Jimmy Carter, former US president, turns 100
Jimmy Carter is set to celebrate his 100th birthday on Tuesday, making him the first U.S. president to achieve this milestone.
Carter, a Democrat who held the presidency from 1977 to 1981, has been in hospice care for the past 19 months in his home state of Georgia.
Despite this, his grandson Jason reported in September that the former peanut farmer, who entered politics as a state senator in the 1960s, remains “emotionally engaged and still having experiences and laughing, loving.”
Carter still harbors political ambitions, stating, “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris” in the upcoming November election, as noted by his grandson.
To commemorate this special occasion, Habitat for Humanity volunteers—an organization Carter has been involved with for 40 years—are building 30 homes in Minnesota this week.
In Plains, the hometown of the former Georgia governor, several events have been organized to celebrate the day. The festivities began with a naturalization ceremony for 100 individuals from 30 different countries who became U.S. citizens. In the afternoon, a military flyover featuring four F-18 jets illuminated the skies over Plains.
It comes after a star-studded concert was held in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this month to celebrate the 39th president’s milestone birthday and to raise funds for The Carter Center.
“It was an incredible evening, full of good music and heartfelt tributes, and it made history as the first-ever 100th birthday celebration for a living American president,” Carter said at the time.
The concert, which raised more than $1.2m (£900,000) and also featured recorded messages from other presidents, will air on Georgia Public Broadcasting on Tuesday. Dozens of musical acts performed at the event and thousands attended.
The former president will be watching the broadcast on Tuesday, his family said.
Carter, who was not able to attend the concert in person, made a rare public appearance in November 2023 when he attended a memorial service for his wife Rosalynn who died aged 96 earlier that month.
Their 77-year marriage remains the longest of any first couple.
When Carter first entered hospice care in Plains, Georgia, in February 2023, some relatives reportedly felt he only had a matter of days left to live.
“It’s a gift,” Josh Carter, another of his grandsons, said of the last few months in a recent interview with the New York Times. “It’s a gift that I didn’t know we were going to get.”
Others say Carter’s story has also raised awareness of the benefits of hospice care. “We are all rooting for Jimmy Carter,” Barbara Pearce, the CEO of Connecticut Hospice, told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
“He has done more for us than we could ever do for ourselves by pointing out that it’s a reasonable choice to make,” she said. “He’s given everybody permission to consider [hospice care] as a reasonable option that doesn’t shorten their life, but does increase their comfort and fulfilment.”
