President Jimmy Carter leans across the roof of his car to shake hands along the parade route through Bardstown, Ky., on July 31, 1979. The president climbed on top of the car as the parade moved toward the high school gym, where a town meeting was held. (Bob Daugherty/AP)
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023 after several hospital stays, forgoing further medical treatments to stop the spread of melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
The former president started from humble beginnings as a peanut farmer on his family’s farm just outside of his birthplace and beloved Plains, a place that helped shape his political career and philanthropy work.
Out of all of his accomplishments, Carter said the best thing he ever did was marry fellow Plains native Rosalynn Smith in 1946. Rosalynn Carter died on Nov. 19, 2023, shortly after entering hospice following a dementia diagnosis.
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Carter, a Democrat, took office as the 39th U.S. president in January 1977. During his one term in the White House, he decreased the budget deficit, became a trailblazer for green energy, negotiated the Panama Canal treaties, brokered the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, created millions of jobs and the Education Department, brought diversity to the federal bench and diverted a nuclear disaster.
In 2002, Carter became the third president to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work, both during and after his presidency, in helping to resolve international conflicts, advancing social welfare and campaigning for human rights.
After Carter lost reelection, he and Rosalynn moved back to Plains, lived in a modest home and were commonly spotted by the town's hundreds of residents. From there, Carter helped to build, renovate and repair 4,300 homes in a long-lasting relationship with Habitat for Humanity, as well as raising funding for construction.
Here’s a look at the former president’s life in photos.
A portrait of President Jimmy Carter as a young boy in Georgia, circa 1920s. (Corbis via Getty Images)
Jimmy Carter is shown at age 6, with his sister, Gloria, 4, in 1931 in Plains, Ga. (AP)
Lt. Jimmy Carter (top center) peers at instruments on submarine USS K-1 in 1952. (AP)
Georgia state Sen. Jimmy Carter with his wife, Rosalynn, at his Atlanta campaign headquarters in 1966. (AP)
Jimmy Carter looks up while shoveling peanuts on a peanut farm, 1970s. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Former state Sen. Jimmy Carter listens to applause at the Capitol in Atlanta on April 3, 1970, after announcing his candidacy for governor. In the background, his wife, Rosalynn, holds daughter Amy. Carter finished third in the 1966 Democratic primary behind Lester Maddox and Ellis Arnall. (Charles Kelly/AP)
Judge Robert H. Jordan administers the oath of office to Gov. Jimmy Carter during ceremonies at the state Capitol in Atlanta on Jan. 12, 1971. Next to the judge is former Gov. Lester Maddox, who would take over as lieutenant governer of Georgia. (AP)
Gov. Jimmy Carter at his desk in Atlanta in February 1971. (AP)
Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter joins a half-dozen Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall in New York in 1973 while visiting backstage before a performance. Carter was in New York to induce the film industry to make movies in his state. (AP)
Four-month-old Joseph Sumner of Wrightsville, Ga., is not to willing to pose for a picture as Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter exits Plains Baptist Church after having attended church services. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter eats barbecued chicken with his brother, Billy, at Billy's gas station in Plains, Ga., in September 1976. (AP)
Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter drew about 5,000 people in Youngstown, Ohio, in his quest for support in the Ohio Democratic primary in June 1976. (AP)
Rosalynn Carter and Jimmy Carter at his inauguration on Jan. 20, 1977, in Washington, D.C. (Images Press/Getty Images)
President Jimmy Carter, with his wife, Rosalynn, and daughter, Amy, after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 1977. The Carters elected to walk the parade route from the Capitol to the White House. (Suzanne Vlamis/AP)
President Carter, the first lady and daughter Amy wave to guests at the Pension Building, where they attended the first of seven inaugural parties on Jan. 20, 1977. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
President Carter holds his first Cabinet meeting on Jan. 24, 1977, in the White House. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
President Carter smiles as Panama's military leader General Omar Torrijos embraces him after the two leaders signed the ratified Panama Canal treaties on June 16, 1978. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Carter greets Bill Clinton, the newly elected governor of Arkansas, on Dec. 1, 1978. (Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the North Lawn of the White House after signing the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979. (Bob Daugherty/AP)
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter have a private chat in the Soviet Embassy in Vienna, Austria, on June 8, 1979. (TASS via Getty Images)
College student Chuck McManis watches President Jimmy Carter's nationally televised energy speech from a service station in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 15, 1979, as a gas station attendant fills up a customer's car. (Mao/AP)
President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter relax on the deck of the Delta Queen in Mississippi, Aug. 20, 1979, as they sail south of the Mississippi River. (Thumma/AP)
President Jimmy Carter applauds as Sen. Edward Kennedy waves to cheering crowds at the Democratic National Convention in New York's Madison Square Garden, Aug. 14, 1980. (Bob Daugherty/AP)
President Jimmy Carter accepts the Democratic nomination for president at the 1980 convention. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
President Jimmy Carter concedes defeat in the presidential election as he addresses a group of Carter-Mondale supporters in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 1980. Standing behind Carter is his wife, Rosalynn, and at right is their daughter, Amy. In the background, in partial view behind Carter, is Rev. Jesse Jackson. (Barry Thumma/AP)
Republican President-elect Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy standing with President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn outside the White House. (Diana Walker/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Former President Jimmy Carter uses a power saw to trim a porch floor while working on a Habitat for Humanity house on June 16, 1997, in Pikeville, Ky. (Ed Reinke/AP)
Former President Jimmy Carter smiles after receiving the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize during a ceremony in the Oslo City Hall in Norway on Dec. 10, 2002. (Bjoern Sigurdson/AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Jimmy Carter waves to internally displaced women at a water point in Kebkabiya town in North Darfur, Sudan, on Oct. 3, 2007. (Mohamed Nureldin Abdalla/Reuters)
President-elect Barack Obama is welcomed by President George W. Bush for a meeting at the White House on Jan. 7, 2009, along with former presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Former President Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visit a polling center in Juba, Sudan, on Jan. 9, 2011, the first day of an independence referendum in the southern part of Sudan. (Pete Muller/AP)
Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga, on June 8, 2014. (John Bazemore/AP)
Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., on Aug. 23, 2015. (David Goldman/AP)
Former President Jimmy Carter holds hands with his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, as they work with other volunteers on-site during the first day of the weeklong Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, their 35th work project with Habitat for Humanity, on Aug. 27, 2018, in Mishawaka, Ind. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP)
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