ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - In a lifetime filled with military, political, economic and social milestones, perhaps the most unprecedented chapter was written Tuesday when Georgia’s favorite son turned 100 years old.
On Tuesday, James Earl Carter, Jr., marked his centennial birthday at his home in Plains, Georgia. The nation’s 39th president officially became America’s oldest living ex-president on March 21, 2019, surpassing George H.W. Bush, who died in November 2018 at 94 years and 171 days old. Before the elder Bush, previous record holders were Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Herbert Hoover and John Adams.
No other ex-president in history has lived to be 100 years old. Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are the nation’s only living ex-presidents.
On Feb. 18, 2023, the Carter Center — which the former president founded in Atlanta after his one term in the White House — announced Carter had “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
That announcement sent the nation’s media rushing to Plains to wait for news of his death. But since then, Carter has marked his 100th birthday along with mourning the death of his beloved Rosalynn Carter, his partner of more than 77 years, after she was diagnosed with dementia.
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Carter’s last public appearance was at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral.
The Carters made history as the nation’s longest-married presidential couple. The couple’s last public appearance was at the annual Plains Peanut Festival.
Replicas of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and civil rights amendments are going on permanent display in Sumter County in celebration of Carter’s birthday. The foundational documents, collectively known as the Charters of Freedom, will be installed at the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, located on Main Street, across from the historic downtown business district in Plains. This will be the first setting to be placed in the state of Georgia.
The Charters of Freedom setting is being dedicated at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Jason Carter, himself a former Georgia state senator and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, told August’s Democratic National Convention his Pulitzer Prize-winning grandfather can’t wait to cast his vote for Kamala Harris in November.
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Carter’s centennial birthday celebration got underway two weeks ago when dozens of entertainers and political and social leaders held a concert at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The benefit concert - whose ticket sales funded international programs of The Carter Center - brought together artists that crossed generations and genres that traced back to his 1976 campaign.
This past weekend, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta hosted a JC100 Film Festival. The library said it showed some of Carter’s favorite list of films that were shown at the White House during his administration.
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As Georgia governor, Carter started the state’s film office after the success of “Deliverance,” one of the first films made in the Peach State. Released in 1972 and based on writer James Dickey’s debut novel of the same name, it starred Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox and Jon Voight and was filmed in northeast Georgia communities of Clayton and Rabun counties. It became a huge commercial success.
Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, a small farming town located about 150 miles south of downtown Atlanta. He grew up in the nearby community of Archery.
Carter attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology before heading to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1946. While serving in the Navy, he became a submariner and rose to the rank of lieutenant.
On July 7, 1946, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. Seven years later, he resigned from the Navy and returned to Georgia. Carter was an active member of the community and eventually entered the political world in 1962, when he was elected to the Georgia Senate.
Four years later, he would run for governor but lost in a primary to the eventual winner, Lester Maddox. Carter would try again four years later and this time would cruise to an easy victory over Republican Hal Suit. He was sworn in as Georgia’s 76th governor on Jan. 12, 1971.
Exactly three years to the date of his inauguration into the governor’s mansion, Carter announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He would go onto win the Democratic nomination in 1976 and was elected on Nov. 2, narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Gerald Ford.
The first — and still only — president from Georgia capped off the day by walking in the inauguration parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, something never seen from a just-inaugurated president.
Carter’s rise to the White House ranks as one of the most unlikely political victories in U.S. history. He was virtually unknown to the country and campaigned on a promise to never tell a lie.
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Carter was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1977, but would only serve on term in office. He was defeated soundly in the 1980 election by Republican Ronald Reagan.
While some presidents ride off into the sunset after serving in office, Carter was just getting started. In 1982, Carter became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta and founded the Carter Center.
The Carters later become the public face of Habitat for Humanity. They both volunteered for the organization for 35 years, helping build homes alongside thousands of volunteers throughout the years.
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.”
Carter taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains for nearly four decades. Thousands of people from all over the world would line up outside the small church to hear his ministry over the years. Some say Carter knew the Bible better than any president since Abraham Lincoln.
Carter was diagnosed with cancer in August 2015 at age 91 after having surgery to remove a lesion on his liver. After having the surgery, Carter announced the cancer had spread to other parts of his body. Later that year, the Carter Center said he had been cleared of the disease.
The Carters have three sons, one daughter, nice grandsons, three granddaughters, five great-grandsons and eight great-granddaughters.
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