Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 on Tuesday, marking the first time a former U.S. commander-in-chief has reached this milestone.
Fans and supporters from the U.S. and around the globe have extended their well-wishes to the 39th president. Going further, Carter's home state of Georgia has organised various celebrations in his honour.
Let's honor the former President's 100-year legacy with these 100 memorable facts:
- His full name is James Earl Carter Jr.
- Carter was born in Plains, Georgia
- He remains the first—and only—President from the state
- He holds the distinction of being the first president born after World War I
- Carter spent his early years on a peanut farm
- Since his school did not have a twelfth grade, he graduated after the eleventh grade
- He went on to attend the United States Naval Academy
- He served as a lieutenant in the Navy
- Carter, a trained nuclear engineer, began his undergraduate studies at Georgia Southwestern College
- In 1952, as a U.S. Navy officer with nuclear training, Carter led a team to prevent a potential nuclear meltdown at the Chalk River reactor in Canada. He was physically lowered into the damaged reactor to help clean, shut it down, and replace its parts.
- He married Rosalynn Smith in 1946
- The couple had four children: John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), and Amy
- In 1969, Carter claimed to have seen a UFO and filed a report with the International UFO Bureau in 1973 regarding the incident in Georgia.
- He served as a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967
- He was the 76th Governor of Georgia (from 1971 to 1975)
- In a now-famous 1976 Playboy interview, Carter admitted, "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times," a statement published just weeks before the presidential election
- Carter went on to defeat incumbent Gerald Ford in the 1976 election
- Carter and Ford remained close friends after their presidential rivalry. During a 2000 event alongside Ford, Carter remarked, "If you ask me, if you ask a historian, 'of all the former presidents that have served in this country in the last 200 years who are the two that have become the closest personal friends,' it would be the two on the stage tonight."
- Carter served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981
- He was 52 years old when he inaugurated as President
- He became the first U.S. president to be sworn in using a nickname, "Jimmy," instead of his formal name, James
- Carter is the sixth and most recent President named James, following Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, and Garfield. James is the most common presidential first name, with John as the second most common, including Kennedy, both Adamses, Tyler, and Calvin Coolidge, whose first name was John.
- Carter reportedly sold the presidential yacht and banned the playing of "Hail to the Chief."
- He also became the first president to walk from the Capitol to the White House after his inauguration ceremony.
- His vice president, Walter Mondale, who passed away in 2021 at age 93, served alongside him.
- During Carter's presidency, he faced significant challenges with inflation and unemployment
- In 1977, he established the Department of Energy
- He promoted energy conservation during the 1970s oil crisis
- Carter wore a sweater to encourage energy savings in a memorable 1977 televised speech
- In 1977, Carter signed the Panama Canal treaties, returning control of the canal to Panama
- That same year, he pardoned Vietnam War draft dodgers
- He deregulated the airline, trucking, and railroad industries
- Carter also brokered the historic Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978, visiting both countries multiple times during his presidency
- He established the Department of Education in 1979
- He installed solar panels on the White House, though President Ronald Reagan later had them removed
- Carter became the first president to host a papal visit at the White House in 1979
- He restored U.S. citizenship to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and normalised diplomatic relations with China, becoming the first president to officially recognise the People's Republic of China
- He played a key role in the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II (SALT II) agreement
- In 1980, Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, protecting over 100 million acres and later doubled the size of the National Park System
- He supported the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
- He ordered the U.S. Olympic team to boycott the 1980 games in Moscow
- The conclusion of his presidency was marked by several significant challenges, including the Iran hostage crisis, an energy crisis, the Three Mile Island accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- During his presidency, 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran for 444 days
- Operation Eagle Claw—an attempt to rescue 53 embassy staff held captive at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran—failed, resulting in the deaths of eight servicemen
- Carter later expressed that his biggest regret as President was not securing the hostages' release from Iran sooner
- Throughout his four-year presidency, he viewed over 400 movies at the White House and Camp David, including "Network," "Jaws," and "Airplane."
- His administration created 9.8 million jobs
- He became the first U.S. president to visit Sub-Saharan Africa during his term
- Carter's presidency also witnessed the introduction of the first successful vaccine for hepatitis B
- He signed a bill that deregulated the beer brewing industry, unintentionally aiding the modern craft beer movement
- It is also worth noting that Carter is the only President to have served a full term without appointing a single justice to the Supreme Court
- Carter was defeated in the 1980 presidential election by Ronald Reagan, who won in a landslide victory
- In 1982, he founded the Carter Center, which focuses on human rights, democracy, and public health
- As a private citizen, he helped broker a ceasefire in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994 through the Carter Center
- He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 for his contributions.
- His diplomatic efforts in Haiti during the 1990s helped prevent war in the region
- He renounced his membership in 2000 after the Southern Baptist Convention announced it would not allow women to become pastors
- Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work with the Carter Center.
- He criticised the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2004
- Over the years, he has authored more than 30 books, including poetry and political memoirs
- Carter has written two books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in his 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, he stated that Israel's control and construction of settlements are major obstacles to peace in the Middle East
- In 2007, he established the New Baptist Covenant organisation, focusing on social justice
- Carter's favourite food is grits, which were reportedly served at the Carters' first breakfast in the White House. He also had a fondness for cheese and dairy products, as noted in a 1976 New York Times article
- He has spared no effort in a bid to eradicate Guinea worm disease and has been instrumental in reducing global cases from millions to just a few
- Carter and his late wife, Rosalynn, were renowned for their work with Habitat for Humanity
- Carter survived brain cancer in 2015, announcing in August of that year that doctors had discovered a melanoma that had spread to his brain. He declared he had beaten cancer that December
- In 2019, he was hospitalised for a procedure to relieve brain pressure. Last year, Carter's nonprofit foundation revealed that Carter is receiving hospice care at home.
- He has been a Sunday School teacher at his local church, continuing to teach into his 90s
- A devout Baptist, Carter was raised in a Southern Baptist household in Georgia and has actively participated in the Maranatha Baptist Church
- He was a vocal critic of the Iraq War, calling it the worst foreign policy mistake in U.S. history
- Carter has monitored over 100 elections in more than 30 countries to support the democratic process
- His presidential library is based in Atlanta, Georgia
- His daughter, Amy Carter, gained attention for bringing her Siamese cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang, to the White House
- Carter's mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, was a renowned nurse and activist who published two books while her son was the President
- His younger brother, Billy Carter, faced several controversies during Carter's presidency, the most notable being "Billygate," which involved his questionable financial and political dealings with the Libyan government
- Actor Dan Aykroyd portrayed Carter in "Saturday Night Live" sketches
- In 2006, his son, Jack Carter, ran for the U.S. Senate in Nevada but lost to the Republican incumbent
- His grandson, Jason Carter, ran for Governor of Georgia in 2014 and also lost to the Republican incumbent
- Carter has outlived all three of his younger siblings, who died of pancreatic cancer in their late fifties or early sixties within a decade after he left the White House
- Carter's father, James Earl Carter Sr., succumbed to pancreatic cancer at age 58, while his mother died at 85 from breast cancer in 1983
- He has received three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Album for his audiobooks Our Endangered Values, A Full Life: Reflections at 90, and Faith - A Journey for All
- Carter is the third oldest person ever to win a Grammy, achieving this at the age of 94
- He is the oldest living Grammy winner and has been nominated nine times.
- Carter's presidential campaign featured the song "Why Not the Best?", written by Harlan Howard, and his campaign biography shares the same title.
- He was critical of President Barack Obama's use of drone strikes in the Middle East.
- His wife, Rosalynn Carter, was an active First Lady who continued to advocate for mental health reform after their time in the White House.
- Carter's hobbies include painting, fly fishing, woodworking, cycling, tennis, and skiing.
- He holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Notre Dame.
- Carter has outlived two of his successors, along with their first ladies, as well as his own vice president and first lady
- Carter was married to Rosalynn for 77 years until her death in November 2023, making them the longest-wed presidential couple since 2019
- In 2011, he surpassed the record for the longest presidential retirement. The title was previously held by President Herbert Hoover, who lived for 31 years after leaving office in 1933 and died at age 90.
- In 2017, Carter received the Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service, stating, "The words I spoke about my dear friend both at my inauguration and at his funeral still ring true today for myself and for our nation: I thank my predecessor of all he did to heal our land." Ford died in 2006, aged 93.
- Carter has a fondness for poetry, particularly the works of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas
- He was reportedly a highly proficient speed reader; at one point, he claimed he could read 2,000 words per minute, a skill that helped him keep up with the vast amount of information a president needs to absorb
- Carter was a friend of Elvis Presley and remarked after the star's death that Presley "changed the face of American popular culture."
- He was reportedly distantly related to June Carter Cash and was also friends with Johnny Cash. Both Johnny and June Carter Cash performed at Carter's presidential inauguration in 1977, and Johnny Cash later visited the White House during Carter's presidency
- Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan are some of his favorite music artists
- Carter condemned the U.S. Capitol attack, calling it a "national tragedy."
- Joe Biden was the first senator to endorse Carter's presidential run in 1976, and Carter endorsed Biden in 2020 when he ran for President
- In February, he became the first former President to receive a White House Christmas ornament while still alive. The ornament is shaped like an anchor, reflecting his Navy service, according to the Associated Press
As we celebrate Jimmy Carter's remarkable journey and enduring legacy, his commitment to service, friendship, and humanity continue to inspire generations.
