Jimmy Carter has always been a man of poetry and discipline, but the former president broke from the norm on Sunday. He abandoned his routine of attending church services online quietly and instead celebrated his 99th birthday with his wife Rosalynn, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in rural Plains, Georgia.
This gathering took place at the very same farmhouse where the Carters had resided before Jimmy Carter was first elected to the Georgia Senate in 1962. As tributes poured in from around the world, it was an opportunity for the Carter family to honor their own personal legacy.
Jimmy Carter’s Family Legacy
Grandson Jason remarked, “For me and my family, it’s significant that when my grandparents have achieved so much, they really remain true to their roots, just like the rural Georgia couple who reside in the same community of 600 people where they were born.”
Carter, who now heads the Carter Center, founded a year after leaving the White House in 1982, has remained active despite his advanced age and health challenges.
Despite being global figures, the Carters have always been down-to-earth. During the celebration at the Carter Center in Atlanta, 99 new American citizens from 45 countries took part in a naturalization ceremony as part of the former president’s birthday festivities.
Jimmy Carter’s Inspiring Journey
After the ceremony, Tania Martinez shared, “This is very touching, and I’m very happy to be here.” A 53-year-old nurse from Roswell, Martinez was born in Cuba and immigrated to move from Ghana to the United States a dozen years ago.
“Now, I can embrace eternal freedom,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.
Celebrating the longest-living American president in this manner was incomprehensible until quite recently. Carter had announced in February that he and his wife were ending their medical treatments and entering hospice care after being hospitalized. Yet, Carter, who had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of 90 and learned to walk again after a hip replacement at 94, once again overcame all odds.
“If Jimmy Carter were a tree, he’d be a mighty old southern oak,” remarked Donna Brazile, a longtime resident of the Plains who became campaign manager for Carter’s presidential bid. “He’s among the finest and as resilient as they get.”
Jimmy Carter’s Remarkable Legacy
Jill Stuckey, a longtime Plains resident who lives in the same neighborhood as the Carters, cautioned, “Don’t underestimate Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.”
The latest twist in Carter’s remarkable journey permits him an extraordinary distinction: he has outlived accolades that are typically reserved for former White House residents at the time of their passing. The latest round of “Jimmy Carter 99” caps, featuring messages from international leaders and pop culture figures, focuses on Carter’s four decades of global humanitarian work after leaving office.
Katy Couric Praises Jimmy Carter
Katy Couric, the first female anchor of an evening news broadcast for an American television network, praised Carter in a social media video for his “tireless efforts every day to improve the world.” She highlighted his contributions citing his advocacy for peace and democracy in various nations, as well as his dedication to eradicating Guinea worm disease and river blindness.
“He’s written 32 books, and he’s been working for decades on Habitat for Humanity, helping provide housing for low-income people,” Couric noted.
“Oh, and did I mention he was the governor of Georgia? And did I mention he was President of the United States?,” she quipped. “When are you going to slow down, Jimmy?”
Celebrating Jimmy Carter’s 99th Birthday
After Carter’s stunning defeat, 42nd President and fellow Democrat Bill Clinton found no lasting estrangement with the Carters, who had supported Sanders in both of their runs.
“Jimmy! Happy Birthday,” Clinton said in his video message. “You’re only 99 once. It’s been a long, good ride, and we thank you for your service and your friendship and for being a lasting monument to the enduring power of the American dream.”
Musician Peter Gabriel led the crowd in a rendition of “Happy Birthday” at the concert in Madison Square Garden for those who attended. This followed a recent concert by the Indigo Girls.
In Atlanta, the Carter Library and Museum and the adjacent Carter Center held celebrations at the end of the week, including a citizenship ceremony. The museum had presented 99 percent of its visitors with free admission on Saturday because of an agreement made at the start of the federal fiscal year, which coincided with Carter’s birthday.
Jason Carter said that seeing his grandfather receive renewed recognition for his presidency is “reassuring.” Carter’s presidency has often been overshadowed by inflation, the global oil crisis, and the Iran hostage crisis, contributing to Reagan’s victory in 1980.
Despite that, Carter’s diplomacy, focus on environmental issues before the climate crisis, and emphasis on effective government – he modestly increased the national debt – have been recognized by historians with a second look.
In fact, Carter’s long life offers a frame to illuminate how much the world has changed during his lifetime, while accepting the challenges of some political and societal trends.
Jimmy Carter’s Life and Legacy
Carter’s Center’s work on disease eradication is mostly in progressive countries. However, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had to confront blindness caused by river blindness during their time in rural Deep South poverty during the Great Depression.
Advocacy for global democracy reached countries that were still part of various European empires when Carter was born in 1924 or were still in the throes of American influence in the decades after World War II. Nevertheless, in recent years, Carter has cast his country as more of an “oligarchy” than a working republic, while the Center has been involved in monitoring and tracking American elections.
Carter has lived long enough to have made a genuine friend again at the helm of the Oval Office. President Joe Biden, a young politician from Delaware in 1976 and the first US Senator to confirm Carter’s campaign against Washington’s established figures, is now facing stagflation that compares unfavorably with Carter’s economy. Biden honored Carter with a wooden birthday cake display at the White House’s front lawn.
Carter’s Impact: Immigration and Civil Rights
The year Carter was born, Congress passed strict immigration restrictions that sharply curtailed Ellis Island’s role as a portal for new arrivals to the nation. Now, the naturalization ceremony for Carter’s 99th birthday is taking place at a time when Washington’s immigration policy is in a decades-long fight.
Republicans, in particular, are far to the right of Reagan, who signed into law an amnesty policy in 1986 that gave legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants who were in the country or had no clear legal path to citizenship.
Carter, too, came of age in the era of Jim Crow segregation, when the Ku Klux Klan held rallies in state capitals and Washington. As governor and president, Carter put Black Americans in top government jobs by appointing new faces to high official posts. At the age of 99, Carter’s Sunday online church circuit includes Georgia’s first Black US Senator, Raphael Warnock, preaching at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Yet, at the same time, Carter’s ancestral area in southern Georgia is embroiled in a legal dispute over efforts by white state lawmakers to limit the power of Black voters in a Republican-run beltway.
A Life of Remarkable Impact
Jason Carter said understanding the impact of his grandfather’s era means resisting the temptation to second-guess whether he solved every issue he faced or won every election. Instead, he said, the takeaway is recognizing the wide influence of a spirit that seeks to respect and assist other people at the individual level.
“Can anyone claim a more fulfilling life than the one he’s lived?” young Carter said. “It’s a long, good, fulfilling life, a wonderful partnership with my grandmother, and an ability to see the world and engage with the world in ways that almost no one else could.
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