BREAKING: Former President Jimmy Carter dead at 100

Former President Jimmy Carter passed on Sunday at the age of 100. He was the 39th president, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and though he only served one term in the White House, his career post-presidency was robust. Carter recently made news after saying that he wanted to live long enough to cast his vote in the general election for Vice President Kamala Harris. He was preceded in death a little more than a year ago by his wife Rosalynn, who was 96 when she died in November 2023.

Carter came to Washington, DC in 1976 after serving as governor of Georgia. He had been a peanut farmer and was a US Navy veteran. He died at his home in Plains, Georgia, per his son James 'Chip' E. Carter III. Carter had been in hospice care since being discharged from hospital treatment in February 2023. He decided to spend his remaining days at home rather than attempting to medically extend his already long life. His Carter Center, founded in 1982, lives on without him.



In 1980, Carter lost his bid for a second term to California Governor Ronald Reagan, who ushered in the politically conservative, if socially libertine, 1980s. Carter's presidency, puncutated by oil and hostage crises, inflated gas and energy prices, and a speech where he told Americans struggling to heat their homes to put on a sweater, in essence, was seen as a failure. The speech came to be known as the "sweater" speech though he did not actually tell people to put on a sweater.

He made the speech in 1997 as a televised fireside chat and he wore a cardigan over his blue button-down and pattered maroon tie. The cardigan became a bit of a fashion stateent and Time Magazine predicted that the cardigan "may prove to be the most memorable symbol of an Administration that promises to make a steady use of symbolism."

He suggested that Americans turn down their thermostats and in so doing kicked off the environmental conservation movement. While Carter did not found the Environmental Protection Agency, he did sign the Comprehensive Environemtnal Response, Compensation and Liability Act in 1980, which launched Superfund clean-up sites for chemical spills and the like. The agency was founded by Richard Nixon.

The "sweater" speech was made two weeks after his inauguration and told Americans that the nation "must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent" and that "there is no way we can solve it quickly."

"All of us must learn to waste less energy," he said. "Simply by keeping our thermostats, for instance, at 65 degrees in the daytime and 55 degrees at night, we could save half the current shortage of natural gas. There is no way that I, or anyone else in the government, can solve our energy problems if you are not willing to help."

In keeping with his mission to lower energy costs even at the White House, he sold the presidential yacht, called the Sequoia, unplugged television sets at the White House, and turned off the air conditioners. His VP Walter Mondale laughed abou the air conditioners, saying in a documentary aired on PBS in 2002 "He turned off the air conditioners, and it was so hot in the White House, people would come in there — it was unbelievable. It would be a hundred above in there."

The nation veered away from what was then a burgeoning nuclear power industry when there was a meltdown at Three Miles Island in central Pennsylvania. When Iranian forces siezed the US Embassy in Tehran, 52 Americans were taken hostage and they were not released until after Carter's tenure, on the day he left office and Reagan took over. This was widely seen as a pivotal issue during the election season.

Of his beloved wife at the time of her death, Carter said "Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished.She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."  

After completing their term in office, the Carters went back to Georgia and co-founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, where Rosalynn continued her work to destigmatize mental illness and promote more access to care. Carter wrote 33 books and won three Grammy Awards for recordings of his audio books.

Carter was the oldest surviving president, living on for four decades after his White House term. He was active in public service and advocated for human rights abroad. He lived a modest life in his home town in a ranch home he and Rosalynn built in 1961. He will be buried next to Rosalynn at their home under a shady willow tree near a pond on their property.

The legacy of the Carters will live on through Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit that builds affordable housing. The group has been active since 1984. The Carters worked with over 100,000 volunteers across 14 countries to build, rennovate, or repair nearly 4,500 homes for those in need. Carter took an active role in the non-profit and worked on builds in Mexico, India, Thailand, Canada, Haiti and the US. His last build was in Nashville, Tennessee. When a home was completed, Carter would give the new occupants the keys to their new home as well as a Bible.

President-elect Donald Trump offered his condolences to the Carter family, saying "I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History. The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude. Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter Family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers."