(AP) ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter will celebrate his 98th birthday on Saturday with family and friends in Plains, Georgia, the small town where he and his wife, 95-year-old Rosalynn, were both born in the years between World War I and the Great Depression. Jimmy Carter is already the longest-living U.S. president in history.
The Carter Center, which the Carters founded jointly after their lone White House term, is celebrating 40 years of advancing public health in developing nations, promoting democracy and conflict resolution, and monitoring elections at the same time as the 39th president reaches his most recent milestone.
The vocal Christian grandfather of the former president, Jason Carter, who is now the Carter Center board chairman, said his grandfather was happy with his life and legacy.
The younger Carter, 47, said that his father is approaching his 98th birthday with confidence in God's plan for him. "It's just a lovely blessing for all of us to know, personally, that he is at peace and content with where he has been and where he's going," the younger Carter said.
The former president, who overcame a cancer diagnosis in 2015 and a serious fall at home in 2019, has already relished reading congratulations posted by well-wishers around the world on social media and the center's website, according to Carter Center organizers. However, according to Jason Carter, his grandfather is largely anticipating a straightforward day that will include watching television and his beloved Major League Baseball team, the Atlanta Braves.Even though things in daily life are more harder now, Jason Carter remarked, "He's still 100% with it." "But I promise one thing. This weekend, he'll watch every Braves game.
After starting the 1976 presidential campaign as a little-known one-term Georgia governor, James Earl Carter Jr. eventually triumphed. He unexpectedly won the Iowa caucuses, turning the little Midwestern state into the center of presidential campaigning. Carter went on to defeat Gerald Ford in the general election, partly thanks to his victory in the South before the South, which is where he was born, switched decisively to the Republican party.
A graduate of the Naval Academy, a Navy officer, and a peanut farmer, Carter won in large part thanks to his pledge to never lie to a public weary of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon to quit as president in 1974. Carter lost 44 states to Ronald Reagan four years later after failing to control inflation and appease voters upset by American hostages detained in Iran. At the age of 56, he made his way back to Georgia.
The Carter Center was almost immediately planned by the former first couple. It debuted in 1982 in Atlanta as a pioneering initiative for a previous president. The organization's stated goal is to promote global causes of public health, human rights, and peace. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He continued to tour the world far into his 80s and 90s, and he did not formally step down from the board until 2020.
According to CEO Paige Alexander, the center has observed elections in 113 nations since it opened, and Carter has worked alone as a mediator in numerous nations. The guinea worm, a painful parasite that is spread by contaminated drinking water, has almost completely been eradicated thanks to Carter Center initiatives. Rosalynn Carter has led initiatives aimed at lowering the stigma associated with mental health issues.
Alexander, who took over the post in 2020, at the time Jason Carter succeeded his grandfather, remarked of his grandfather, "He's enjoying his retirement." However, "he thinks a lot about the projects that he started and the projects that we're continuing."
The eradication of the guinea worm was highlighted by Alexander. Carter established the objective in 1986, when there were primarily instances in sub-Saharan Africa and there were approximately 3.5 million cases per year across 21 nations. Six cases have been reported so far this year in two nations, according to Alexander.
Carter bemoaned the fact that he had been mainly mute on the issue during his administration in his final annual message at the center in 2019. According to Jason Carter, the center's management is still looking for solutions to address the climate crisis. But he made no schedule available. Carter stated that one of the center's strategic objectives is to give priority to issues and regions where no other advocacy organizations have taken an interest. "We won't replicate other effective efforts," Carter added.
Jimmy Carter has lived to watch the center shift its focus to the domestic front, which is possibly the most unexpected change regarding elections and democracy. Programs are now available at the center to address skepticism in the American democratic system. After then-President Donald Trump claimed the results were manipulated, Carter Center staff members oversaw Georgia's recount of U.S. presidential ballots in the state in 2020. Several recounts in Georgia and other states confirmed that Joe Biden's victory was legitimate.
Without a doubt, Jason Carter added, "we never expected we would wind up coming home to practice democracy and conflict resolution around our elections. "(But) we had to make sure that we were adding our voice and our experience… in the U.S. before we could go be this amazing democracy and human rights organization elsewhere."
Before the midterm elections in the United States, the center has requested that all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, agree to a set of fair election standards, which includes pledging to a peaceful transfer of power. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, and his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, are among those who have signed promises.
Carter has largely withdrawn from politics. Democrats avoided him for many years following his defeat in 1980. In the most recent election cycles, he saw a comeback, attracting visits from various 2020 Democratic presidential contenders as well as President Joe Biden in 2021. Biden was the first U.S. senator to support Carter for president in 1976. Some Republicans are using Carter as an argument against Biden and the Democrats once more, this time because inflation is at its highest levels since the late 1970s and early 1980s.
According to Jason Carter, the former president regularly reads and watches the news and occasionally takes calls or visits from politicians. But, he continued, it is not anticipated that the former president will make any public appearances to support any candidates before November.
Jason Carter noted that the people in Plains, as well as those in his church and other places, are the ones with whom he currently feels the most connection. But, you know, my granny is his partners No. 1, 2, and 3. He has outlived friends, many of his advisors, and the individuals with whom he had previously done a great deal, but they have never been alone because they have always had one another.
The original version of this item appeared on NBCNews.com.
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