(The Center Square) – Former President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga.
Carter on Oct. 1, 2024, became the first U.S. president to live to be 100.
Commander in chief for four years after winning election in 1976 in the aftermath of President Richard Nixon’s resignation followed by two years of President Gerald Ford, the Democrat is remembered for negotiating a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, the Camp David Accords, and his post-presidential work for free elections, human rights and building homes for the poor with Habitat for Humanity.
Carter also was president during the Iran hostage crisis, when a group of armed Iranian college students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 53 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days. The hostages were finally released on Jan. 20, 1981, the day President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.
Carter sought reelection in 1980, and in the Democratic primaries that year he held off a challenge from U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, younger brother of President John F. Kennedy. But in the general election, Carter lost in a landslide to Reagan. The hostage crisis and economic pains in the U.S. largely were blamed for Carter’s loss to the Republican former Hollywood movie star.
Prior to running for president, Carter served as the state of Georgia’s 76th governor from 1971 to 1975. He also served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967.
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Carter’s family owned a peanut farm in Plains, Ga., where he was born.