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| Thank you Jimmy. I wished we had more presidents like you. |
Former president James Earl Carter, Jr. has passed away at the age of 100. He was the oldest former president when he turned 100 in October.
Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career.
Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian, would become a staple of his political campaigns.
Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career.
Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband.
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| Then senator Joe Biden engaging with Jimmy Carter. Biden would eventually become the president. |
Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board.
“My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021.
He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign.
Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed.
Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct.
“I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine.
President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald J. Trump, former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will react to the passing. Vice President Kamala Harris, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, former vice presidents Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Mike Pence will also react to the passing as well.
The 39th President of the United States who served from 1977 until 1981, will be remembered as a man who worked to bring peace to the Middle East, called out Israel for its crimes, Habitat for Humanity, his late wife Roselyn Carter, the Nobel Peace Prize, civility in the White House and the fact that he did it with a bunch of far right Republicans meddling.
Carter became president after his predecessor Gerald Ford failed at appealing to voters. His support for pardoning his former boss Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War and inflation all but sealed Ford's fate. Ronald Reagan, Carter's successor used the far right noise machine of Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, Lee Atwater and Rupert Murdoch to help him win over voters in the South and Midwest upset with inflation, the Cold War and Iran hostage crisis.
Of course, Israel had a role in the Iran hostage crisis. The Israelis worked with Reagan and Iran's leaders to get the release. Israel saw Reagan as their savior.
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.
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| President Joe Biden and First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden greet Jimmy and Roselyn Carter. |
“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.
Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter 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.
“My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said.
Oh similairties in how Israel is continuing this war despite Biden trying to stop it (well not actually stopping it). Israel worked with Trump and AIPAC to ensure voter turnout will favor him. Biden was forced out after his debate performance and Harris lost because of her refusal to listen to Arab American and Black men frustarated with Biden's policies. Also having Liz Cheney on her roster kind of made it clear she backed Israel despite the apartheid ethnostate supporting Trump.
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| Then president-elect Barack Obama pose with George H.W. Bush, then president George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. |
Clinton, Obama and Biden can testify, the Republican Party is too damn extreme. But as they continue to win elections on the grounds of white supremacy and ignorance, the Democratic Party is still wandering in the forest. Trying to court Republicans isn't a strategy of winning. They backed Trump overwhelmingly despite Harris having the backing of many Republicans.
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. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia.
“If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon.
Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy.
Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan.
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| Then president Donald J. Trump greet former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush at his father George H.W. Bush's funeral in 2018. Former vice president Joe Biden in the far irght would become the current president until Jan. 20, 2025. Trump returns afterwards. |
“It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders.
Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term.
Demcorats didn't want Republican-lite. They wanted Biden and Harris to call out Israel, stop funding them, brag more about their accomplishments, fight against MAGA and stop being nice.
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| History will be good to Jimmy and Roselyn Carter. |
A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing.
Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides.
The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school.
Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll.
Alas, 2028.
Anyway, the junk food media will cover Jimmy Carter's passing. Expected to be held in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, the honoring of the former president who served as governor of the state.
Atlanta and Washington, DC will be the places where they will hold his funeral.
Biden, 82 is the current president and oldest elected. Trump will surpass him again, being the second and fourth oldest president elected. Biden will be the last U.S. president in term when Carter was alive.
Biden also was the last U.S. president to greet Queen Elizabeth II. He is the first U.S. president to greet King Charles III.
Biden will have the same legacy as Carter. He pulled us out of a pandemic and got the economy back on track. But thanks to Trump, Republicans and the junk food media, we're back on the course of an economy on the downslide.
Biden will also leave office as an enabler of genocide. He didn't have the balls to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel and the lobbyists. He couldn't save the soul of the nation by being an enabler of the division.
He took Harris down with him.
Carter hoped he could see a Black woman elected as president. Unfortunately, we are returning to status quo poltiics and the chaotic legacy of Trump. He served one term disgracefully. He is expected to serve a second term in the same fashion.
Jimmy Carter, I wished we could have more presidents like you and not like Bush, Biden and Trump.
I was born in 1980 as the election was in its final days. I lived through Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden and Trump again. Hell, I survived the worst and certainly will deal with another chaotic Trump presidency.
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