Jimmy Carter (1924 - 2024) was an American politician, naval officer and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. His presidency brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel and placed human rights at the centre of American foreign policy, but was strained by inflation, an energy crisis and the Iran hostage crisis. [1] After leaving office he founded the Carter Center and pursued mediation, election monitoring and disease eradication, work for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. [2]
Georgia politics and the 1976 election
He entered public life as a member of the Georgia State Senate in 1963 and was elected governor of Georgia in 1970. In office he reorganised state government and publicly repudiated racial segregation, a position that drew national attention in the South. [1]
Running as a Washington outsider in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, Carter won the Democratic nomination and defeated the incumbent Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election. [2]
Presidency
Carter created the Department of Energy and the Department of Education, pursued energy conservation and deregulation of several industries, and expanded the protection of federal lands in Alaska. He made human rights an explicit criterion of American diplomacy. [1]
His principal foreign policy achievement was the Camp David Accords of 1978, in which he mediated directly between Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, leading to the Egypt-Israel peace treaty the following year. He also concluded the Panama Canal treaties and negotiated the SALT II arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union. [3]
The later part of his term was dominated by high inflation, fuel shortages, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the seizure of American hostages in Tehran in November 1979. A failed rescue attempt and the continuing captivity of the hostages contributed to his defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election. [1]
After the presidency
In 1982 Carter founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, which monitored elections in dozens of countries, mediated in conflicts including those in Haiti, North Korea, Sudan and Bosnia, and led international campaigns against Guinea worm disease, river blindness and trachoma. [4]
He was closely associated with Habitat for Humanity, taught Sunday school in Plains for decades, and wrote more than thirty books, including memoirs, policy works and poetry. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy and human rights. [3]
Later years and legacy
Carter entered home hospice care in early 2023 and died on 29 December 2024 at his home in Plains at the age of 100, the longest-lived president in American history. [1]
His single term is generally assessed as politically difficult, while his post-presidency is widely regarded as having redefined what a former head of state can accomplish in public service. [2]
