“Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, died peacefully on Sunday, December 29 at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family”announced its Carter Center foundation in a press release.
“My father was a hero, not just to me, but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and selfless love”declared Chip Carter, the son of the former Democratic leader cited by the foundation.
Rain of tributes
All the American presidents still alive and who succeeded him hastened to bow to the long, extraordinary existence of the man who was never destined to be president and who was the oldest former tenant of the White House.
The Democrat and outgoing 46th President Joe Biden, 82, asked during an address to the Nation that the life of his distant predecessor be “evaluated by what he did, not by what he said”.
He announced the holding of a national funeral in the federal capital Washington, without specifying the date, for the architect of the Camp David agreements which resulted in the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country, Egypt, but the legacy tarnished by the Iran hostage crisis.
Republican billionaire Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, expressed his “greatest respect” for Jimmy Carter who “worked hard to make America better.”
He was “a remarkable man”, according to Democrat Barack Obama, and “worked tirelessly for a better and fairer world” added Democrat Bill Clinton. What he accomplished “will inspire generations of Americans,” praised Republican George W. Bush.
Jimmy Carter announced in 2015 that he was suffering from brain cancer and had been receiving home care for almost two years.
After a series of hospitalizations, in February 2023 he “chose to spend the time he had left” at home, surrounded by his loved ones. He received palliative care there.
A single mandate
Jimmy Carter was elected to the White House in 1976, in an America still marked by the Watergate scandal which had pushed President Richard Nixon to resign. He was president for only one term.
The architect of the Camp David agreements which led, in March 1979, to the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, the 39th President of the United States was strongly criticized in his country during the hostage-taking of Americans in Iran.
The announcement, on April 24, 1980, of the failure of the military mission to ensure their release had dashed his hopes of re-election.
In 1982, after leaving the White House, Jimmy Carter founded the Carter Center to promote development, health and conflict resolution around the world.
A tireless traveler, he is found everywhere: in Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, or even in East Timor, where he carries out mediation or electoral observation missions.
In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his decades of tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.”
