By Agency Report
Former US President, Jimmy Carter is 100 years old today, October 1, reaching a longevity milestone no US president has ever attained.
Carter hit the milestone Tuesday at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he has been receiving hospice care for the last 19 months.
Born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, he was elected the 39th president of the United States in 1976.
He shares incredible birth anniversary with Nigeria that gained Independence from the British colonialists on October 1, 1960, 36 years older than the richest black country in the world,
After serving as both Senator and governor of Georgia, Carter sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1976, running as a centrist reformer at a time when the country was still grappling with a crisis of confidence in government following the Watergate scandal.
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Carter and running-mate Walter Mondale of Minnesota defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford by a margin of 297 to 241 electoral votes.
Carter served one term in the White House, from 1977 to 1981, during which he presided over the Camp David Accords that ended years of conflict between Israel and Egypt, made human rights integral to U.S. foreign policy and took a hard line against the defunct Soviet Union.
After losing his bid for re-election to Ronald Reagan, Carter helped turn Habitat for Humanity into a worldwide force for good. And he established the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights, an effort that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
At 100 years old, Carter has long outlived his closest rival as the longest-living ex-president, former President George H.W. Bush died in November 2018 at the age of 94.
Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford both passed away at the age of 93, while John Adams and Herbert Hoover lived to age 90.
Carter marked his 100th birthday 10 days after his life and legacy was celebrated with a star-studded concert at the Fox Theater in Atlanta that featured performances of “Love Shack” by Georgia’s own B-52’s and covers of some of the best-known songs by The Allman Brothers.
Not in attendance at his 100th birthday bash was the love of his long life, his wife, Rosalynn Carter, who died last November at 96.
After his term in office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn spent decades working with the Carter Center which they co-founded in 1982 to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope.”
He went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, as he was recognised for his “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”.
His grandson, Jason, spoke to ITV’s Good Morning Britain and said his grandfather hopes to see Vice President Harris defeat Donald Trump in the forthcoming presidential election.
Jason Carter said: “He [Jimmy] said yes, I’m excited for my 100th birthday but I’m really excited to vote for Kamala Harris.
“I think he’d be frustrated [if Trump was elected] but it’s a democracy and your candidate can’t always win.
“I believe in this one that the state of Georgia is going to vote for the Vice President and I think the country is going to as well,” Jason Carter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I think it would be an incredible arc of a life for one of his last acts to be to help elect a black woman as President of the United States,” he added.
