President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. After nearly two years in hospice during which his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn passed away on November 19, 2023; James Earl Carter, Jr passed away leaving a legacy of a problematic Presidency and a life of faith and service.

Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/aqYmcE9tXi

— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) December 29, 2024

His record as President, had its hits and misses. Mostly misses.

Carter, who has rarely used his full name–James Earl Carter, Jr.–was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Peanut farming, talk of politics, and devotion to the Baptist faith were mainstays of his upbringing. Upon graduation in 1946 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. The Carters have three sons, John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), and a daughter, Amy Lynn.

In just four short years, when he left office 1980, inflation and the recession that followed were hitting Americans hard, and the American hostages were thankfully coming home. 

By the end of his administration, he could claim an increase of nearly eight million jobs and a decrease in the budget deficit, measured in percentage of the gross national product. Unfortunately, inflation and interest rates were at near record highs, and efforts to reduce them caused a short recession.

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The consequences of Iran’s holding Americans captive, together with continuing inflation at home, contributed to Carter’s defeat in 1980. Even then, he continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages. Iran finally released the 52 Americans the same day Carter left office.

Oh, but there’s more to his Presidential legacy than that. It wasn’t that the Iran negotiations failed, it was the additional debacle of lives lost when Carter gave the orders for a rescue attempt that ended up with eight American servicemen killed in action.

With the Iran Hostage Crisis stretching into its sixth month and all diplomatic appeals to the Iranian government ending in failure, President Jimmy Carter ordered the military mission as a last ditch attempt to save the hostages. During the operation, three of eight helicopters failed, crippling the crucial airborne plans. The mission was then canceled at the staging area in Iran, but during the withdrawal one of the retreating helicopters collided with one of six C-130 transport planes, killing eight service members and injuring five. The next day, a somber Jimmy Carter gave a press conference in which he took full responsibility for the tragedy. The hostages were not released for another 270 days.

I will say this. At least Carter stepped up and took responsibility for that. Joe Biden, who came into office during the Carter tenure, has yet to accept ANY responsibility for his bad decisions. 

Carter’s record also includes inflicting the Department of Education upon the country. And with that, we’ve seen that government involvement in education ends up with far too many kids..NOT getting educated.  We have a plethora of examples from all the teachers unions to look at, especially during and after Covid.

However, he was also a champion of deregulation which helped a great many industries thrive after Nixon’s price controls. 

It’s a long track record built in just four short years. However, once he was no longer President, Jimmy Carter rolled up his sleeves and got to work on many of the humanitarian efforts he had championed while President including conflict resolution, disease eradication, farming and food projects around the world, and building homes with Habitat for Humanity. 

His service continued as home as well as around the world. Until his health wouldn’t allow, Jimmy Carter taught Sunday School at his home church, Maranatha Baptist in Plains, Georgia. 

As noted above, Jimmy Carter’s Presidency was fraught with problems that adversely affected the entire country. However, we should not ignore his life of faith and service. Jimmy Carter didn’t just pay lip service to his causes. He didn’t just write a check and walk away. No, he walked the walk. He stayed actively engaged in trying to resolve decades long conflicts, worked to help farmers get better crop yields in third-world countries, tried with help to eradicate diseases, and built homes for people who otherwise might never have a home of their own.

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In that regard, there are a great many other former Presidents who could learn from THAT example. 

In 2023 it was announced that he would enter hospice care. In May of that year, the family announced that Rosalynn was suffering from dementia. The Carter family has been present and in attendance from the start.

Josh, 39, says that since Jimmy began hospice, “there’s always somebody at the house” to keep his grandparents company — often one of their kids. More recently, the only visitors to their home have been family and caregivers.

But while Jimmy and Rosalynn aren’t as active as they used to be, Josh clarifies that they’re still present and aware of what’s going on around them.

As for his grandfather, “He’s still fully Jimmy Carter,” Josh says. “He’s just tired. I mean he’s almost 99 years old, but he fully understands [how many well wishes he’s received] and has felt the love.”

Jimmy Carter left a mark on this country. For better or worse, his legacy as President will be one of inflation, recession, and 144 days of American hostages held in Iran. However, we cannot forget his brokering of the Camp David Peace Accords, the SALT Treaties, and full diplomatic recognition to China. 

Near the end of Mr. Carter’s life, two biographies argued forcefully that he had been a more consequential president than most people realized — “perhaps the most misunderstood president in American history,” author Jonathan Alter wrote in his 2020 book, “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life.”

Whether one agrees or not, Jimmy Carter during his time as President and after, left his mark on politics. 

Feature Photo Credit: former President Jimmy Carter in 2017 via Adam Jones on Wikimedia Commons, cropped, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)