Former US President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday, December 29, at the age of 100. His long personal and professional life was full of moments that place him among the most influential historical figures of our time.
The recently deceased former US president, Jimmy Carter, lived throughout a century full of historic moments. Here we present several milestones in the long personal and professional life of the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
—October 1, 1924: James Earl Carter Jr. is born in Plains, Georgia, son of James Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter.
—June 1946: Graduates from the United States Naval Academy.
—July 1946: Marries Rosalynn Smith, in Plains. They have four children: John William (“Jack”), born in 1947; James Earl 3rd (“Chip”), 1950; Donnel Jeffrey, 1952; and Amy Lynn, 1967.
—1946-1953: Enlists in the Navy, reaches the rank of lieutenant. He works on the nuclear submarine program.
—Summer 1953: Resignation from the Navy; He returns to Plains after his father's death.
—1953-1971: Runs the family's peanut plantation and warehouse business.
—1963-1966: State senator in Georgia.
—1966: Tries unsuccessfully to obtain the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia.
—November 1970: Elected governor of Georgia, serving 1971-1975.
—December 12, 1974: Announces his presidential candidacy.
—July 1976: Proclaimed presidential candidate by the Democratic convention, he announces that his running mate is Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota.
—November 1976: Defeats President Gerald R. Ford with 51% of the popular vote and 297 votes in the Electoral College, against 240 for Ford.
—January 1977: He is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States. On his first full day in the White House, he pardons most of those who evaded draft during the Vietnam War.
—September 1977: The United States and Panama sign the treaties that deliver the Panama Canal to the Central American nation in 1999. The Senate narrowly ratifies the treaty in 1978.
—September 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Accords, leading to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel the following year.
—June 15-18, 1979: Summit with Soviet President Leonid Brejnev in Vienna, leading to the signing of the SALT II nuclear arms limitation treaty.
—November 1979: Iranian fighters storm the American embassy in Tehran and take hostages. Most remain in captivity until January 1981, minutes after Carter leaves the presidency.
—April 1980: Beginning of the great migration of tens of thousands of Cubans to the United States from the port of Mariel. It was a major foreign policy crisis for Carter, in part because many of the Cubans were criminals or mentally ill freed by Fidel Castro.
—April 1980: United States tries to free hostages in Iran; Eight soldiers die when their helicopter collides with a transport plane over Iranian territory.
—November 1980: He is defeated in his re-election attempt by Ronald Reagan, who obtains 51.6% of the popular vote against 41.7% for Carter and 6.7% for the independent John Anderson.
—1982: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter found the Carter Center in Atlanta, whose mission is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights, and prevent disease around the world.
—September 1984: The Carters spend a week building Habitat for Humanity houses, launching what becomes the annual Carter Work Project.
—October 1986: Opening of the Carter Center in Atlanta.
—May 1992: Meets with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at the Carter Center to discuss the creation of the Gorbachev Center.
—June 1994: Plays a crucial role in nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea.
—September 1994: Leads a delegation to Haiti that agrees on conditions to prevent a US invasion and return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the presidency.
—December 1994: Negotiates a tentative ceasefire in Bosnia.
—March 1995: Media to achieve a ceasefire in Sudan's war with southern rebels.
—December 1998: Receives a UN human rights award on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
—August 1999: Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian decoration in the United States, from President Bill Clinton; Rosalynn Carter receives the same award.
—May 2002: Visit Cuba and speak to the communist nation on television. He is the highest-ranking American to visit the island in several decades.
—October 2002: Receives the Nobel Peace Prize for his “tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, promote democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development.”
—July 2007: Joins The Elders, a group of international leaders that analyzes global problems and was created by Nelson Mandela.
—April 2008: Generates controversy by meeting with the Islamic militia Hamas during a trip to the Middle East.
—August 2010: Travels to North Korea with a delegation from the Carter Center, negotiates the freedom of an imprisoned American teacher.
—August 2013 — With President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, attend the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech and the March on Washington, a milestone in the fight for rights civilians.
— October 1, 2014: Turns 90.
— December 2014: He is nominated for a Grammy in the spoken word album category for his book “A Call To Action.”
— May 2015: He returns early from Guyana, where he went as an election observer, feeling unwell.
—August 2015: A small tumor is removed from his liver.
—August 2015: Diagnosed with cancer and begins treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.
—March 22, 2019: Carter becomes the longest-serving US president, surpassing President George HW Bush, who died in 2018.
— February 19, 2023: Starts receiving palliative care at home after a series of brief hospital stays.
—November 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter dies at home, two days after the family announced that she had joined the former president for palliative care.
—October 1, 2024: Carter becomes the first former president of the United States to reach 100 years of age, celebrating at home with his family and closest friends.
—December 29, 2024: Carter dies at home.