Jimmy Carter, the oldest US president, dies at the age of 100

Former US President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100, according to the center he founded.

The former peanut farmer lived longer than any president in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat served as president from 1977 to 1981, a period plagued by economic and diplomatic crises.

After leaving the White House with low approval ratings, he restored his reputation through humanitarian work that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.

“My father was a hero, not only to me, but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and selfless love,” his son, Chip Carter, said in a statement.

“The world is our family because of the way it brought people together, and we thank you for honoring its memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Carter is survived by his four children, 11 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

His wife, Rosalyn, to whom he was married for 77 years, died in November 2023.

Since 2018 and the death of George H.W. Bush, he has become the oldest living President of the United States.

Carter stopped medical treatment for an undisclosed illness last year and instead began receiving hospice care at his home.

His presidency will be remembered for his struggles in dealing with severe economic problems and numerous foreign policy challenges, including the hostage crisis in Iran, which ended with the deaths of eight Americans.

However, there was a notable foreign policy victory in the Middle East when he helped broker an agreement between Egypt and Israel, signed at Camp David in the United States in 1978.

But that seemed like a distant memory two years later, when voters overwhelmingly chose Republican Ronald Reagan, who portrayed the president as a weak leader unable to handle inflation and interest rates at near-record levels.

Carter lost the 1980 election by a landslide, winning only six US states plus Washington, D.C.

In the wake of this heavy defeat, Republicans often held up Carter as an example of liberal incompetence.

At the same time, many in his party ignored him or viewed his presidential shortcomings as evidence that his or her Democratic policies were better.

Today, many on the right still mock the Carter years, but as the decades passed, his humanitarian efforts and simple lifestyle began to shape a new legacy for many Americans.

After leaving the White House, he became the first and only president to return full-time to the home he lived in before politics — a modest two-bedroom ranch-style home.

He chose not to pursue the lucrative after-dinner speeches and publishing deals that awaited most former presidents. He told The Washington Post in 2018 That he never wanted to be rich.

Instead, he spent his remaining years trying to address the global problems of inequality and disease.