Jimmy Carter, who reached 98 years of age in October, overcame cancer in 2015 and survived a critical fall in 2019.
Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, has decided to receive palliative care and spend his remaining days at Georgia home, the Carter Center announced this Saturday on their Twitter account. At 98 years old, carter is the longest-serving President in US history.
Jimmy Carter Chooses Palliative Care Over Medical Intervention
After a series of short hospital stays, Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States and the longest-serving in US history, has chosen to forgo medical intervention in favor of staying at home with his family and receiving palliative care. The Carter Center has requested privacy for the family during this time and expressed gratitude for the support of their fans.
The 39th President of the United States has been receiving medical attention since his 2015 diagnosis of brain cancer. After a successful remission, Carter suffered a series of falls which resulted in brain hemorrhages in 2019, necessitating a procedure to relieve pressure. Since then, he has experienced other health-related issues which have yet to be specified by the Carter Center.
Jimmy Carter, born in 1924, won the 1976 presidential election against Gerald Ford and served as the 39th President of the United States from January 1977 to January 1981. The most recently deceased former President was George Bush Sr., who was born in the same year as Carter and passed away in November 2018. The four remaining living former Presidents are Bill Clinton (b. 1946, age 76), George W. Bush (b. 1946, age 76), Barack Obama (b. 1961, age 61), and Donald Trump (b. 1946, age 76). Joe Biden, the current President of the United States, is 80 years old.
I saw both of my grandparents yesterday. They are at peace and—as always—their home is full of love. Thank you all for your kind words https://t.co/9rhG61sZEV
— Jason Carter (@SenatorCarter) February 18, 2023
Carter’s Appeal to American Voters
During his 1976 presidential campaign, Jimmy Carter connected with many voters through his promise to always tell the truth, especially in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. His signature campaign phrase, “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I wouldn’t deserve to be your president”, resonated with many people. Carter, who was politically active during the civil rights movement, was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win in the Deep South before the region quickly shifted to the Republicans in later elections.
Jimmy Carter’s 1980 Defeats
Jimmy Carter’s popularity was greatly reduced due to the oil crisis, runaway inflation, and the embassy-taking incident in Tehran. Consequently, he lost overwhelmingly to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election, becoming the first re-elected President since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to not win a second term. Subsequent presidents George Bush Sr. and Donald Trump have also been one-term presidents.
Carter Center’s Major Achievements
Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work in finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts, promoting democracy and human rights, and encouraging economic and social development. The Carter Center has also been at the forefront of election observation, monitoring over 113 elections in Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989. Furthermore, the organization recently announced that in 2021, only 14 human cases of Guinea worm disease have been recorded, a result of years of public health campaigns providing access to safe drinking water in Africa. The Carter Center took the lead in the global eradication of this parasitic disease in 1986, when it infected 3 million people.
Carter’s Early Life and Political Career
Jimmy Carter, born James Earl Carter, Jr. in Plains, Georgia on October 1, 1924, was raised in a farming family, conversing about politics and holding strong to the Baptist faith. After graduating from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1946, Carter married Rosalynn Smith and had four children.
After seven years of service as a naval officer, he returned to Plains and entered state politics in 1962, eventually being elected Governor of Georgia in 1970. During his tenure, he became well-known for promoting ecology, effective government, and racial equality.
He announced his candidacy for President in December 1974 and, despite being virtually unknown, gained momentum through strong primary results in early-voting states. He was nominated as the Democratic candidate on the first ballot of the convention and chose Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale as his running mate. Carter went on to win the election against President Gerald Ford by 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 241.
Carter’s Foreign Policy and the Iran Hostage Crisis
Jimmy Carter’s defense of human rights was not warmly received by the Soviet Union and other nations during his presidency. However, he did make a significant contribution to peace in the Middle East through the 1978 Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel. He also established full diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and negotiated the SALT II nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union. However, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to the suspension of the ratification plans for the pact.
The Iran hostage crisis began in November 1979 when a group of Iranian students took 66 United States diplomats and citizens, hostage, after the assault on the embassy in Tehran during the Islamist revolution. This, combined with continuing inflation in the US, contributed to Carter’s defeat in the 1980 election. Carter continued to negotiate for the hostages’ release after his defeat, and they were finally released on the same day he left office. His grandson, Jason Carter, who chairs the board of the Carter Center, tweeted on Saturday that he had seen his grandparents, who were at peace and full of love.
