( Spanish) – Former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgia peanut farmer who promised to restore morality and truth to politics after an era of White House scandals and who redefined post-presidential service, died Sunday at the age of 100.
When Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States, won the Nobel Peace Prize, it represented the culmination of an incredible career, as a world leader and as a citizen.
James Earl Carter was born on October 1, 1924. His father owned a farm store in Plains, Georgia. His mother was a nurse.
His intelligence and stamina earned him a place at the Naval Academy. After graduating in 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith. His naval career took him from warships to the new nuclear submarine program.
But when his father died in 1953, he left the military and returned to Georgia, where he spent twenty years managing the family peanut farm.
For many, Jimmy Carter was the classic example of a thoughtful man.
Until he ran and won as governor of Georgia, his only political experience had been on a school board. His closest friend and associate was presidential spokesman Jody Powell, who died in 2009.
“He liked people, talking to people. “I enjoyed those early days of the campaign when there was a lot more interaction with voters, more so than at the end, when it was a series of scheduled speeches to crowds,” Jody Powell said.
In 1976 Jimmy Carter defeated President Gerald Ford. On the day of his inauguration, he decided to get out of the bulletproof limousine and walk from the Capitol to the White House.
“We got out of the car. It was very cold, but I didn’t feel anything from the excitement. I never realized it was cold walking down Pennsylvania Avenue. It was fantastic,” said Rosalynn Carter, his wife.
Not everyone in Washington was happy to see it.
“In Washington there is even more snobbery than in New York. And Carter and the Georgians were treated very badly, with condescension and hostility. “If you have to find a fault with him, he responded with the same hostility,” said Tom Oliphant, who covered Washington for the Boston Globe.
At first there were accusations of excessive management, of too much attention to detail. “Jimmy Carter became an expert on a subject and led very effectively because of his detailed knowledge,” Oliphant said.
Those same presidential details led to the signing of the Camp David peace accords. And to the Panama Canal Treaty. To the deregulation of airlines and banks. To the lifting of oil price controls.
His most difficult days as president were, without a doubt, when Iranian militants took dozens of Americans hostage in Tehran in late 1979. They were held hostage for more than a year. And eight American soldiers died when Jimmy Carter ordered a rescue attempt.
After their defeat at the hands of Ronald Reagan, the hostages were released on Inauguration Day. And Jimmy Carter embarked on another great path.
“What has become clear over the years is that this is a man who has a unique commitment to public service. It is clearly their mission,” says Jody Powell.
Carter spent the rest of his life promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and economic and social development around the world.
Oversaw elections to ensure fairness.
He went to places and met people normally ignored by American leaders: the Kims in North Korea, Fidel Castro in Cuba.
And in the Middle East he met with representatives of Hamas, the Palestinian organization that both the United States and Israel classify as terrorist organizations.
A productive writer, in 2006 Carter published what would have been his most controversial book: Palestine, peace not apartheid.
Carter continued traveling, writing and building for Habitat for Humanity.
Always busy.
Always a little apart.
“God gives us the ability to choose: we can choose to alleviate suffering, we can choose to work together for peace, we can make those changes, we must,” Carter said.
Rest in peace.
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