Longtime friends, family and fans of Jimmy Carter milled around his hometown of Plains to celebrate his 100th birthday on Tuesday, the first time an American president has lived a full century and the latest milestone in a life that took the Depression-era farmer’s son to the White House and across the world as a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian and advocate for democracy. Living the last 19 months in home hospice care, the 39th president keeps defying expectations, just as he did through a remarkable rise from his family peanut farming and warehouse business to the world stage. The Democrat served one presidential term from 1977 to 1981 and then for four decades led The Carter Center, which he and his wife Rosalynn co-founded in 1982 to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope.” “Not everybody gets 100 years on this earth, and when somebody does, and when they use that time to do so much good for so many people, it’s worth celebrating,” his grandson Jason Carter, chair of The Carter Center governing board, said in an interview. “These last few months, 19 months, now that he’s been in hospice, it’s been a chance for our family to reflect,” he continued, “and then for the rest of the country and the world to really reflect on him. That’s been a really gratifying time.” James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924 in Plains, where he lives in the same one-story home he and Rosalynn built in the early 1960s, before his first election to the Georgia state Senate. The former first lady, also from Plains, died last November at 96. About 25 family members filled his home Tuesday, enjoying cupcakes on the front lawn while antique World War II planes flew over in his honor. At night, they planned to gather around the TV to watch the vice-presidential debate. Chip Carter said his father’s next goal is to make it to Election Day. “He’s plugged in,” Carter said in an interview. “I asked him two months ago if he was trying to live to be 100, and he said, No, I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris.” Chip Carter sat in the front row of a naturalization ceremony held annually on his father’s birthday for 100 new citizens at Plains High School, which his father attended. The building is now a museum. Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park, recalled that a teacher once told Carter’s class that one of the students would be president someday. She said Carter “took it heart.” “One thing I’ve learned is to never underestimate Jimmy Carter, because if you do, he will prove you wrong,” Stuckey said. President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s 1976 campaign, praised his longtime friend for an “unwavering belief in the power of human goodness.” “You’ve always been a moral force for our nation and the world (and) a beloved friend to Jill and me and our family,” the 81-year-old president said in a tribute video, recorded in front of Carter’s White House portrait. Carter asked Biden to eulogize him at his state funeral when the time comes. But even on Carter’s 100th birthday, Donald Trump could not pass up repeating his longstanding jab at the Georgia Democrat. Trump […] | Read More The Yeshiva World
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