Oct. 1 (UPI) — Jimmy Carter is turning 100 years old on Tuesday, the first president in U.S. history to do so.
The 39th and longest-living president is spending the day in his hometown Plains, Ga., with family, according to the Carter Center.
Celebrations of Carter began in September. On Sept. 17, the Fox Theater in Atlanta hosted “Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song.” It featured well wishes from every living president — aside from former President Donald Trump — as well as celebrities like Jon Stewart and Bob Dylan.
The event also featured musical performances by the B-52’s, Chuck Leavell of the Allman Brothers, D-Nice, Eric Church and others. It will air on Georgia Public Broadcasting on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Along with the celebration concert airing on GPB and streaming on its website on Tuesday, there will also be an event in Carter’s hometown and at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, where admission will be 100 cents — or $1. Visitors will be able to view 100 portraits of Carter as part of a special exhibit and can sign his birthday book.
Carter’s 100 years have been marked with a long history of service and philanthropy. After leaving the White House, he wanted to continue the work he started as president, so he and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center in 1982.
“They saw people on the road during their foreign travels that looked like the people they saw in Plains, Ga.,” Paige Alexander, Carter Center CEO, told UPI. “They wanted to use their voice to continue bringing people together on human rights issues and conflict resolution. As the center grew, global health and neglected tropical diseases were something they wanted to focus on.”
The Carter Center is a nonprofit organization that was founded in partnership with Emory University in Atlanta. It has helped establish health care in thousands of communities in Africa, reduce incidences of Guinea worm disease and advocated for peace in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
“[Carter] spent four years as an elected official in the highest office,” Alexander added. “He spent about 40 years establishing the Carter Center as a place we could convene and have expert discussions and try to resolve conflicts.”
In 2020, the Carter Center, with the former president’s approval, began focusing more of its efforts domestically.
“Our country had a lot of democratic backsliding, ripe for political violence that we’ve seen in 40 countries while monitoring 125 elections,” Alexander said. “That’s what you want in an organization. One that recognizes there’s a need to pivot, expand and grow. We needed to look at some of these conflict resolution plans we did in Mali and Sudan and we had to do them in Arizona and Georgia.”
Carter has also spent nearly 40 years volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. He donated at least a week of his time every year between 1984 and 2019 to working on Habitat for Humanity projects.
The last Habitat for Humanity project Carter volunteered on was in Nashville. The nonprofit organization built 21 homes for that project. Carter arrived on the work site sporting a black eye hours after a fall that resulted in him receiving 14 stitches.
During his presidency and beyond, Carter was a proponent of finding peaceful resolutions during times of conflict. One of his most notable achievements was arranging the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978. This established a plan for peace between Israel and Egypt.
Carter was raised on a family farm in Plains, Ga., that he ultimately took over. He farmed a variety of crops including peanuts, corn and sugarcane.
In 1946, Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. He is one of three presidents to graduate from a U.S. Military Academy, along with Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower, who both graduated from the West Point academy.
His turn in politics began in 1962 when he was elected to the state senate.
A Democrat, Carter would continue to climb the political ranks, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor in 1971. He served one term before running for president. In 1976, he defeated President Gerald Ford to become the 39th President of the United States.
Following his term in office, Carter continued to focus on his philanthropic efforts as well as passing on his knowledge as a professor at Emory University and author of more than 30 books.
In recent years Carter has experienced a number of health issues, most notably metastatic melanoma. The cancer spread to his brain, requiring treatment.
In 2019, Carter underwent hip surgery in the spring and had a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain from a subdural hematoma in the fall. He entered hospice care in February 2023, after deciding he would no longer receive treatment for metastatic melanoma.
As he reaches 100, the Carter Center continues to explore ways to expand the legacy of President Carter throughout the world.
“Under the President and Mrs. Carter’s legacy, when we look at things like mental health and the crisis in the U.S., we also see that as a global need,” Alexander said. “We’re looking at expanding those mental health programs and trying to take these lessons we’ve learned in Latin America and growing them to the continent of Africa. It’s just organic growth. That’s an important part of what the Carter Center does. We are amazed and fortunate to still have him around. Not only his legacy that he created but that he is around to see the successes of the Carter Center.”
