According to his office on Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, passed away at the age of 100. He devoted his post-election life to promoting world peace.
Since February 2023, Carter, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his global human rights efforts, has been receiving hospice care at his Plains, Georgia, home, where he and his 77-year wife, Rosalynn Carter, reside. On Nov. 19, 2023, the former first lady, who was 96, passed away.
Carter became the first American president to turn 100.
In a direct-to-camera birthday statement shared with CBS News in October, President Joe Biden honored Carter on his 100th birthday, stating: Mr. President, you have always been a moral force for our country and the world. As a young senator, I understood that. That’s why I gave you my early support. In addition to being a cherished friend of Jill, myself, and our family, you are a voice of bravery, conviction, and compassion.
Later on Sunday, Biden signed a proclamation designating January 9 as a national day of mourning and said that he will order an official state burial to be held in Washington. Biden ordered government offices to close “as a mark of respect” for Carter, and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington announced Monday morning that the state funeral will take place on the same day.
After the Watergate crisis, Carter, a Democrat and native of Georgia, defeated President Gerald Ford, a Republican, to win the presidency in 1976. Carter held office for one term before losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980. His unsuccessful attempt to win reelection was hindered by his failure to end the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.
Carter was the first American president to be born in a hospital and the oldest surviving former president after George H.W. Bush, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 94.
In stark contrast to his relatively low popularity when he left the White House in January 1981, Carter, who was only 56 years old when he left, would spend the next forty years concentrating on his good deeds, which made him an almost universally revered figure, sometimes referred to as America’s greatest ex-president.
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