Jimmy Carter

Carter attended Plains High School from 1937 to 1941, graduating from the eleventh grade, since the school did not have a twelfth grade.[11] By that time, Archery and Plains had been impoverished by the Great Depression, but the family benefited from New Deal farming subsidies, and Carter's father took a position as a community leader.[10][12] Carter himself was a diligent student with a fondness for reading.[13]^: 8[14] A popular anecdote holds that he was passed over for valedictorian after he and his friends skipped school to venture downtown in a hot rod. Carter's truancy was mentioned in a local newspaper, although it is not clear he would have otherwise been valedictorian.[15] As an adolescent, Carter played on the Plains High School basketball team, and also joined Future Farmers of America, which helped him develop a lifelong interest in woodworking.[15]

Carter had long dreamed of attending the United States Naval Academy.[10] In 1941, he started undergraduate coursework in engineering at Georgia Southwestern College in nearby Americus, Georgia.[16]^: 99 The next year, he transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where civil rights icon Blake Van Leer was president.[17] In 1943, he was admitted to the Naval Academy, from which he received a B.S. degree in 1946.[13]^: 38 He was a good student but seen as reserved and quiet, in contrast to the academy's culture of aggressive hazing of freshmen.[3]^: 62 While at the academy, Carter fell in love with Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth.[18] The two married shortly after his graduation in 1946.[19] He was a sprint football player for the Navy Midshipmen.[20] Carter graduated 60th out of 821 midshipmen in the class of 1947[lower-alpha 1] with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as an ensign.[22]

As racial tension inflamed in Plains by the 1954 Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Brown v. Board of Education,[50] Carter favored racial tolerance and integration, but often kept those feelings to himself to avoid making enemies. By 1961, he began to speak more prominently of integration as a member of the Baptist Church and chairman of the Sumter County school board.[51][52] In 1962, Carter announced his campaign for an open Georgia State Senate seat fifteen days before the election.[53] Rosalynn, who had an instinct for politics and organization, was instrumental to his campaign. While early counting of the ballots showed Carter trailing his opponent Homer Moore, this was later proven to be the result of fraudulent voting. The fraud was found to have been orchestrated by Joe Hurst, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Quitman County.[53] Carter challenged the election result, which was confirmed fraudulent in an investigation. Following this, another election was held, in which Carter won against Moore as the sole Democratic candidate, with a vote margin of 3,013 to 2,182.[54]

The civil rights movement was well underway when Carter took office. He and his family had become staunch John F. Kennedy supporters. Carter remained relatively quiet on the issue at first, even as it polarized much of the county, to avoid alienating his segregationist colleagues. He did speak up on a few divisive issues, giving speeches against literacy tests and against an amendment to the Georgia Constitution which he felt implied a compulsion to practice religion.[55] Carter entered the state Democratic Executive Committee two years into office, where he helped rewrite the state party's rules. He became the chairman of the West Central Georgia Planning and Development Commission, which oversaw the disbursement of federal and state grants for projects such as historic site restoration.[56]

When Bo Callaway was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1964, Carter immediately began planning to challenge him. The two had previously clashed over which two-year college would be expanded to a four-year college program by the state, and Carter saw Callaway—who had switched to the Republican Party—as a rival who represented aspects of politics he despised.[57] Carter was reelected to a second two-year term in the state Senate,[58] where he chaired its Education Committee and sat on the Appropriations Committee toward the end of the term. He contributed to a bill expanding statewide education funding and getting Georgia Southwestern State University a four-year program. He leveraged his regional planning work, giving speeches around the district to make himself more visible to potential voters. On the last day of the term, Carter announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives.[59] But Callaway decided to run for governor,[60] and Carter changed his mind, deciding to run for governor too.[61]

In the 1966 gubernatorial election, Carter ran against liberal former governor Ellis Arnall and conservative segregationist Lester Maddox in the Democratic primary. In a press conference, he described his ideology as "Conservative, moderate, liberal and middle-of-the-road ... I believe I am a more complicated person than that."[62] He lost the primary, but drew enough votes as a third-place candidate to force Arnall into a runoff election with Maddox, who narrowly defeated Arnall.[63] In the general election, Republican nominee Callaway won a plurality of the vote, but less than a majority, allowing the Democratic-majority Georgia House of Representatives to elect Maddox as governor.[63] This resulted in a victorious Maddox, whose victory—due to his segregationist stance—was seen as the worse outcome to the indebted Carter.[63] Carter returned to his agriculture business, carefully planning his next campaign. This period was a spiritual turning point for Carter; he declared himself a born again Christian, and his last child Amy was born during this time.[64][65]

In the 1970 gubernatorial election, liberal former governor Carl Sanders became Carter's main opponent in the Democratic primary. Carter ran a more modern campaign, employing printed graphics and statistical analysis. Responding to polls, he leaned more conservative than before, positioning himself as a populist and criticizing Sanders for both his wealth and perceived links to the national Democratic Party. He also accused Sanders of corruption, but when pressed by the media, did not provide evidence.[66][67] Throughout his campaign, Carter sought both the black vote and the votes of those who had supported prominent Alabama segregationist George Wallace. While he met with black figures such as Martin Luther King Sr. and Andrew Young, and visited many Black-owned businesses, he also praised Wallace and promised to invite him to give a speech in Georgia. Carter's appeal to racism became more blatant over time, with his senior campaign aides handing out a photograph of Sanders celebrating with Black basketball players.[66][67]

Carter came ahead of Sanders in the first ballot by 49 percent to 38 percent in September, leading to a runoff election. The subsequent campaign was even more bitter; despite his early support for civil rights, Carter's appeal to racism grew, and he criticized Sanders for supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Carter won the runoff election with 60 percent of the vote, and easily won the general election against Republican nominee Hal Suit. Once elected, Carter changed his tone, and began to speak against Georgia's racist politics. Leroy Johnson, a black state senator, voiced his support for Carter: "I understand why he ran that kind of ultra-conservative campaign. I don't believe you can win this state without being a racist."[66]

Preliminary planning for Carter's presidential transition had already been underway for months before his election.[118][119] Carter had been the first presidential candidate to allot significant funds and a significant number of personnel to a pre-election transition planning effort, which then became standard practice.[120] He set a mold that influenced all future transitions to be larger, more methodical and more formal than they were.[120][119]

On November 22, 1976, Carter conducted his first visit to Washington, D.C. after being elected, meeting with director of the Office of Management James Lynn and United States secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Blair House, and holding an afternoon meeting with President Ford at the White House.[121] The next day, he conferred with congressional leaders, expressing that his meetings with cabinet members had been "very helpful" and saying Ford had requested he seek out his assistance if needing anything.[122] Relations between Ford and Carter were relatively cold during the transition.[123] During his transition, Carter announced the selection of numerous designees for positions in his administration.[124] On January 4, 1977, he told reporters he would free himself from potential conflicts of interest by leaving his peanut business in the hands of trustees.[125]

Moralism typified much of his action.[133] On April 18, 1977, Carter delivered a televised speech declaring that the current energy crisis was the "moral equivalent of war". He encouraged energy conservation and installed solar water heating panels on the White House.[134][135] He wore sweaters to offset turning down the heat in the White House.[136] On August 4, 1977, Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, forming the Department of Energy, the first new cabinet position in eleven years.[137]

Carter boasted that the House of Representatives had "adopted almost all" of the energy proposal he had made five months earlier and called the compromise "a turning point in establishing a comprehensive energy program."[138] The following month, on October 13, Carter stated he believed in the Senate's ability to pass the energy reform bill and identified energy as "the most important domestic issue that we will face while I am in office."[139]

On January 12, 1978, during a press conference, Carter said the continued discussions about his energy reform proposal had been "long and divisive and arduous" as well as hindering to national issues that needed to be addressed with the implementation of the law.[140] In an April 11, 1978, news conference, Carter said his biggest surprise "in the nature of a disappointment" since becoming president was the difficulty Congress had in passing legislation, citing the energy reform bill in particular: "I never dreamed a year ago in April when I proposed this matter to the Congress that a year later it still would not be resolved."[141] The Carter energy legislation was approved by Congress after much deliberation and modification on October 15, 1978. The measure deregulated the sale of natural gas, dropped a longstanding pricing disparity between intra- and interstate gas, and created tax credits to encourage energy conservation and the use of non-fossil fuels.[142]

On March 1, 1979, Carter submitted a standby gasoline rationing plan per the request of Congress.[143] On April 5, he delivered an address in which he stressed the urgency of energy conservation and increasing domestic production of energy sources such as coal and solar.[144] During an April 30 news conference, he said it was imperative that the House commerce committee approve the standby gasoline rationing plan and called on Congress to pass the several other standby energy conservation plans he had proposed.[145]

On July 15, 1979, he delivered a nationally televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a "crisis of confidence" among American people,[146] under the advisement of pollster Pat Caddell who believed Americans faced a crisis in confidence from events of the 1960s and 1970s, before his presidency.[147] Some later called this his "malaise speech",[146] memorable for mixed reactions[148][149] and his use of rhetoric.[150] The speech's negative reception centred on a view that he did not emphasize his own efforts to address the energy crisis and seemed too reliant on Americans.[151]

In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the neighborhood of Love Canal in the city of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which had been built on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation.[152] Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish the approximately 500 houses, the 99th Street School, and the 93rd Street School, which had been built on top of the dump; and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous wastes. This was the first time that such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dumpsites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".[153]

Carter typically refused to conform to Washington's rules.[154] He avoided phone calls from members of Congress and verbally insulted them. He was unwilling to return political favors. His negativity led to frustration in passing legislation.[155] During a press conference on February 23, 1977, Carter stated that it was "inevitable" that he would come into conflict with Congress and added that he had found "a growing sense of cooperation" with Congress and met in the past with congressional members of both parties.[156] Carter developed a bitter feeling following an unsuccessful attempt at having Congress enact the scrapping of several water projects,[157] which he had requested during his first 100 days in office and received opposition from members of his party.[158]

As a rift ensued between the White House and Congress afterward, Carter noted that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party was most ardently against his policies, attributing this to Ted Kennedy's wanting the presidency.[159] Carter, thinking he had support from 74 Congressmen, issued a "hit list" of 19 projects that he claimed were "pork barrel" spending that he claimed would result in a veto on his part if included in any legislation.[160] He found himself at odds with Congressional Democrats once more, with speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill finding it inappropriate for a president to pursue what had traditionally been the role of Congress. Carter was also weakened by signing a bill that contained many of the "hit list" projects he intended to cancel.[161]

In an address to a fundraising dinner for the Democratic National Committee on June 23, 1977, Carter said, "I think it's good to point out tonight, too, that we have evolved a good working relationship with the Congress. For eight years we had government by partisanship. Now we have government by partnership."[162] At a July 28 news conference, assessing the first six months of his presidency, Carter spoke of his improved understanding of Congress: "I have learned to respect the Congress more in an individual basis. I've been favorably impressed at the high degree of concentrated experience and knowledge that individual members of Congress can bring on a specific subject, where they've been the chairman of a subcommittee or committee for many years and have focused their attention on this particular aspect of government life which I will never be able to do."[163]

On May 10, 1979, the House voted against giving Carter authority to produce a standby gas rationing plan.[164] The following day, Carter delivered remarks in the Oval Office describing himself as shocked and embarrassed for the American government by the vote and concluding "the majority of the House Members are unwilling to take the responsibility, the political responsibility for dealing with a potential, serious threat to our Nation." He furthered that a majority of House members were placing higher importance on "local or parochial interests" and challenged the lower chamber of Congress with composing their own rationing plan in the next 90 days.[165]

Carter's remarks were met with criticism by House Republicans, who accused his comments of not befitting the formality a president should have in their public remarks. Others pointed to 106 Democrats voting against his proposal and the bipartisan criticism potentially coming back to haunt him.[166] At the start of a news conference on July 25, 1979, Carter called on believers in the future of the U.S. and his proposed energy program to speak with Congress as it bore the responsibility to impose his proposals.[167] Amid the energy proposal opposition, The New York Times commented that "as the comments flying up and down Pennsylvania Avenue illustrate, there is also a crisis of confidence between Congress and the President, sense of doubt and distrust that threatens to undermine the President's legislative program and become an important issue in next year's campaign."[168]

Newly elected governor of Arkansas and future president Bill Clinton meets with President Carter in 1978

Carter's presidency had a troubled economic history of two roughly equal periods. The first two years were a time of continuing recovery from the severe 1973–75 recession, which had left fixed investment at its lowest level since the 1970 recession and unemployment at 9%.[169] His last two years were marked by double-digit inflation, coupled with very high interest rates,[170] oil shortages, and slow economic growth.[171] Due to the $30 billion economic stimulus legislation – such as the Public Works Employment Act of 1977 – proposed by Carter and passed by Congress, real household median had grown by 5.2%, with a projection of 6.4% for the next quarter.[172]

The 1979 energy crisis ended this period of growth, and as inflation and interest rates rose, economic growth, job creation and consumer confidence declined sharply.[170] The relatively loose monetary policy adopted by Federal Reserve Board chairman G. William Miller, had already contributed to somewhat higher inflation,[173] rising from 5.8% in 1976 to 7.7% in 1978. The sudden doubling of crude oil prices by OPEC, the world's leading oil exporting cartel,[174] forced inflation to double-digit levels, averaging 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980.[169] The sudden shortage of gasoline as the 1979 summer vacation season began exacerbated the problem and came to symbolize the crisis to the general public;[170] the acute shortage, originating in the shutdown of Amerada Hess refining facilities, led to a lawsuit against the company that year by the federal government.[175]

Carter signing the Airline Deregulation Act, 1978

In 1977, Carter appointed Alfred E. Kahn to lead the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). He was part of a push for deregulation of the industry, supported by leading economists, leading think tanks in Washington, a civil society coalition advocating the reform (patterned on a coalition earlier developed for the truck-and-rail-reform efforts), the head of the regulatory agency, Senate leadership, the Carter administration, and even some in the airline industry. This coalition swiftly gained legislative results in 1978.[176]

Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law on October 24, 1978. The main purpose of the act was to remove government control over fares, routes and market entry (of new airlines) from commercial aviation. The Civil Aeronautics Board's powers of regulation were to be phased out, eventually allowing market forces to determine routes and fares. The Act did not remove or diminish the FAA's regulatory powers over all aspects of airline safety.[177]

In 1979, Carter deregulated the American beer industry by making it legal to sell malt, hops, and yeast to American home brewers for the first time since the effective 1920 beginning of prohibition in the United States.[178] This deregulation led to an increase in home brewing over the 1980s and 1990s that by the 2000s had developed into a strong craft microbrew culture in the United States, with 9,118 micro breweries, brewpubs, and regional craft breweries in the United States by the end of 2021.[179]

During his presidential campaign, Carter embraced healthcare reform akin to the Ted Kennedy-sponsored bipartisan universal national health insurance.[180]

Carter's proposals on healthcare while in office included an April 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal,[181] and a June 1979 proposal that provided private health insurance coverage.[182] Carter saw the June 1979 proposal as a continuation of progress in American health coverage. President Harry S. Truman proposed a designation of health care as a basic right of Americans and Medicare and Medicaid were introduced under President Lyndon B. Johnson.[183][184] The April 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal was passed in the Senate,[185] but later defeated in the House.[186] During 1978, he met with Kennedy over a compromise healthcare law that proved unsuccessful.[187] He later said Kennedy's disagreements thwarted his plan to provide a comprehensive American health care system.[188]

Early into his term, Carter collaborated with Congress to fulfill his campaign promise to create a cabinet level education department. In an address from the White House on February 28, 1978, Carter argued "Education is far too important a matter to be scattered piecemeal among various government departments and agencies, which are often busy with sometimes dominant concerns."[189] On February 8, 1979, the Carter administration released an outline of its plan to establish an education department and asserted enough support for the enactment to occur by June.[190] On October 17, the same year, Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act into law,[191] establishing the United States Department of Education.[192]

Carter expanded the Head Start program with the addition of 43,000 children and families,[193] while the percentage of nondefense dollars spent on education was doubled.[194] Carter was complimentary of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson and the 89th United States Congress for having initiated Head Start.[195] In a speech on November 1, 1980, Carter stated his administration had extended Head Start to migrant children and was "working hard right now with Senator Bentsen and with Kika de la Garza to make as much as $45 million available in federal money in the border districts to help with the increase in school construction for the number of Mexican school children who reside here legally".[196]

Carter standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, during his 1979 visit

From the onset of his presidency, Carter attempted to mediate the Arab–Israeli conflict.[197] After a failed attempt to seek a comprehensive settlement between the two nations in 1977 (through reconvening the 1973 Geneva conference,[198] Carter invited the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin to the presidential lodge Camp David in September 1978, in hopes of creating a definitive peace. Whilst the two sides could not agree on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the negotiations resulted in Egypt formally recognizing Israel, and the creation of an elected government in the West Bank and Gaza. This resulted in the Camp David Accords, which ended the war between Israel and Egypt.[199]

The accords were a source of great domestic opposition in both Egypt and Israel. Historian Jørgen Jensehaugen argues that by the time Carter left office in January 1981, he was "in an odd position—he had attempted to break with traditional U.S. policy but ended up fulfilling the goals of that tradition, which had been to break up the Arab alliance, side-line the Palestinians, build an alliance with Egypt, weaken the Soviet Union and secure Israel."[200]

First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere, and Carter, 1977

Carter with Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo on April 1, 1978

In an address to the African officials at the United Nations on October 4, 1977, Carter stated the U.S.'s interest to "see a strong, vigorous, free, and prosperous Africa with as much of the control of government as possible in the hands of the residents of your countries" and pointed to their unified efforts on "the problem of how to resolve the Rhodesian, Zimbabwe question."[201] At a news conference later that month, Carter outlined that the U.S. wanted to "work harmoniously with South Africa in dealing with the threats to peace in Namibia and in Zimbabwe in particular", as well as do away with racial issues such as apartheid, and for equal opportunities in other facets of society in the region.[202]

Carter visited Nigeria from March 31 to April 3, 1978, to improve relations;[203] the first U.S. president to do so.[204] He reiterated interest in convening a peace conference on Rhodesia that involved all parties and said the U.S. was moving as it could.[205]

The elections of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom[206] and Abel Muzorewa for Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia,[207] South Africa turning down a plan for South West Africa's independence, and domestic opposition in Congress were seen as a heavy blow to the Carter administration's policy toward South Africa.[208] On May 16, 1979, the Senate voted in favor of lifting economic sanctions against Rhodesia, seen by some Rhodesians and South Africans as a potentially fatal blow to joint diplomacy efforts the United States and Britain had pursued in the region for three years and any compromise between the Salisbury leaders and guerrillas.[209] On December 3, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance promised Senator Jesse Helms that when the British governor arrived in Salisbury to implement an agreed Lancaster House settlement and the electoral process began, the President would take prompt action to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia.[210]

Deng Xiaoping with President Carter

Carter sought closer relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), continuing the Nixon administration's drastic policy of rapprochement. The two countries increasingly collaborated against the Soviet Union, and the Carter administration tacitly consented to the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. In 1979, Carter extended formal diplomatic recognition to the PRC for the first time. This decision led to a boom in trade between the United States and the PRC, which was pursuing economic reforms under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.[211]

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter allowed the sale of military supplies to China and began negotiations to share military intelligence.[212] In January 1980, Carter unilaterally revoked the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty with the Republic of China (ROC), which had lost control of mainland China to the PRC in 1949, but retained control the island of Taiwan. Conservative Republicans challenged Carter's abrogation of the treaty in court, but the Supreme Court ruled that the issue was a non-justiciable political question in Goldwater v. Carter. The U.S. continued to maintain diplomatic contacts with the ROC through the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.[213]

During Carter's presidency, the U.S. continued to support Indonesia as a cold war ally, despite human rights violations in East Timor. The violations followed Indonesia's December 1975 invasion and occupation of East Timor. Under Carter's administration military assistance to Indonesia increased, peaking in 1978.[214][215] This was antithetical to Carter's stated policy of "not selling weapons if it would exacerbate a potential conflict in a region of the world".[216][217]

During a news conference on March 9, 1977, Carter reaffirmed his interest in having a gradual withdrawal of American troops from South Korea and said he wanted South Korea to eventually have "adequate ground forces owned by and controlled by the South Korean government to protect themselves against any intrusion from North Korea."[218] On May 19, The Washington Post quoted Chief of Staff of U.S. forces in South Korea John K. Singlaub as criticizing Carter's withdrawal of troops from the Korean peninsula. Later that day, Press Secretary Rex Granum announced that Carter had summoned Singlaub to the White House, and confirmed that Carter had seen the Washington Post article.[219] Carter relieved Singlaub of his duties on May 21 after a meeting between the two.[220][221]

During a news conference on May 26, Carter said South Korea could defend itself with reduced American troops in case of conflict.[222] From June 30 to July 1, 1979, Carter held meetings with president of South Korea Park Chung Hee at the Blue House for a discussion on relations between the U.S. and South Korea as well as Carter's interest in preserving his policy of worldwide tension reduction.[223] On April 21, 1978, Carter announced a reduction in American troops in South Korea scheduled to be released by the end of the year by two-thirds, citing lack of action by Congress in regard to a compensatory aid package for the South Korean government.[224]

Carter with King Hussein of Jordan and Shah of Iran in 1977

On November 15, 1977, Carter pledged that his administration would continue positive relations between the U.S. and Iran, calling its contemporary status "strong, stable and progressive".[225] On December 31, 1977, he called Iran under the Shah an "island of stability" made possible by the "admiration and love your people give to [the Shah]".[226][227] When the Shah was overthrown, anti-Americanism increased in Iran, which intensified when Carter allowed the Shah to be admitted to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York on October 22, 1979.[228]

On November 4, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The students belonged to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line and supported the Iranian Revolution.[229] Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for the next 444 days. They were freed immediately after Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president on January 20, 1981. During the crisis, Carter remained in isolation in the White House for more than 100 days, until he left to participate in the lighting of the National Menorah on the Ellipse.[230]

A month into the affair, Carter announced his commitment to resolving the dispute without "any military action that would cause bloodshed or arouse the unstable captors of our hostages to attack them or to punish them".[231] On April 7, 1980, he issued Executive Order 12205, imposing economic sanctions against Iran,[232] and announced further government measures he deemed necessary to ensure a safe release.[233][234]

On April 24, 1980, Carter ordered Operation Eagle Claw to try to free the hostages. The mission failed, leaving eight American servicemen dead and two aircraft destroyed.[235][236] The failure led Vance, who had opposed the mission, to resign.[237]

Released in 2017, a declassified memo produced by the CIA in 1980 concluded "Iranian hardliners—especially Ayatollah Khomeini" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about President Carter's defeat in the November elections." Additionally, Tehran in 1980 wanted "the world to believe that Imam Khomeini caused President Carter's downfall and disgrace."[238]

Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signing the SALT II treaty at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, June 18, 1979

On February 8, 1977, Carter said he had urged the Soviet Union to align with the U.S. in forming "a comprehensive test ban to stop all nuclear testing for at least an extended period of time", and that he was in favor of the Soviet Union ceasing deployment of the RSD-10 Pioneer.[239] During a June 13 press conference, he said that at the beginning of the week, the U.S. would "work closely with the Soviet Union on a comprehensive test ban treaty to prohibit all testing of nuclear devices underground or in the atmosphere", and Paul Warnke would negotiate demilitarization of the Indian Ocean with the Soviet Union beginning the following week.[240]

At a December 30 news conference, Carter said that during "the last few months, the United States and the Soviet Union have made great progress in dealing with a long list of important issues, the most important of which is to control the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons", and that the two countries sought to conclude SALT II talks by the spring of the next year.[241] The talk of a comprehensive test ban treaty materialized with the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II by Carter and Leonid Brezhnev on June 18, 1979.[242][243]

In 1979, the Soviets intervened in the Second Yemenite War. The Soviet backing of South Yemen constituted a "smaller shock", in tandem with tensions that were rising due to the Iranian Revolution. This played a role in making Carter's stance on the Soviet Union more assertive, a shift that finalized with the impending Soviet-Afghan War.[244]

In his 1980 State of the Union Address, Carter emphasized the significance of relations between the two regions: "Now, as during the last 3½ decades, the relationship between our country, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union is the most critical factor in determining whether the world will live at peace or be engulfed in global conflict."[245]

Communists under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power in Afghanistan on April 27, 1978.[246] The new regime signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in December of that year.[246][247] Due to the regime's improvement of secular education and redistribution of land coinciding with mass executions and political oppression, Taraki was deposed by rival Hafizullah Amin in September.[246][247][248] Amin was considered a "brutal psychopath" by foreign observers and had lost control of much of the country, prompting the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan on December 24, 1979, execute Amin, and install Babrak Karmal as president.[246][247]

Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Zbigniew Brzezinski in September 1978

King Khalid of Saudi Arabia and Carter, October 1978

In the West, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was considered a threat to global security and the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf, as well as the existence of Pakistan.[247][249] These concerns led Carter to expand collaboration between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which had begun in July 1979, when the CIA started providing $695,000 worth of non-lethal assistance (e.g., "cash, medical equipment, and radio transmitters") to the Afghan mujahideen.[250] The modest scope of this early collaboration was likely influenced by the understanding, later recounted by CIA official Robert Gates, "that a substantial U.S. covert aid program" might have "raise[d] the stakes", thereby causing "the Soviets to intervene more directly and vigorously than otherwise intended."[249][251]

According to a 2020 review of declassified U.S. documents by Conor Tobin in the journal Diplomatic History: "The primary significance of this small-scale aid was in creating constructive links with dissidents through Pakistan's ISI that could be utilized in the case of an overt Soviet intervention ... The small-scale covert program that developed in response to the increasing Soviet influence was part of a contingency plan if the Soviets did intervene militarily, as Washington would be in a better position to make it difficult for them to consolidate their position, but not designed to induce an intervention."[250]

On December 28, Carter signed a presidential finding explicitly allowing the CIA to transfer "lethal military equipment either directly or through third countries to the Afghan opponents of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan" and to arrange "selective training, conducted outside of Afghanistan, in the use of such equipment either directly or via third country intermediation."[250] His finding defined the CIA's mission as "harassment" of Soviet troops; at the time, "this was not a war the CIA expected to win outright on the battlefield," in the words of Steve Coll.[252]

Carter was determined to respond harshly to what he considered a dangerous provocation. In a televised speech on January 23, 1980, he announced sanctions on the Soviet Union, promised renewed aid and registration to Pakistan and the Selective Service System, and committed the U.S. to the Persian Gulf's defense.[249][251][253][254] Carter imposed an embargo on grain shipments to the USSR, tabled SALT II, requested a 5% annual increase in defense spending,[255][256] and called for a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which was ultimately joined by 65 other nations.[257][258][259] British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher enthusiastically backed Carter's tough stance.[249] National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski played a major role in organizing Carter's policies on the Soviet Union as a grand strategy.[260]

In early 1980, Carter determined the thrust of U.S. policy for the duration of the war: he initiated a program to arm the mujahideen through Pakistan's ISI and secured a pledge from Saudi Arabia to match U.S. funding for this purpose. Despite huge expenditure, the Soviet Union was unable to quell the insurgency and withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 amid the economic, political, and social turmoil within the USSR, precipitating its collapse two years later.[261][249] The routing of U.S. aid through Pakistan led to some controversy, as weapons sent to Karachi were frequently controlled by Pakistan, whose government influenced which rebels received assistance. Despite this, Carter has expressed no regret over his decision to support what he still considers the Afghan freedom fighters.[249]

Countries visited by Carter during his presidency

Carter made twelve international trips to 25 countries as president.[262] He was the first president to make a state visit to Sub-Saharan Africa when he went to Nigeria in 1978.[204] His travel also included trips to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He made several trips to the Middle East to broker peace negotiations. His visit to Iran from December 31, 1977, to January 1, 1978, took place less than a year before the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[263]

The September 21, 1977, resignation of Bert Lance, who served as director of the office of management and budget in the Carter administration, came amid allegations of improper banking activities before his tenure and was an embarrassment to Carter.[264]

Carter became the first sitting president to testify under oath as part of an investigation of him,[265][266] as a result of United States Attorney General Griffin Bell appointing Paul J. Curran as a special counsel to investigate loans made to the peanut business Carter owned by a bank controlled by Lance and Curran's position as special counsel not allowing him to file charges on his own.[267][lower-alpha 4] Curran announced in October 1979 that no evidence had been found to support allegations that funds loaned from the National Bank of Georgia had been diverted to Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, ending the investigation.[268]

Electoral map of the 1980 election

Carter's reelection campaign was based primarily on attacking Ronald Reagan. The campaign frequently pointed out and mocked Reagan's proclivity for gaffes, using his age and perceived lack of connection to his native California voter base against him.[269] Later, the campaign used similar rhetoric as Lyndon Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign, portraying Reagan as a warmonger who could not be trusted with the nuclear arsenal.[270] Carter attempted to deny the Reagan campaign $29.4 million (equivalent to $104,419,871 in 2022) in campaign funds, due to dependent conservative groups already raising $60 million to get him elected—an amount that exceeded the limit of campaign funds. Carter's attempt was later denied by the Federal Election Commission.[271]

Carter later wrote that the most intense and mounting opposition to his policies came from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, which he attributed to Ted Kennedy's ambition to replace him as president.[272] After Kennedy announced his candidacy in November 1979,[273] questions about his activities during his presidential bid were a frequent subject of Carter's press conferences during the Democratic presidential primaries.[274][275] Despite winning key states such as California and New York, Kennedy surprised his supporters by running a weak campaign, and Carter won most of the primaries and secured renomination. Kennedy had mobilized the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, which gave Carter weak support in the fall election.[276]

Carter and Mondale were formally nominated at the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City.[277] Carter delivered a speech notable for its tribute to the late Hubert Humphrey, whom he initially called "Hubert Horatio Hornblower",[278] and Kennedy made "The Dream Shall Never Die" speech, in which he criticized Reagan and did not endorse Carter.[279]

Along with Reagan and Kennedy, Carter was opposed by centrist John B. Anderson, who had previously contested the Republican presidential primaries, and upon losing to Reagan, reentered the race as an independent. Anderson advertised himself as a more liberal alternative to Reagan's conservatism.[280] As the campaign went on, Anderson's polling numbers dropped and his base was gradually pulled to Carter or Reagan.[281] Carter had to run against his own "stagflation"-ridden economy, while the hostage crisis in Iran dominated the news every week. He was attacked by conservatives for failing to "prevent Soviet gains" in less-developed countries, as pro-Soviet governments had taken power in countries including Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Afghanistan.[282] His brother, Billy Carter, caused controversy due to his association with Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya.[283] He alienated liberal college students, who were expected to be his base, by reinstating registration for the military draft. His campaign manager and former appointments secretary, Timothy Kraft, stepped down five weeks before the general election amid what turned out to have been an uncorroborated allegation of cocaine use.[284]

On October 28, Carter and Reagan participated in the sole presidential debate of the election cycle in which they were both present, due to Carter refusing to participate in debates that included Anderson.[285] Though initially trailing Carter by several points,[286] Reagan experienced a surge in polling after the debate.[287] This was in part influenced by Reagan deploying the phrase "There you go again", which became the election's defining phrase.[288] It was later discovered that in the final days of the campaign, Reagan's team acquired classified documents Carter used to prepare for the debate.[289]

Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide, winning 489 electoral votes. The Senate went Republican for the first time since 1952.[290] In his concession speech, Carter admitted that he was hurt by the outcome of the election but pledged "a very fine transition period" with President-elect Reagan.[291]

Diplomacy has been a large part of Carter's post-presidency. These diplomatic efforts began in the Middle East, with a September 1981 meeting with prime minister of Israel Menachem Begin,[293] and a March 1983 tour of Egypt that included meeting with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.[294]

In 1994, president Bill Clinton sought Carter's assistance in a North Korea peace mission, during which Carter negotiated an understanding with Kim Il Sung.[295][296] Carter outlined a treaty with Kim, which he announced to CNN without the Clinton administration's consent to spur American action.[297]

Carter (second from right) with Martti Ahtisaari, William Hague, and Lakhdar Brahimi from The Elders group in London, July 24, 2013.

In March 1999, Carter visited Taiwan and met with President Lee Teng-hui. During the meeting, Carter praised the progress Taiwan made in democracy, human rights, economy, culture, science and technology.[298]

In 2006, Carter stated his disagreements with Israel's domestic and foreign policy while saying he was supported the country,[299][300] extending his criticisms to Israel's policies in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza.[301]

In July 2007, Carter joined Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa, to announce his participation in The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues.[302][303] After the announcement, Carter participated in visits to Darfur,[304] Sudan,[305][306] Cyprus, the Korean Peninsula, and the Middle East, among others.[307] He attempted to travel to Zimbabwe in November 2008, but was stopped by President Robert Mugabe's government.[308] In December 2008, Carter met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,[309][310] and in a June 2012 call with Jeffery Brown, stressed that Egyptian military generals could take full executive and legislative power to form a new constitution favoring themselves if their announced intentions came true.[311]

On August 10, 2010, Carter traveled to North Korea to secure the release of Aijalon Gomes, successfully negotiating his release.[312][313] Throughout the latter part of 2017, as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea persisted, Carter recommended a peace treaty between the two nations,[314] and confirmed he had offered himself to the Trump administration as a willing candidate to serve as diplomatic envoy to North Korea.[315]

Carter began his first year out of office with a pledge not to critique the new Reagan administration, stating that it was "too early".[316] He sided with Reagan on issues like building neutron arms after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,[317] though frequently spoke out against his administration, denouncing many of its actions in the Middle East;[318] in 1987, Carter insisted that he was incapable of preserving peace in the Middle East.[319] Carter condemned the handling of the Sabra and Shatila massacre,[320] the lack of efforts to rescue and retrieve four American businessmen from West Beirut in 1984,[321] Reagan's support of the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1985,[322] and his claim of an international conspiracy on terrorism.[323] In 1987 he also criticized Reagan for conceding to terrorist demands,[324] the nomination of Robert Bork for the Supreme Court,[325] and his handling of the Persian Gulf crisis.[326]

On January 16, 1989, before the inauguration of George H. W. Bush, Carter told former president Ford that Reagan had experienced a media honeymoon, saying that he believed Reagan's immediate successor would be less fortunate.[327]

Carter had a mostly poor relationship with Bill Clinton, who snubbed him from his inauguration ceremony. He doubted the morality of the Clinton administration, particularly for the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the pardon of Marc Rich.[328]

During the presidency of George W. Bush, Carter opposed the Iraq War[329] and what he considered an attempt on the part of Bush and Tony Blair to oust Saddam Hussein by using "lies and misinterpretations".[330] In May 2007, Carter said the Bush administration "has been the worst in history" in terms of its impact in foreign affairs;[331] he later said he was just comparing Bush's tenure to that of Richard Nixon.[332] Tony Fratto responded to Carter's comments on the Bush administration's behalf by saying that the comments increased Carter's irrelevance.[333] By the end of Bush's second term, Carter considered Bush's tenure disappointing, as he told Forward Magazine of Syria.[334]

Though he praised President Barack Obama in the early part of his tenure,[335] Carter stated his disagreements with the use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists, Obama's choice to keep Guantanamo Bay detention camp open,[336] and the federal surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden.[337][338]

During Donald Trump's presidency, Carter spoke favorably of the chance for immigration reform[339] and criticized Trump for his handling of the U.S. national anthem protests.[340] In October 2017, he defended Trump in an interview with The New York Times, criticizing the media's coverage of him as harsher "than any other president certainly that I've known about".[341][342] In 2019, Trump called Carter and expressed concern that China was "getting ahead" of the U.S. Carter agreed, saying that China's strength came from its lack of involvement in armed conflict, calling the U.S. "the most warlike nation in the history of the world."[343]

Carter in 1988

Carter was considered a potential candidate in the 1984 presidential election,[344][345] but did not run and instead endorsed Walter Mondale for the Democratic nomination.[346][347] After Mondale secured the nomination, Carter critiqued the Reagan campaign,[348] spoke at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and advised Mondale.[349] After the election, in which Reagan defeated Mondale, Carter said the loss was predictable because Mondale's platform included raising taxes.[350]

In the 1988 presidential election, Carter ruled himself out as a candidate and predicted Vice President George H. W. Bush would be the Republican nominee.[351] Carter foresaw unity at the 1988 Democratic National Convention,[352] where he delivered an address.[353] After the election, which Bush won, Carter said Bush would have a more difficult presidency than Reagan because he was not as popular.[354]

During the 1992 presidential election, Carter met with Senator Paul Tsongas, who sought his advice.[355] Carter spoke favorably of former governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton,[356] and criticized Ross Perot, a Texas billionaire who was running as an independent.[357] As the primary concluded, Carter spoke of the need for the 1992 Democratic National Convention to address certain issues not focused on in the past,[358] and campaigned for Clinton after he became the Democratic nominee,[359] publicly stating his expectation to be consulted during Clinton's presidency.[360]

Carter endorsed Vice President Al Gore days before the 2000 presidential election,[361] and in subsequent years voiced his opinion that Gore won the election,[362] despite the Supreme Court's ruling that Bush had won in Bush v. Gore.[363]

In the 2004 presidential election, Carter endorsed John Kerry and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.[364] He also voiced concern about another voting mishap in Florida.[365]

During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, it was speculated that Carter would endorse Barack Obama over his main primary rival Hillary Clinton, as Carter spoke favorably of Obama, as did other members of the Carter family.[366][367] Carter also commented on Clinton ending her bid when superdelegates voted after the June 3 primary.[368] Carter criticized the Republican nominee, John McCain.[369][370] Carter warned Obama against selecting Clinton as his running mate.[371]

Carter endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination during the primary season of the 2012 presidential election,[372] though he clarified that his backing of Romney was due to him considering the former Massachusetts governor the candidate that could best assure a victory for President Obama.[373] Carter delivered a videotape address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.[374]

The state funeral of George H. W. Bush in December 2018. Carter and his wife Rosalynn can be seen on the far right of the photograph.

Carter was critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shortly after the latter entered the primary, predicting that he would lose.[375][376] As the primary continued, Carter said he would prefer Trump to his main rival, Ted Cruz,[377] though he rebuked the Trump campaign in remarks during the primary[378] and in his address to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Carter believes that Trump would not have been elected without Russia's interference in the 2016 election,[379] and "that Trump didn't actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf." When questioned, he agreed that Trump is an "illegitimate president".[380][381] In a 2017 discussion with Senator Bernie Sanders, Carter revealed he voted for Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[382]

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter delivered a recorded audio message endorsing Joe Biden for the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention. On January 6, 2021, following the U.S. Capitol attack, along with the other three still living former presidents, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton,[383] Jimmy Carter denounced the attack, releasing a statement saying that he and his wife were "troubled" by the events, also stating that what had occurred was "a national tragedy and is not who we are as a nation", and adding that "having observed elections in troubled democracies worldwide, I know that we the people can unite to walk back from this precipice to peacefully uphold the laws of our nation".[384] Carter delivered a recorded audio message for the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, as the Carters were unable to attend the ceremony in person.[385]

In November 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth District overruled a three-judge panel of the court and scheduled a rehearing of the case against the Trump administration-proposed land swap in Alaska to allow a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. In an unusual action, Carter had filed an opinion in support of the suit by environmental groups, saying the swap violated the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (Anilca) passed in 1980 near the end of Carter's term. Carter said the act "may be the most significant domestic achievement of my political life" at the time of his filing.[386]

Carter criticized the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina,[387] and built homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.[388] He also partnered with former presidents to work with One America Appeal to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the Gulf Coast and Texas communities,[389] in addition to writing op-eds about the goodness seen in Americans who assist each other during natural disasters.[390]

In 1982, Carter founded the Carter Center,[391] a non-governmental and non-profit organization with the purpose of advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering,[392] including helping improve the quality of life for people in more than 80 countries.[393] Among these efforts has been the contribution of the Carter Center working alongside the World Health Organization to the near-eradication of dracunculiasis, also called Guinea worm disease. The incidence of this disease has decreased from 3.5 million cases in the mid-1980s, to 25 cases in 2016,[394][395] and 10 as of September 2021 according to the Carter Center's statistics.[396]

Carter attended the dedication of his presidential library[397] and those of Presidents Ronald Reagan,[398] George H. W. Bush,[399] Bill Clinton,[400][401] and George W. Bush.[402] He delivered eulogies at the funerals of Coretta Scott King,[403] Gerald Ford,[404][405] and Theodore Hesburgh.[406]

In 2007, Carter founded the New Baptist Covenant organization for social justice.[407][408]

As of August 2019, Carter serves as an Honorary Chair for the World Justice Project[409] and formerly served as one for the Continuity of Government Commission.[410] He continued to occasionally teach Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church as of 2019.[411] Carter also teaches at Emory University in Atlanta, and in June 2019 was awarded tenure for 37 years of service.[412]

Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, a New York Times Best Seller book, published in 2006, generated controversy for characterizing Israel's policies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as amounting to apartheid.[413] In an interview, Carter defined apartheid as the "forced separation of two peoples in the same territory with one of the groups dominating or controlling the other."[414] In remarks broadcast over radio, he said that Israel's policies amounted to an apartheid worse than South Africa's:[415]

When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200-or-so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa.[415]

Some accused Carter of antisemitism. Carter defended his arguments and said, "the hope is that my book will at least stimulate a debate, which has not existed in this country. There's never been any debate on this issue, of any significance."[415] He expressed his opinion that Israel will not have peace until it agrees to withdraw from the occupied territories, adding, "the greatest commitment in my life has been trying to bring peace to Israel."[415] The comparisons of Israel and apartheid drew widespread traction in the early 2020s, after Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups issued reports characterizing Israel's policies as apartheid.[416]

In his 2010 book We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land, Carter cites Israel's unwillingness to withdraw from the territories and settlement expansion as the primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East.[417]

From a young age, Carter showed a deep commitment to evangelical Christianity.[432][433] In 1942, Carter became a deacon and taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.[434] At a private inauguration worship service, the preacher was Nelson Price, the pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church of Marietta, Georgia.[435] An evangelical Christian, Carter appealed to voters after the scandals of the Nixon Administration, and is credited with popularizing the term "born again" into American lexicon during the 1976 American presidential campaign.[433][436][437][438] As president, Carter prayed several times a day, and professed that Jesus was the driving force in his life. He was greatly influenced by a sermon he had heard as a young man that asked: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"[439] In 2000, after the Southern Baptist Convention announced it would no longer permit women to become pastors, he renounced his membership, saying: "I personally feel that women should play an absolutely equal role in service of Christ in the church."[440] He remained a member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.[432] Carter's support for the Equal Rights Amendment[441] led many evangelical conservatives to leave the Democratic Party, contributing to the development of the Christian right in American politics.[442]

Farah Pahlavi, Empress of Iran, holds Jimmy Carter IV while Rosalynn Carter, Caron Carter and Chip Carter watch, January 1978.

Carter had three younger siblings, all of whom died of pancreatic cancer: sisters Gloria Spann (1926–1990) and Ruth Stapleton (1929–1983), and brother Billy Carter (1937–1988).[443] He was first cousin to politician Hugh Carter and a distant cousin to the Carter family of musicians.[444] He is related to Motown founder Berry Gordy by way of their white great-grandfather James Thomas Gordy, who had a relationship with a black female slave he owned.[445]

Carter married Rosalynn Smith on July 7, 1946, in the Plains Methodist Church, the church of Rosalynn's family.[446] They have three sons, Jack, James III, and Donnel; one daughter, Amy; nine grandsons (one of whom is deceased), three granddaughters, five great-grandsons, and eight great-granddaughters.[447] Mary Prince (an African American woman wrongly convicted of murder, and later pardoned) was their daughter Amy's nanny for most of the period from 1971 until Jimmy Carter's presidency ended.[448][449] Carter had asked to be designated as her parole officer, thus helping to enable her to work in the White House.[448][lower-alpha 5]

The Carters celebrated their 77th anniversary on July 7, 2023. On October 19, 2019, they became the longest-wed presidential couple, having overtaken George and Barbara Bush at 26,765 days.[451]

The Carters' eldest son, Jack Carter, was the 2006 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Nevada and lost to Republican incumbent John Ensign. Jack's son Jason Carter is a former Georgia state senator,[452] and in 2014 was the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, losing to the Republican incumbent, Nathan Deal. On December 20, 2015, while teaching a Sunday school class, Carter announced that his 28-year-old grandson Jeremy Carter had died of unspecified causes.[453]

Carter in Plains, Georgia, 2008

On August 3, 2015, Carter underwent an elective surgery to remove a small mass on his liver, and his prognosis for a full recovery was initially said to be excellent. On August 12, he announced he had been diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized, without specifying where the cancer had originated.[454] On August 20, Carter disclosed that melanoma had been found in his brain and liver, and that he had begun treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab and was about to start radiation therapy. His healthcare was managed by Emory Healthcare of Atlanta. He has an extensive family history of cancer, including both of his parents and all three of his siblings.[455] On December 6, he issued a statement, announcing that his medical scans no longer showed any cancer.[456]

Carter broke his hip during a fall at his Plains home on May 13, 2019, and underwent surgery the same day at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia.[457] On October 6, a forehead injury above his left eyebrow received during another fall at home required 14 stitches.[458] A public appearance afterward revealed that the former president had a black eye from the injury.[459] On October 21, Carter was admitted to the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center after sustaining a minor pelvic fracture after falling again at home for the third time in 2019.[460] He was able to resume teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church on November 3.[461][462]

On November 11, 2019, Carter was hospitalized at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding connected to his falls.[463][464] The surgery was successful, and he was released from the hospital on November 27.[465][463] On December 2, 2019, Carter was readmitted to the hospital for a urinary tract infection. He was released on December 4.[466][467]

On February 18, 2023, the Carter Center announced that following a "series of short hospital stays", Carter decided to "spend his remaining time at home with his family" in Plains to "receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention".[468][469] Carter asked President Biden to deliver his eulogy following his death.[470]

Carter has been the earliest-serving living former president since the death of Gerald Ford in 2006. In September 2012, he surpassed Herbert Hoover as the longest-retired president. Carter became the oldest president ever to attend an American presidential inauguration in 2017, at the age of 92, and the first to live to the 40th anniversary of his own inauguration.[471][472] Two years later, on March 22, 2019, he became the nation's longest-lived president, when he surpassed the lifespan of George H. W. Bush, who died at the age of 94 years, 171 days, in November 2018.[473] On January 20, 2021, he also became the first president to live to the 40th anniversary of his post-presidency.

On October 1, 2019, Carter became the first former U.S. president to live to the age of 95.[474] He celebrated his 99th birthday at his home, having entered hospice care several months earlier.[475] He noted how difficult it felt to reach his 90s, the former president saying in a 2019 interview with People that he never expected to live as long as he had, claiming his secret of a long life was a good marriage.[476] He has made arrangements to be buried in front of his home at 209 Woodland Drive in Plains, Georgia. He noted in 2006 that a funeral in Washington, D.C., with visitation at the Carter Center was planned as well.[477]

In exit polls from the 1976 presidential election, many voters still held Ford's pardon of Nixon against him.[478] By comparison, Carter was viewed as a sincere, honest, and well-meaning southerner.[479] However, in the 1980 election, Reagan projected an easy self-confidence, in contrast to Carter's serious and introspective temperament. Carter was portrayed as pessimistic and indecisive in comparison to Reagan, who was known for his charm and delegation of tasks to subordinates.[480] Reagan used the economic problems, Iran hostage crisis, and lack of Washington cooperation to portray Carter as a weak and ineffectual leader. Carter was the first elected incumbent president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to lose a reelection bid.[481] Carter began his presidency with a 66 percent approval rating,[482] which had dropped to 34 percent approval by the time he left office, with 55 percent disapproving.[483]

Carter's presidency was initially viewed by some scholars as a failure.[484][485][486] In the historical rankings of American presidents, Carter's presidency has ranged from 18th to 34th place.[487][488] The documentary Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace (2009) credits Carter's efforts at Camp David, which brought peace between Israel and Egypt, with bringing the only meaningful peace to the Middle East.[489][490] His post-presidency activities have been favorably received. The Independent wrote, "Carter is widely considered a better man than he was a president."[479] Although his presidency received a mixed reception, his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts since he left office have made Carter renowned as one of the most successful ex-presidents in American history.[487][488]

Carter received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award in 1984.[130] The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum was opened in 1986.[491] The following year, the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park was established as a National Historic Site[492] and in 2021, renamed as a national historical park.[493] In 1991, Carter was made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Kansas State University,[494] and was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[495] In 1998, the U.S. Navy named the third and last Seawolf-class submarine honoring Carter and his service as a submariner officer.[496]

He received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, given in honor of human rights achievements,[497] and the Hoover Medal, recognizing engineers who have contributed to global causes.[498] Carter's 2002 Nobel Peace Prize[499] was partially a response to president George W. Bush's threats of war against Iraq and Carter's criticism of the Bush administration.[500] In 2009, the Souther Field Airport in Americus, Georgia, was renamed Jimmy Carter Regional Airport.[501]

Carter has been nominated nine times for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for audio recordings of his books, and has won three times—for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2007), A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2016) and Faith: A Journey For All (2018).[502][503][504][505] After the death of Al Quie in August 2023, Carter became the oldest living former American governor.[506]

• Carter, Jimmy. Why not the best? (1977) online.
• Carter, Jimmy. Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982) excerpt
• Carter, Jimmy. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977 (1978–1981); annual compilation of all his public documents
• Carter, Jimmy. An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood (2001) excerpt
• Carter, Jimmy. The Nobel Peace Prize lecture : delivered in Oslo on the 10th of December, 2002 (2002) online
• Carter, Jimmy. Negotiation (2003) excerpt
• Carter, Jimmy. Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2005) excerpt
• Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006) online
• Carter, Jimmy. Beyond the White House : waging peace, fighting disease, building hope (2007) online
• Carter, Jimmy. White House diary (2011) online
• Carter, Jimmy. A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety (2016) online
• Califano, Joseph A. Jr. (2007) [1981]. Governing America: An Insider's Report from the White House and the Cabinet. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-5211-6.
• Jordan, Hamilton (1982). Crisis: The Last Year of the Carter Presidency. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-12738-0.
• Lance, Bert (1991). The Truth of the Matter: My Life In and Out of Politics. Summit. ISBN 978-0-671-69027-4.