The former president, a peanut farmer and Democrat from Georgia, was known as much for his charity and diplomatic work later in life as he was for his single presidential term, which ended in 1981.
2007
Damon Winter/The New York Times
1946Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter on their wedding day.
Columbus Ledger Enquirer Collection
1976Attending the Democratic National Convention.
William E. Sauro/The New York Times
1976Campaigning in New York.
Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
1976At the Carter family's peanut warehouse with his brother, Billy.
Associated Press
1977Sitting in the White House library before a televised "fireside chat."
Corbis, via Getty Images
1979Brokering a peace deal between Israel and Egypt.
Former President Jimmy Carter has died after deciding nearly two years ago to forgo further medical care following a series of medical crises, according to two people close to the family and The Carter Center, the nonprofit he and his wife founded. At 100, he was the longest-lived president in American history and became known as much for his post-presidential diplomacy and charitable works as for his single, economically turbulent term in office.
Mr. Carter, a peanut farmer and former Naval officer who served aboard submarines and studied nuclear physics, was elected governor of Georgia as a Democrat in 1970. With a promise never to lie to the American public, Mr. Carter positioned himself as the reformist antidote to an era of deep political mistrust after Watergate and the Vietnam War and won the presidency in 1976.
He presided over four tumultuous years plagued by long gas lines, high inflation and the Iran hostage crisis. But he also signed a strategic arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union and helped forge the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. Mr. Carter cemented his legacy with a deeper engagement in public affairs than any other former president of modern times and was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
Chip Carter, the former president’s son, said in a statement his father was a hero to “everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love.” He added, “The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
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Mr. Carter — who survived a series of health crises in recent years, including a bout with melanoma that spread to his liver and brain — entered hospice care in February 2023. But the farmer-turned-president once again defied expectations, and his staying power even in hospice captured the imagination of many admirers around the world.
As Mr. Carter’s health declined, a former Texas politician came forward claiming that he took part in a 1980 tour of the Middle East with a clandestine agenda to sabotage Mr. Carter’s re-election campaign.
In November, Mr. Carter’s wife, Rosalynn Carter, died at age 96, two days after the Carter Center, the nonprofit they founded in Atlanta in 1982, said she had entered hospice care at home. Theirs was one of the great love stories in American politics — they were married for nearly eight decades and weathered the coronavirus pandemic together in the modest house they built in Plains, his hometown.
Mr. Carter’s funeral will be the first for a former U.S. president since that of George H.W. Bush in 2018, which Mr. Carter attended alongside four of his successors: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump.
Anushka Patil contributed reporting.
Mike Baker
The Carter Center said Carter died peacefully today at his home in Plains, Ga., surrounded by his family. The center said plans were being made for public observances in Atlanta and Washington, along with a private internment in Plains.
Jimmy Carter waving from Air Force One in 1977.Credit...Jimmy Carter Library
1924
Son of a Peanut Farmer
James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, the first of four children, in Plains, Ga. In 1928, the family settled on a nearby peanut farm, where he spent the rest of his childhood.
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Mr. Carter at age 6, with his sister, Gloria, 4, in Plains, Ga., in 1931.Credit...Associated Press
1943
A Naval Career
At age 19, Mr. Carter entered the Naval Academy, graduating in 1946 with a bachelor’s degree. He began training for submarine duty and was one of the first officers assigned to the Navy’s nuclear submarine program.
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Mr. Carter when he was in the Naval Academy. On the portrait he wrote a note to his wife-to-be, Rosalynn Smith.Credit...Associated Press
1946
Marriage
On July 7, Mr. Carter married Rosalynn Smith, whom he met through his sister Ruth. The couple had three sons and a daughter.
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Mr. Carter and Rosalynn Smith on their wedding day.Credit...Columbus Ledger Enquirer Collection
1953
Back to the Farm
Mr. Carter’s father died from pancreatic cancer, so he resigned from the Navy on Oct. 9 and moves to Georgia to run the family farm.
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Mr. Carter in the 1970s. He had grown up on the family peanut farm.Credit...Hulton Archive, via Getty Images
1962
A Political Start
Mr. Carter ran for the Georgia State Senate, but lost the Democratic primary on Oct. 16. However, concerns of voter fraud prompted a recount, and he was given the seat on Nov. 6.
1966
A First Defeat
Mr. Carter finished third in a six-person Democratic primary for Georgia governor on Sept. 14. He tried again four years later.
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Mr. Carter in 1966, a day after losing the Democratic primary race for governor of Georgia.Credit...Charles Kelly/Associated Press
1970
A Symbol of the ‘New South’
With wide support, Mr. Carter won the governorship on Nov. 3. But he stunned some conservatives by saying, “The time for racial discrimination is over” and indicating that opportunities should be available to everyone.
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Mr. Carter in 1972 signing a resolution as Georgia’s governor.Credit...Associated Press
1973
Foreign Affairs
In April and May, Mr. Carter led a trade delegation to Latin America, Britain, West Germany, Belgium and Israel to prove his diplomatic skills in anticipation of a run for president.
1976
The 39th President
With Walter F. Mondale as his running mate, Mr. Carter eked out a victory on Nov. 2, winning the popular vote with 50.1 percent and securing 297 electoral votes, besting the 240 votes held by the Republican candidate, Vice President Gerald Ford.
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Mr. Carter with Walter Mondale at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York.Credit...Associated Press
1977
A Deal With Panama
Mr. Carter agreed to surrender the Panama Canal by 1999 and, on Sept. 7, signed a treaty with Panama’s leader, Omar Torrijos, ensuring that all nations would have access to the canal.
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The Pedro Miguel Locks at the Panama Canal on 2014.Credit...Rodrigo Arangua/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
1978
Camp David Accords
Mr. Carter brokered a peace agreement between Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt over 13 days at Camp David. The talks led to a formal peace treaty the following year.
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Mr. Carter with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, left, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel after signing a peace treaty in 1979.Credit...Associated Press
1979
The Iran Hostage Crisis
Iranian students stormed the American Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4 and took several dozen people hostage. Mr. Carter was unable to negotiate their release, and the crisis dragged on for more than a year, badly damaging his popularity.
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An effigy of Mr. Carter at a demonstration by Iranian factory workers supporting the holding of American hostages in 1979.Credit...Associated Press
1980
A One-Term President
Though he managed to win the Democratic nomination, Mr. Carter lost his re-election bid on Nov. 4 in a landslide for his Republican rival, Ronald Reagan. “I can’t stand here tonight and say it doesn’t hurt,” Mr. Carter said.
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Mr. Carter conceding the 1980 election, a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan.Credit...Associated Press
1986
Presidential Library
On Oct. 1, Mr. Carter opened his presidential center, research library and museum in Atlanta. It was as much a retrospective as it was a look ahead, with examples of policies he hoped to address.
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Mr. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, looking at an architect’s model of the proposed Carter Presidential Library and the Carter Center of Emory University in 1983.Credit...Associated Press
1994
Negotiating With North Korea
Mr. Carter took a diplomatic trip to North Korea in June and helped broker an agreement for close oversight of the country’s planned nuclear program.
2002
‘Waging Peace’
Mr. Carter stretched his star power toward humanitarian efforts, in what he referred to as a second career of “waging peace.” For those efforts, he received the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 11.
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Mr. Carter receiving the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.Credit...Associated Press
2023
Rosalynn’s Death
Mrs. Carter died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, two days after the Carter Center in Atlanta said she had entered hospice care at home, in Plains, Ga.
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Mr. Carter in 2021 with his wife, Rosalynn, at their home in Georgia.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
2024
Longest-Lived President
Mr. Carter died at the age of 100, making him the longest-lived president, surpassing George Bush, who was 94 at his death in 2018.
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Mr. Carter teaching Sunday school in November 2019 at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga.Credit...John Amis/Associated Press
Before he entered hospice care, thousands came to the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., to hear former President Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school. Here he greeted a crowd in 2018.Credit...Melissa Golden for The New York Times
Practically no one ever thought he would be elected president in the first place. Or that he would forge a landmark treaty in the Middle East. Or that he would win the Nobel Peace Prize. Or that he would beat cancer.
But Jimmy Carter confounded expectations throughout a life that has lasted nearly a century. And he did it again, near the end.
Mr. Carter spent more than a year in hospice care, choosing to forgo further life-prolonging treatment with the intent to return to his simple home in Plains, Ga., to pass his final days in comfort and peace. As it turns out, there were more final days than he or anyone around him anticipated.
Hospice care is meant to ease the end for both patient and family, prescribed for those with less than six months to live. About half of those who enter hospice care last no more than 17 days. Just 6 percent are still alive a year later.
His endurance at the end may have served as a rejoinder to those who never recognized his tenacity, and his grandson Jason Carter said that when he told Mr. Carter that tributes and good wishes came in for his 99th birthday in 2023 from more than 100 countries, the former president was deeply moved. “He teared up,” Jason Carter said. “It was a really affecting thing for him.”
The last time Mr. Carter was seen in public was in November, when he rallied to attend funeral services for his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who died at 96. Family members said they believe he hung on, in part, so that she was never left alone.
“He was really honored and glad that he made it to the end with my grandmother, and that was a real treasure for him,” Jason Carter said.
Mr. Carter is the first president known to have used hospice care, which is focused on relieving pain and discomfort in the last stage of life, and his decision has expanded awareness of its availability and benefits.
“The way that he and his family have approached this is making this a national conversation,” Ben Marcantonio, the interim chief executive of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, said as Mr. Biden approached a year in hospice care. “We talked about it one way at the beginning of his care, but now we’re talking about it in a different way. It opens up new dimensions of the conversation.”
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