Next Thursday January 9, 2025 will be a day of national mourning on USA to pay tribute to the former Democratic president Jimmy Carterwho passed away yesterday Sunday at the age of 100, the White House announced.

“I call upon the American people to gather that day in their places of worship and pay tribute to the memory of (former) President James Earl Carter, Jr. I invite every person in the world who shares our grief to join us” in the ceremonies to be held, outgoing President Joe Biden said in his executive order posted late Sunday night (local time) on the White House website.

Peanut farmer

Jimmy Carter, the Georgia peanut farmer who as US president struggled to revive the economy and deal with the Iran hostage crisis but brokered the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, has died aged 100 .

For his humanitarian work Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Democratic politician was elected the 39th president of the United States by defeating, in the 1976 election, the Republican candidate Gerald Ford. But he remained in the presidency for only one term (1977-81) after suffering a heavy defeat in the next election to the Republican former actor and governor of California Ronald Reagan.

Carter lived longer than any other president after his term ended. In the decades that followed he developed a reputation for being a better ex-president than he was as president – ​​something he himself admitted.

The highlight of his single term was the signing, in 1978, of the peace accords between Israel and Egypt, which brought some stability to the Middle East. But at the same time he was marked by the recession of the economy, his low popularity and the hostage crisis that lasted his last 444 days in the White House.

In recent years, Carter has been dealing with many health problems, including melanoma that has metastasized to his liver and brain. In February 2023 he decided to stop treatments and receive only palliative care. His wife, Rosalyn, died in November 2023, aged 96. He looked frail when he attended her funeral in a wheelchair.

When Carter left the White House he was highly unpopular with Americans, yet he worked vigorously for decades for humanitarian causes. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, promote democracy and human rights, and boost economic and social development.”

Carter, being the governor of Georgia, was the underdog when he ran for the presidency, at a time when America was still reeling from the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon. “I’m Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president. I will never lie to you,” he promised voters, with a big smile.

When asked to evaluate his presidency in a 1991 documentary, he said: “The biggest failure we had was politics. I was never able to convince the American people that I was a strong leader.”

Despite his difficulties during his tenure, Carter was unbeatable as a former president. He won worldwide recognition as a tireless defender of human rights, as the voice of the wronged, as a leader in the fight against hunger and poverty – thus earning the respect he lacked in the White House.

He fought for human rights and crisis resolution around the world, from Ethiopia and Eritrea to Bosnia and Haiti. The Carter Center in Atlanta was sending international teams of observers to elections everywhere.

Since his teenage years, Carter has been a Baptist seminary teacher and has been outspoken about his religious faith and brought a strong sense of ethics to the presidency. He also tried to shed the pomp of his office, such as when he walked, rather than rode in a limousine, to his inauguration.

The Middle East was at the center of his foreign policy. The 1979 peace accord, based on the Camp David Accords, ended the state of war between Egypt and Israel. Carter brought then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to Camp David, the presidential summer residence, for talks. Later, when it began to appear that the agreements were breaking down, he saved the day by going himself to Cairo and Jerusalem.

With the agreement, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and the two countries established diplomatic relations. Their two leaders were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

By 1980, however, the dominant issues were economic: double-digit inflation, interest rates exceeding 20%, the ever-increasing price of gas. At the same time, the Iran hostage crisis was embarrassing for America. These problems marred Carter’s presidency and undermined his chances for a second term.

The hostage crisis

On November 4, 1979, Islamic students loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stormed the US embassy in Tehran, took the Americans there hostage and demanded the return of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to his country to stand trial. The shah was being treated in the US at the time.

The Americans initially supported Carter, but the attempt to rescue the hostages in April 1980 resulted in the death of eight American soldiers. The final humiliation for the 39th president was that Iran released the hostages minutes after Reagan was sworn in as the new president on January 20, 1981.

In another crisis, Carter boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 to protest the then-USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. Disregarding the boycott, the Soviets remained in Afghanistan for a decade.

James Earl Carter Jr. was born on October 1, 1924 in Plains, Georgia. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, served in the nuclear submarine program, and left the military to manage the family’s peanut farm.

In 1946 he married his wife, Rosalyn, with whom he had three sons and a daughter. He called their marriage “the most important thing in his life.”

Carter became a millionaire, was elected to the Georgia State House, and then was elected governor of the State, between 1971-75.

He wrote more than 24 books, from his memoirs as president to children’s stories and poetry, as well as works on diplomacy and his religious faith.