Former United States president Jimmy Carter became the only American president to ever reach the centennial mark as he celebrated his 100th birthday on Tuesday.
The former peanut farmer and one-time Georgia governor, known for a strong sense of modest decency, is set to celebrate his milestone in Plains, Georgia — a rural hamlet with a population of approximately 600 — over 19 months after announcing he was going into hospice care.
The Democratic ex-president will spend his birthday in the home he and his late wife Rosalynn had built in Plains in the 1960s as he will no longer be regularly appearing in public.
It will include a lunch with some 20 members of his extended family, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We are thrilled that the president from this little town is going to be the only president to ever live to be 100 years old,” Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the National Park Service’s Jimmy Carter historical site and longtime family friend, told AFP.
She spoke from Plains High School, where Carter graduated in 1941 and which now serves as the visitors center for the national park that features sites from his early life, such as the nearby peanut farm where he grew up.
On Tuesday, the school will hold not just an evening concert featuring local and other musicians but also a naturalisation ceremony for 100 new US citizens.
The flyover, which includes four Navy F-18s, according to Stuckey, is particularly fitting since Carter worked on the Navy’s nuclear submarine programme, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He should be able to see it from home.
Tributes for the former US leader have already begun pouring in, with President Joe Biden calling Carter “a moral force for our nation and the world” in a video statement on CBS over the weekend.
“Your commitment to a better world, and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us,” Biden said.
Beyond serving as president for a single term from 1977 to 1981, Carter worked as a global mediator, rights activist and elder statesman, founding the well-respected Carter Center in 1982 to pursue his vision of world diplomacy.
His presidency included the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, establishment of diplomatic relations with China following a rapprochement initiated by president Richard Nixon, and return of control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
But his administration hit numerous snags, including the Iran hostage crisis and a renewed oil crisis in 1979-1980.
“Healthy habits and his faith are a lot of the reasons why he is still with it today,” Stuckey said, referencing Carter’s penchant for fresh food and exercise.
Carter’s family revealed that he remains keenly interested in politics and was highly motivated to make it to 100 to vote in the November election for fellow Democrat Kamala Harris.
“He will be voting by mail-in ballot,” Stuckey said, adding “he’s always been very politically active, and nothing has changed with that respect.”
In Plains, far more yard signs support Republican Donald Trump than Harris. But it is also not uncommon to see a sign celebrating Carter’s centennial birthday next to one supporting Trump.
