Jimmy Carter was the longest-living ex-president. He died Sunday at age 100.
Carter had hospital stays in 2022-2023 and was placed on hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, in February 2023. He lived under hospice comfort care for an unusually long time.
Carter was elected president in 1976, defeating Republican President Gerald Ford, who had been elevated to the office on the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Carter ran for re-election in 1980 but was defeated by former California governor Ronald Reagan.
One primary issue on which Reagan defeated Carter was Carter’s signing of a 1978 treaty relinquishing U.S. control of the Panama Canal. That issue has re-surfaced, with President-elect Trump and supporters indicating he will try to re-asset U.S. control of the canal.
Carter’s wife, former First Lady Rosalyn Carter, died earlier this year. She had been diagnosed with dementia.
The longest-married presidential couple, the Carters marked their 77th wedding anniversary in July 2023.
As an ex-president, Carter devoted much of his time to humanitarian work. He was a leader – and a pretty good carpenter – in Habitat for Humanity. Hundreds of formerly homeless are now in homes built partly by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
While an ex-president, Carter taught his popular Sunday School class in the Plains Baptist Church for over 40 years.
Jimmy Carter had a lot of connections to the state of Alabama. While governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter was considered by the national media as a "new south governor." He was contrasted with Alabama Governor George Wallace, who was portrayed as a populist and a challenger to the federal government's power.
Carter and Wallace ran against each other in the 1976 Florida presidential primary. Wallace was running out of a wheelchair following his being shot in the 1972 assassination attempt in the Maryland primary. Carter was considered a dark horse candidate at the time. Carter's victory over Wallace and others in Florida may have been the breakthrough that led the way to winning the Democratic nomination and defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford.
Carter's fundraising consultant in the 1976 presidential campaign was Morris Dees of Montgomery, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Carters collaborated with Millard Fuller of Lanett, founder of Habitat for Humanity. Through Fuller's influence, the two Carters became the most visible supporters of building homes for the homeless through their physical work and fundraising.
Jimmy Carter's mother, "Miss Lillian" Carter, was a house mother at Auburn University for the Kappa Alpha fraternity, the "old south" fraternity, complete with a cannon and Confederate re-enactment uniforms.
Historians will likely say that Jimmy Carter did more as a former president than any other president except President John Quincy Adams, who served in Congress until his dying day and led the abolitionist movement.
Compare ex-president Carter to his fellow Democrat ex-presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Carter stands apart as an unselfish difference-maker.
Even Americans who disagree with Jimmy Carter's politics are now praying for the former president's family. He lived an abundant life.
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about Alabama’s people, places, events, groups, and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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