Jimmy Carter, who rose from Georgia farmland to become the 39th president of the United States on a promise of national healing after the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam, then lost the White House in a cauldron of economic turmoil at home and crisis in Iran, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga. He was 100.
The Carter Center in Atlanta announced his death.
Mr. Carter, the longest-living president in American history, died nearly three months after he turned 100, becoming the first former commander in chief to reach the century mark. In August, his grandson, Jason Carter, told the Democratic National Convention that the former president was “holding on” and “though his body may be weak tonight, his spirit is as strong as ever” and he “can’t wait to vote for Kamala Harris.”
The former president cast his absentee ballot for her in mid-October after making his final public appearance on his birthday when he was rolled out to his yard in a wheelchair to watch a flyover of military jets in his honor. Other than interludes in the White House and the Georgia governor’s mansion, he and his wife, the former first lady Rosalynn Carter, lived in the same simple home in Plains for most of their adult lives and each of them passed away there, Mrs. Carter in November 2023.
A lifelong farmer who still worked with his hands building houses for the poor well into his 90s, Mr. Carter had long defied death and outlived not only his wife but his vice president, most of his cabinet, key aides and allies as well as the Republican president he defeated and the Republican challenger who later defeated him. Over the years, he beat back a series of health crises, including a bout with the skin cancer melanoma, which spread to his liver and brain, and repeated falls, one giving him a broken hip.
The Carter Center announced in February 2023 that Mr. Carter, “after a series of short hospital stays,” had decided to forgo further life-prolonging medical treatment and would receive hospice care at home.
News that he seemed to be in his final days prompted a wave of tributes and remembrances of his extended and eventful life but even then he upended expectations by hanging on for 22 months. He lived long enough to bid farewell to Mrs. Carter, who died at 96r, culminating a marriage of 77 years.