Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. Carter's post-presidency, extending from 1981 until 2024, is widely considered by historians and political analysts to be one of the most accomplished of any former U.S. president. After leaving office, Carter remained engaged in political and social projects, establishing the Carter Center, building his presidential library, teaching at Emory University in Atlanta, and writing numerous books, ranging from political memoirs to poetry. He also contributed to the expansion of the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.
After he left office, Carter returned to Georgia to his peanut farm, which he had placed into a blind trust during his presidency to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. He found that the trustees had mismanaged the trust, leaving him more than one million dollars in debt. In 1982, he established the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights, which earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections and further the eradication of infectious diseases. He and his wife Rosalynn were key figures in Habitat for Humanity. Carter wrote numerous books and continued to comment on global affairs, including two books on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which he criticized Israel's treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. He and Rosalynn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999.
On February 18, 2023, it was announced that Carter was in home hospice care, which lasted . Carter died on December 29, 2024, aged . He was the oldest, longest-lived and longest-married president at , and had the longest post-presidency, at . He was the 4th-oldest living former state leader at the time of his death.
1980s and 1990s Establishing presidential library Shortly after losing his re-election bid, Carter told the White House press corps of his intent to emulate the retirement of Harry S. Truman and not use his subsequent public life to enrich himself. In February 1981, Carter toured Atlanta to pay courtesy calls to Georgia officials for the first time since leaving office and Atlanta university, and college presidents agreed on the compromise site of 219 acres of abandoned highway land.
On September 22, 1983, at a ceremony attended by Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young and Governor of Georgia Joe Frank Harris, Carter unveiled the model by an architect of his proposed Presidential Library and Museum as well as the Carter Policy Center. Carter said the policy center would allow freedom of expression as a non-official entity and that while he was not trying to copy Camp David, there should be a place where disputing countries can come in both absolute seclusion and secrecy. Dr. Steven Hochman served as Carter's assistant and they established an office for the Carter Center in the Emory University library. Construction on the library began in 1984. The landscape for the library called for the implementation of a parkway linking downtown Atlanta and the library. The Federal Highway Administration despite protests from residents who felt the road "could be redesigned to have less impact on historic areas". In July, Carter reported raising 23 million of the 25 million needed to begin construction on the library. Carter Presidential Library Inc. declined releasing the names of contributors, although Carter aide Dan Lee stated that half of the contributions came from Georgians.
On October 1, 1986, Carter's 62nd birthday, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated. Carter and his wife Rosalynn gave President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan a private tour before Reagan delivered a speech praising Carter for "gracing the White House with your passion and intellect and commitment." Carter praised Reagan's remarks, saying he did not believe he had "ever heard (a speech) that was more gracious or more generous or more thoughtful" and that the address made him understand more clearly than ever why his re-election bid had been unsuccessful. It was the first meeting between Carter and Reagan in five years. The event was also attended by protestors of Reagan's arm control, South Africa, and economic policies.
First Reagan term (1981–1985)
In March 1981, Carter cited his choice to refrain from critiquing Reagan was due to not enough time having passed within his tenure and predicted the "next few months" would see programs from his administration be viewed more favorably by the public. On March 31, after the attempted assassination, Carter said danger was a consistent part of being president and President Reagan's public appearances would not be curtailed. On May 8, while delivering a speech in Independence, Missouri, Carter critiqued "those who argue that the main business of government is to do nothing", the comment being seen as a reference to the Reagan administration. In a September 3 press conference, Carter confirmed that he was in agreement with Reagan on building neutron arms in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan but said he hoped that when the Soviet Union "is willing to implement the termination of aggression and move towards peace and the control of nuclear weapons our country will be ready to cooperate with them completely as we have been in the past." In October, Carter traveled to Washington for the lobbying of senators in support of providing Saudi Arabia with Awacs radar surveillance aircraft and said he believed the Reagan administration was not doing enough in the Middle East.
During a May 1, 1982, fundraising dinner, Carter called on Democrats and Republicans to work together in solving America economic issues instead of the Democrats condemning the Reagan administration's budget for the fiscal year of 1983. On August 24, in a speech endorsing Charlie Rose in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Carter critiqued the Reagan administration for instituting radicalism in economic and social policies and administering "the highest tax cuts in history, primarily for the wealthy Americans, followed by the highest tax increase." On September 20, Carter stated more American involvement might have prevented the deaths in the Sabra and Shatila massacre and charged the Reagan administration with "belatedly ... playing its role as a strong mediator in bringing the parties together." On September 30, amid a fundraising dinner, Carter responded to criticism made by President Reagan during a news conference two days prior on his administration's handling of the economy by saying his administration "did not spend four years blaming our mistakes on our predecessors". On October 9, Carter expressed his distaste for his administration being blamed by President Reagan: "'When I became president, the responsibilities were mine. They were not Gerald Ford's, Richard Nixon's, they were not John Kennedy's, Dwight Eisenhower's or Harry Truman's -- they were mine." On October 26, Carter called on the Reagan administration to support the Camp David agreement during a news conference: "'Although it was tardy by about 18 months, I was very pleased by the speech President Reagan made recently about his intentions for a Middle East peace." While speaking at a news conference on November 10, Carter outlined his distaste with President Reagan shifting US foreign and domestic policy and said, "'There is always the temptation for an incumbent politician to blame all his mistakes on his predecessor. Most are willing to withstand the temptation. Mr. Reagan, apparently, is not."
In a January 1983 interview, Carter stated his belief that the Reagan campaign had convinced voters of an administration that would provide "simple answers to very complicated questions and simple and easy, magic solutions to intransigent problems." In February, Carter and Ford served as co-chairmen of a conference on public policy and communications at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. They criticized Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin for his delays of Israeli troop withdrawing from Lebanon and for building Jewish settlements on the West Bank and endorsed the recommendations of Reagan's commission on Social Security reform. Carter specifically lamented public officials often only hearing the voices of "organized groups" who "speak much more narrowly and stridently than the people they represent, the doctors or the lawyers or the peanut farmers." During a June 1983 appearance at the Amnesty International conference on human rights at Emory University, Carter rebuked the Reagan administration for lacking an address on human rights violations. "The silence coming out of Washington these days, concerning these gross human rights violations, is very disturbing."
On October 9, 1984, while addressing a university group, Carter assessed Reagan with having characterized human rights as a sign of weakness during presidential debates four years prior and stated his disagreement with the view. "He's a Republican. I'm a Democrat. I can't swear that my policy is correct -- I think it is. I think in some ways our human rights policy was effective." In December 1984, during a press conference, Carter asserted that the Reagan administration was inactive in making rescue efforts to retrieve four American businessmen from West Beirut: "Our government is not making any effort to seek the return of the hostages. It is not a very publicized fact."
1984 presidential election The possibility of Carter running for a non-consecutive second term in 1984 was raised by commentators, and favored by his wife Rosalynn. Walter Mondale, Carter's former vice president who was mulling a presidential bid of his own, met with Carter ahead of the election year to confront him on whether he intended to run. On May 10, 1982, Carter stated he would support Mondale in the latter's presidential bid during a press conference. In June, Carter made an appearance at a dinner to raise funds for Democrats, offering praise of Mondale, who was also in attendance: "'A lot of people say Fritz has been going around the country and he hasn't mentioned me very often, but Fritz, tonight you outdid yourself and we're partners again."
On January 27, 1983, in interviews with the Houston Post and the Houston Chronicle, Carter stated his belief that President Reagan would lose his re-election bid due to Americans having been promised various solutions that Reagan was unable to keep and said he had disagreements with the administration "in human rights, arms control, environmental policies and the search for peace." On July 18, Carter said he believed President Reagan would still seek re-election despite a controversy over his campaign having had access to White House documents while in Japan. On August 30, Carter met with Mondale, telling reporters ahead of the meeting that Mondale had successfully distanced himself from the Carter administration to prevent the affiliation from being used against him.