On December 29th, President Jimmy Carter died in hospice care at the age of 100, earning the honor of being the longest living President of the United States. He left behind a legacy that will long outlive him, including years of humanitarian and diplomatic work.
While President Jimmy Carter only served one term in office, his work extends beyond his four years as president. In 2002, President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to finding peaceful solutions to conflicts and advancing democracy worldwide.
Shortly after graduating from high school, Carter began his work for the US government by attending the Naval Academy and serving in the navy for seven years. In 1962, he entered state politics and in 1970 he was elected to be the Governor of Georgia.
Upon being elected governor, Carter immediately stood out as being different, due to his emphasis on ecology, efficiency in government, and his work to remove racial barriers. In 1974, Carter announced his candidacy for presidency. He won the 1974 election against Gerald Ford with 297 electoral votes.
By the end of his administration, Carter reported an increase of around eight million jobs and a decrease in the budget deficit. Carter also established a national energy policy and decontrolled domestic petroleum prices to boost economic activity.
Along with improving domestic affairs, Carter played a large role in international politics in the late 20th century. He worked to improve Middle Eastern affairs by resolving tensions between Egypt and Israel through the Camp David Accords, as well as ratifying the Panama Canal treaties. He also established diplomatic relations with China and negotiated nuclear treaties with the Soviet Union.
While President Carter had many successes and failures as president, his most notable work occurred after he left the Oval Office.
“Actually, he was not a popular president. He was a one-term president…He was one of the most successful post term presidents, popular in ways that other presidents haven’t been…He did a ton of things…So I have a lot of positive things to say about him in retrospect,” Dr. DeFazio commented.
Carter contributed to the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity, a group that has worked to build and repair thousands of homes, along with his wife Rosalynn. Together they were Habitat volunteers for more than 35 years.
Additionally, after leaving office, Carter, and his wife established the nonprofit organization, The Carter Center to fight against poverty worldwide. Some work done by the organization includes improving immunization rates worldwide, as well as working to eradicate Guinea worm disease in 21 nations, mostly in Africa.
Other medical work by the Carter foundation includes the distribution of free drugs to impoverished individuals in Africa and Latin America. The efforts to improve public health earned the organization the Gates Award for Global Health in 2006.
Carter has left a lasting legacy on the world and will forever be remembered for his efforts to leave the world a better place, by helping improve the lives of thousands, and maintain peace worldwide.
