Former United States President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on Tuesday, an unprecedented birthday for a former American president.
The Democrat, tenant of the White House between 1977 and 1981, celebrated this anniversary with his family in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, in the southeast of the United States, where he returned to live after his departure from the White House.
“It’s South Georgia, so you know, we ate grilled chicken and grilled cheese sandwiches, and then we had lively family discussions,” one of his grandsons said, Josh Carter.
Several American and foreign political figures, including former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, sent him their best wishes.
“Happy 100 years! You have always been a moral force for our country,” greeted President Joe Biden in a video.
AFP
Speaking of a “dear friend” with a career marked by his “commitment to a better world” and “moral clarity”, the president confided: “I admire you so much.”
Kamala Harris, vice-president and Democratic candidate in the November 5 presidential election, assured that the world was “so much better thanks to (her) leadership, (her) work and (her) commitment to peace, decency and democracy.
King Charles III, for his part, sent a private message to the former president, expressing his “great admiration”, according to Buckingham Palace.
In addition, the Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, proclaimed “Jimmy Carter Day” across the state, currently devastated by Hurricane Helene which left at least 130 dead across the country and caused catastrophic flooding. .
“He did a lot”
A former peanut planter and governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976 in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, a political espionage affair that cost Republican Richard Nixon the presidency.
Artisan of the Camp David agreements which led, in 1979, to the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Jimmy Carter, occupied a special place in the American political landscape, tarnished however by the American hostage crisis in Iran in 1979-1980.
He was a one-term president, with Republican Ronald Reagan defeating him in the 1980 vote.
In Plains, a rural town of around 600 inhabitants, Jimmy Carter remained a “hero”. On Tuesday, a 100-person naturalization ceremony and military flypast were held in his honor.
AFP
Military planes flew over the village, where the former president has benefited from home care since February 2023, after a series of hospitalizations.
“It’s a moment that everyone will remember,” Adriana Vickers, a forty-year-old who has just been naturalized, told AFP. “He did a lot for America,” greets this woman from Brazil, adding: “He united everyone”
November election
After leaving the presidency, Jimmy Carter created his foundation in 1982 to promote development, health and conflict resolution throughout the world, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his “tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.
Suffering from health problems, he has faded from public life in recent years and has only made rare public outings, notably at the end of 2023 on the occasion of the national tribute to his wife and faithful traveling companion Rosalynn , died at the age of 96.
The former leader, however, continues to follow politics closely, according to those close to him, to whom he confided that he wanted to “hold on to be able to vote for Kamala Harris” in the November election, which will pit the vice-president against former President Donald Trump.
In the Plains gardens, however, the signs supporting Republican Donald Trump are more numerous than those for Democrat Kamala Harris.
A departure which is, however, not very surprising in this rural region, where the white evangelical population is significant.
But, unique to Plains, it is not uncommon to see the names of Trump and Carter coexist there. Here and there, panels celebrating the centenary of the former Democratic president and others calling to vote for the Republican in November are attached.
