farmer, author, painter, nuclear engineer, naval officer, woodworker, and Sunday school teacher, Carter was likely the final “renaissance man” to be elected president.1 Serving in that capacity from 1977-81, he oversaw the transformation of an economy marred by stagflation and the aftermath of the Vietnam War to one of strong growth and booming markets for the next 40 years. By appointing Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve and axing regulations on airlines, trucking, energy, and even craft beer, Carter pioneered the next forty years of American economic policy.2 We have him to thank for cheap flights and the Great Lakes Christmas Ale.
Volcker’s monetary policies included high interest rates, peaking at almost 20% in 1981. High inflation and high unemployment sank Carter’s 1980 reelection, but the final nail in the coffin was his failure to rescue the 53 hostages in the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran. The hostages were held for 444 days and released 15 minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in on January 20th, 1981.3
In addition to fixing the American economy, Carter brokered the Camp David Accords, a landmark peace agreement between Egypt and Israel that led to the return of the Sinai Peninsula and a realignment of the Arab world. The Egyptian and Israeli Prime Ministers were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. The Camp David Accords laid the foundation for the Oslo Accords in 1993, which provided for limited Palestinian self-governance. In 1985, Carter authored “The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East” about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the ongoing peace process. He has been criticized for describing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as “worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa.”4
In the Western hemisphere, Carter is also known for returning the Panama Canal. He signed a treaty with Omar Torrijos, the de facto leader of Panama, in 1977 that returned the Canal on December 31st, 1999.5
Prior to his political career, Carter was a naval officer, graduating from the United States Naval Academy on June 5th, 1946, with a Bachelor of Science and was commissioned as an ensign. He married Rosalynn Smith the next month. While a naval officer, Carter served aboard submarines in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, earning multiple service medals.6
Carter volunteered for the nascent nuclear submarine program in 1952 and was sent to study at the Atomic Energy Commission. Later that year, he was sent to Canada to lead a maintenance crew in shutting down a reactor that had begun to melt down. Carter was lowered into the reactor for 90 seconds just to turn a single screw. His experience there helped him handle the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979 and shaped his disdain for nuclear weapons.7
Carter was critical of the Reagan, W. Bush, and Obama administrations for their use of force in resolving foreign conflicts. As a self-described “outsider,” he had limited friendships with other presidents. One notable exception, however, was Carter’s friendship with Gerald Ford, the Republican he defeated in the 1976 election. Their friendship began with during the flight to the state funeral of Anwar Sadat in Egypt in 1981 and ended with Carter’s eulogy at Ford’s funeral in 2007.8
After founding the Carter Center in 1982, Carter toured the world as an advocate for peace and human rights. He visited Egypt, North Korea, Russia, South Africa, China, Palestine and other war-torn nations.9 In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”10
One of Carter’s greatest accomplishments was the near eradication of Guinea worm disease. When he took on the project in 1986, there were an estimated 3.6 million cases worldwide. Speaking in 2015, Carter said “I would like to see Guinea worm completely eradicated before I die.”11 There were 11 cases in 2024.
A staunch Baptist, Carter sought to give back however he could. He began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in 1984 and only stopped after hip surgery in 2019.12 Additionally, Carter taught Sunday School twice a month at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, up until the COVID-19 pandemic.13
President Joe Biden delivered Carter’s eulogy during his state funeral on January 9th, 2025. Other eulogies included Ford’s, delivered by his son Steven, and Carter’s Vice President, Walter Mondale’s, delivered by his son, Ted. Jimmy Carter was preceded in death by his three siblings, and his beloved wife of more than 77 years, Rosalynn.14 15
“I’d like to be remembered as a champion of peace and human rights. Those are the two things I’ve found as a kind of guide for my life. I’ve done the best I could with those, not always successful, of course. I would hope the American people would see that I tried to do what was best for our country every day I was in office.” Jimmy Carter, 2014 16
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