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In a statement, Joe Biden and Jill Biden said that Carter’s death represented the loss of “an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian,” calling Carter a “dear friend,” and writing of the former president’s “compassion and moral clarity.”
“He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong,” said the statement.
Biden also announced that the White House would order an official state funeral for Carter.
Trump reacts to Carter's death: 'We all owe him a debt of gratitude'
Donald Trump has also reacted to Carter’s death, writing in a post on the social media platform Truth Social: “Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History.”
“The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude,” the president-elect wrote.
US representative and chair of the Democratic party of Georgia, Nikema Williams wrote on Sunday that she and her husband “named our son Carter after our 39th president because he showed us that ordinary Georgians can do extraordinary things. He was one of the greatest public servants of our time – and he was also a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia”.
“From a southwest Georgia town of a few hundred people to the Oval Office, President Carter went from sowing crops to sowing the seeds of peace around the world.”
Stacey Abrams: Carter was 'a giant who never saw anyone as smaller than himself'
The former Georgia house of representatives minority leader Stacey Abrams called Carter “a giant who never saw anyone as smaller than himself” in a post on X.
“Whether at a Boys & Girls Club banquet or when he sponsored a medical clinic for the uninsured in his corner of rural Georgia, he lived James 2:17 each day,” she said. “Jimmy Carter built homes, saved lives and tended to souls. God bless President Carter, may the family he and Mrs. Carter raised know only comfort in these days of grief.”
Martin Luther King III, the human rights activist and son of Martin Luther King Jr, and Arndrea Waters King lauded Carter’s human rights advocacy in a statement Sunday.
“While history may have been hard on President Carter at times, today, he is remembered as a global human rights leader,” they wrote.
“Over the years, my family found comfort in President Carter’s wise counsel and strong leadership. Even after he left office, he carried on the legacies that my family has long-championed, the eradication of the triple evils – poverty, racism, and violence.”
Reactions to Jimmy Carter’s death are pouring in. Jon Ossoff, the US senator from Carter’s home state of Georgia, wrote in as statement that Carter’s “lifetime of work and dedication to public service changed the lives of many across our state, our country, and around the world”.
Ossoff commended Carter for “his commitment to democracy and human rights, his enduring faith, his philanthropic leadership, and his deep love of family”.
The Carter Center, a humanitarian non-governmental organization founded by Jimmy Carter, has publicized a tribute website for Carter including a condolence book and biographical details about the late president. The Carter Center has announced that it will provide information about funeral services shortly.
Carter was the subject of thousands of photographs due to his long life dedicated to public service in one way or another. Here are some of the most striking images from a decades-long career:
Carter is survived by his children, Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Smith Carter and one grandchild.
“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” said Chip Carter, the former president’s son, in a statement.
“My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
Martin Pengelly
Broadly unpopular after losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter went on to have one of the most distinguished post-presidential careers. He was awarded the Nobel peace prize for “decades of untiring effort” for human rights and peacemaking. His humanitarian work was conducted under the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which he founded in the early 1980s, with his wife Rosalynn.
Carter traveled the world as a peace emissary, election observer and public health advocate. He made visits to North Korea in 1994 and Cuba in 2002. The Carter Center is credited with helping to cure river blindness, trachoma and Guinea worm disease, which went from millions of cases in Africa and Asia in 1986 to a handful today.
Carter was a critic of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, drone warfare, warrantless government surveillance and the prison at Guantánamo Bay. He won admiration, and loathing, for his involvement in efforts for Middle East peace, urging a two-state solution in speeches and books including Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
Carter took office in 1977 after serving just one term as governor of Georgia.
His unfamiliarity with Washington was seen as a virtue after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam war years. And his time in office started off with some early successes.
In 1977 Carter completed a treaty that returned control of the Panama Canal to Panama – an agreement that had eluded his predecessors.
In 1978, Carter facilitated Camp David talks between the then Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, and the Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, that led to a peace deal between the two countries.
But his presidency ultimately became riddled with economic and foreign policy crises, starting with high unemployment and double-digit inflation and culminating in the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A rolling energy crisis saw the price of oil triple from 1978 to 1980, leading to lines at US gas stations.
Jimmy Carter, who was a tireless advocate for global health and human rights, was the longest-lived president in US history. He only served one term in the White House after being beaten by Ronald Reagan in 1981.
But Carter spent the decades afterward focused on international relations and human rights, efforts that won him the Nobel peace prize in 2002.
Carter’s death comes after his wife, Rosalynn Carter passed away in November 2023 at the age of 96.
Jimmy Carter, former US president and rights advocate, dies at 100
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, a broker of peace in the Middle East in his time, and a tireless advocate for global health and human rights, has died, it was announced Sunday. He was 100 years old.
A Georgia Democrat, Carter was the longest-lived president in US history. He only served one term in the White House and was soundly beaten by Ronald Reagan in 1981. But Carter spent the decades afterward focused on international relations and human rights, efforts that won him the Nobel peace prize in 2002.
