The 39th president of the United States has passed away. Jimmy Carter died Sunday at the age of 100 at his home in Georgia, his foundation announced. Retired from all public life, the Democrat, who only served one term (1977-1981), had benefited from end-of-life care at home since February 2023. His last appearance was to attend the funeral of his wife Rosalynn in November 2023. He was the oldest living American president.
According to his grandson quoted by theAtlanta Journal-ConstitutionJimmy Carter confided to his family that it was more important to him to stay alive to be able to vote in the 2024 presidential election than to reach the milestone of turning 100. He will finally have reached these two deadlines.
The Nobel Peace Prize occupied a special place in the American political landscape, forever tarnished by the hostage crisis in Iran on which his only term ended. This fervent Baptist with an atypical career – from naval officer to business, from owner of a family peanut farm to president – took office in 1977 in an America still marked by the Watergate scandal which had pushed the President Nixon resigned.
“I am a man from the South and an American,” affirmed this virtual unknown on the national political scene when he launched into the Democratic primary for the 1976 presidential election. His arrival in power was full of promises for the Democratic camp which controls Congress and the White House for the first time since 1968.
The first two years started strong, with popularity ratings higher than those of Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama at the same stage of their mandate. He convinced the Senate to ratify the treaties on the Panama Canal in 1978, he advanced his pawns on the international scene.
Hostage crisis
But the euphoria will gradually fade away and the awkwardness will take over, against the backdrop of the second oil shock in 1979. An image of these “Carter years” will remain: that of the long lines of motorists coming across the country , stock up in a hurry for fear of shortage. The end of his mandate will be weighed down by the Iranian nightmare: for 444 days, around fifty Americans will be detained after the storming of the United States embassy in Tehran by radical Islamic militants.
In April 1980, a helicopter-borne military operation to try to free them ended in a bitter failure. The hostages were released on January 20, 1981, the same day as President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.
After his severe defeat against the Republican, he left through the back door in 1981. His presidency was followed by three Republican mandates (Ronald Reagan then George HW Bush).
“The best ex-president”
Mocked for his indecisions at the White House, Jimmy Carter’s strength was to reinvent himself after leaving the federal capital. So much so that this man with the broad, infectious smile will often be referred to, not without irony, as “the best ex-president” in the history of the United States.
When he left power in January 1981 at the age of 56, this passionate about democracy and social justice began a new chapter with undeniable energy.
At the head of the “Carter Center” that he created in Atlanta, he supervises dozens of polls around the world. A tireless traveler, he is found everywhere: in Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, and even East Timor. In Haiti, in Cyprus, in North Korea, he offers his services, is tirelessly passionate, even if the results are sometimes tenuous.
In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his decades of tireless efforts for the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, the advancement of democracy and human rights.”
His wife and faithful traveling companion, Rosalynn, died at his side on November 19, 2023 at the age of 96. She was buried in Plains, after a national tribute attended by Joe Biden. With an emaciated face, Jimmy Carter was there, for one of his rare public appearances in recent years.