Jimmy Carter: From peanut farmer to one-term president and Nobel winner

 

Jimmy Carter on his Georgia peanut farm in 1976

Jimmy Carter, who has died at the age of 100, swept to power promising never to lie to the American people.

In the turbulent aftermath of Watergate, the former peanut farmer from Georgia pardoned Vietnam draft evaders and became the first US leader to take climate change seriously.

On the international stage, he helped to broker an historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, but he struggled to deal with the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

After a single term in office, he was swept aside by Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election, winning just six states.

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Having left the White House, Carter did much to restore his reputation: becoming a tireless worker for peace, the environment and human rights, for which he was recognised with a Nobel Peace Prize.

The longest-lived president in US history, he celebrated his 100th birthday in October 2024. He had been treated for cancer and had spent the last 19 months in hospice care.

In retirement, Carter opted for a modest lifestyle.

He eschewed lucrative speaking appearances and seats on corporate boards for a simple life with Rosalynn in Plains, Georgia, where both were born.

Carter did not want to make money from his time in the Oval Office.

"I don't see anything wrong with it; I don't blame other people for doing it," he told the Washington Post. "It just never had been my ambition to be rich."

He was the only modern president to return full-time to the house he had lived in before he entered politics, a single-floor, two-bedroom home.

According to the Post, the Carters' home was valued at $167,000 - less than the Secret Service vehicles parked outside to protect them.

In 2015, he announced that he was being treated for cancer, the disease that killed both his parents and three sisters.

Just a few months after surgery for a broken hip, he was back to work as a volunteer builder with Habitat for Humanity.

The former president and his wife began work with the charity in 1984, and helped to repair more than 4,000 homes in the years since.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c163e0wzgn3o