When Jimmy Carter began hospice care in his Georgia home last year, his family and friends thought he had just days to live. “More than nineteen months later, today he celebrates his 100the anniversary, becoming the first president in United States history to reach the 100-year mark,” underlines The New York Times.
His life journey is that “of extraordinary resilience”, explains the New York daily. A peanut farmer who became a Democratic president – he occupied the White House from 1977 to 1981 – Jimmy Carter has over the years “beat brain cancer, recovered from a broken hip, and ultimately outlasted all of his political opponents,” notes the newspaper. And today, “he sets a record for longevity for a president, which could be difficult to beat.”
Loyal to himself and his party
Among his accomplishments as President of the United States were the Camp David Accords, which led, in 1979, to the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty in Washington by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
In 2002, Jimmy Carter was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his decades of tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
Although frail and today confined to his modest ranch in the small town of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter remains faithful to himself and his party. He not only refused to bend under the weight of years, but he even “regained vigor in recent months”, reports the newspaper. Lately, he has kept telling those close to him that he has a new milestone to reach: not his birthday, which he says he doesn’t care much about, but next November 5, election day. American presidential, “in order to be able to slip a ballot into the ballot box for Kamala Harris”.
