Former President Jimmy Carter made history by celebrating his 100th birthday on Tuesday (Oct. 1). Carter is the first U.S. president to reach the milestone.
A Georgia native, Carter served as a Georgia state senator and as the governor of Georgia before serving as the United States’ 39th president from 1977 to 1981.
Nevertheless, it was the work he undertook after leaving the Oval Office that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Alongside his wife, Rosalynn Carter, the former president founded the Carter Center in 1982 to promote human rights and alleviate human suffering around the world.
Through the decades, the center has engaged in humanitarian work in more than 80 countries, battling disease and poverty and promoting political peace.
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Carter has also been a key figure in Habitat for Humanity and is known for having personally traveled to developing countries to help construct affordable housing.
Carter is a lifelong Baptist and famously taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. In 2000, Carter renounced his membership of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) after the SBC codified a new statement of faith that barred women from serving as pastors. Carter remains affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Carter’s personal Bible is currently on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C.
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023 at the age of 98. Rosalynn Carter passed away in November 2023 at the age of 96.
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“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,” Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson and chair of the Carter Center’s governing board, told Associated Press.
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