Jimmy Carter turns 100 this October 1

Air parade, concert, ceremony: the small town of Plains, in the southeast of the United States, is preparing to celebrate Tuesday with great fanfare the 100th birthday of its “hero” Jimmy Carter, former American president and Nobel Prize winner. Peace.

Born on October 1, 1924 in this small rural town in Georgia, with around 600 inhabitants, the former Democratic leader, who was the 39th President of the United States between 1977 and 1981, had once grown peanuts there before to turn to politics.

After leaving the White House, defeated in his re-election bid by Republican candidate Ronald Reagan, he returned to live there and will celebrate his centenary with his family on Tuesday at his home, where he has been receiving end-of-life care since February 2023. .

This will not prevent the inhabitants of Plains from celebrating this special anniversary in their own way, Jimmy Carter becoming the first American president to pass the centennial milestone. On the program of festivities: an evening concert in his old high school, a naturalization ceremony for 100 people and a flypast of military planes.

Artisan of the Camp David agreements which led, in 1979, to the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Jimmy Carter occupies a special place in the American political landscape, tarnished by the American hostage crisis in Iran in 1979-1980 .

“Jimmy is a good man, a godly man, and that’s what people like about him,” Plains resident Carl Lowell told AFP. This 59-year-old retired firefighter, who says he has already gone hunting with Jimmy Carter, nevertheless explains that he stays away from politics, which he considers to be a “too divisive” subject.

In Plains, all the residents seem to be directly or indirectly connected to the 39th President of the United States.

“It’s a blessing to have him here,” says Inez Battle, 72. The former leader, who also served as governor of Georgia, played a pivotal role in the creation of a local children’s center where she volunteered, she said.

This establishment has greatly benefited the African-American community, greets Ms. Battle, who remembers with emotion the meetings with Jimmy Carter. “Instead of saying ‘we’re going to do that,’ he asked for your opinion.”

National tributes to Jimmy Carter have already begun to pour in, with President Joe Biden calling the former Democratic president a “moral force” in a video statement released over the weekend. “Your commitment to a better world and your unwavering faith in the power of human kindness continue to guide us,” he assured.

Jimmy Carter, who created his foundation in 1982 to promote development, health and the resolution of conflicts throughout the world, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his “tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.

The former leader remains very interested in politics, according to those close to him, to whom he confided that he wanted to “hold on to be able to vote for Kamala Harris” in the November election which will pit him against former Republican President Donald Trump.

“He is going to vote by mail,” Jill Stuckey, in charge of several historical sites linked to the former president and long-time friend of the Carter family, told AFP.

In the Plains gardens, however, the signs supporting Republican Donald Trump are more numerous than those for Democrat Kamala Harris. A departure which, however, is not very surprising in this rural region, where the white evangelical population is significant.

But, a particularity of Plains: here, it is not uncommon to see the names of Trump and Carter coexist. Here and there, panels celebrating the centenary of the former Democratic president and others calling to vote for the Republican in November are attached.