Oldest ex-US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100

Oldest ex-US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100

Former US President Jimmy Carter has died aged 100, the centre he founded has confirmed.

The former peanut farmer lived longer than any president in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat served as president from 1977 to 1981, a period beset by economic and diplomatic crises.

After leaving the White House with low approval ratings, his reputation was restored through humanitarian work which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” his son, Chip Carter, said in a statement.

“The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Jimmy Carter is survived by his four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

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His wife, Rosalynn, who he was married to for 77 years, died in November 2023.

Since 2018 and the death of George HW Bush, he was the oldest surviving US president.

Carter stopped medical treatment for an undisclosed illness last year and instead began receiving hospice care at his home.

Jimmy Carter’s presidency will be remembered for his struggles in dealing with acute economic problems and several foreign policy challenges, including the Iran hostage crisis, which ended with the deaths of eight Americans.

There was, however, a notable foreign policy triumph in the Middle East when he helped broker an accord between Egypt and Israel, signed at Camp David in the US in 1978.

But that seemed a distant memory two years later, when voters overwhelmingly chose Republican Ronald Reagan, who had portrayed the president as a weak leader unable to deal with inflation and interest rates at near record highs.

Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 election by a landslide, winning only six US states plus Washington DC.

In the aftermath of such a heavy defeat, Carter was frequently held up by Republicans as an example of liberal ineptitude.

Meanwhile, many in his own party either ignored him or viewed his presidential shortcomings as evidence their brand of Democratic politics or policy was a better way.

Today many on the right still deride the Carter years but as the decades passed, his humanitarian efforts and simple lifestyle began to shape a new legacy for many Americans.

After leaving the White House, he became the first and only president to return full-time to the house he lived in before politics – a humble, two-bedroom ranch-style home.

He chose not to pursue the lucrative after-dinner speeches and publishing deals awaiting most former presidents, telling the Washington Post in 2018 that he never really wanted to be rich.

Instead he spent his remaining years trying to address global problems of inequality and disease.

Oldest ex-US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100