Joe Biden led congratulations on Tuesday to Jimmy Carter on his 100th birthday, a milestone that makes Carter the first former US president to become a centenarian.
Carter entered hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, 19 months ago. His grandson, Jason Carter, has said the former president is eager to cast his ballot for Kamala Harris, a fellow Democrat, in the presidential election.
The White House paid tribute with a display of big lettering declaring “Happy Birthday President Carter” and the number 100 outside the north portico. Carter has asked Biden to eulogise him at his state funeral when the time comes.
In a statement Biden, 81, who was the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s 1976 election campaign, said his predecessor has always been “a moral force for our nation and the world”.
He added: “Your hopeful vision of our country, 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.”
Barack Obama posted a video message on the social media platform X that said: “Happy 100th birthday, President Carter! Thank you for your friendship, your fundamental decency, and your incredible acts of service through the @CarterCenter. Michelle and I are grateful for all you’ve done for this country.”
About 25 family members filled Carter’s home on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, enjoying cupcakes on the front lawn while second world war planes flew over in his honour.
Chip Carter said his father’s next goal is to make it to election day. “He’s plugged in,” Chip told the AP. “I asked him two months ago if he was trying to live to be 100 and he said, no, I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris.”
Tributes flowed all day. Former president Bill Clinton tweeted: “Jimmy Carter’s long, good life is a testament to love, work, and faith, and an enduring beacon to all people working to make better tomorrows. Happy 100th birthday, Mr. President.”
Jonathan Alter, author of the biography His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, told the Guardian: “It’s just wonderful to see that he is alive for the reassessment that I and others attempted almost a decade ago when I started this project. I wanted to contribute to a better understanding of who he is and what he accomplished. He’s lived long enough to see that he’s now appreciated.”
Alter added: “As journalists we judge politicians by how they’re doing politically, how popular they are, but as historians we have a different responsibility and that is to judge them by how they changed the country and the world. And by that latter standard, he’s getting the revival that we all hoped. It’s nice to see and great he’s lived to see it.”
Carter, who has lived longer than any US president in history, served a single term from January 1977 to January 1981 and was beleaguered by high inflation and the Iran hostage crisis. But more recently historians have argued that his record deserves reappraisal and he was ahead of his time in calling for action to tackle the climate crisis.
His decades of humanitarian work after leaving office, including the promotion of human rights and alleviating poverty in countries around the world, earned him the Nobel peace prize in 2002.
His birthday is being marked by the broadcast of a tribute concert by stars of country, rock and gospel music recorded at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre last month. The concert raised more than $1m towards the international programme of the Carter Center, which he founded with his wife, Rosalynn Carter. The former president plans to tune in to the concert on Georgia Public Broadcasting, according to his grandson Jason Carter.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were married for 77 years. Rosalynn Carter died in November last year and the former president was last seen in public at his wife’s funeral, where he used a wheelchair and appeared frail. He has been diagnosed with cancer and other health issues, and decided to end medical intervention and enter hospice care in February 2023.
Carter is expected to mark his birthday in the same one-storey home that he and Rosalynn built in the early 1960s – before his first election to the Georgia state senate. He taught Sunday school at his hometown Baptist church in Plains until a few years ago.
Jason Carter, who is chair of the Carter Center governing board, told the Associated Press: “Not everybody gets 100 years on this earth, and when somebody does, and when they use that time to do so much good for so many people, it’s worth celebrating.
“These last few months, 19 months, now that he’s been in hospice, it’s been a chance for our family to reflect and then for the rest of the country and the world to really reflect on him. That’s been a really gratifying time.”
Early voting in Georgia begins on 15 October, two weeks into Carter’s 101st year. Jason Carter added: “When we started asking him about his 100th birthday, he said he was excited to vote for Kamala Harris.”
The Carters have worked with the non-profit group Habitat for Humanity International since the 1980s, and the ex-president has regularly joined other volunteers to help build homes for people affected by poverty or disasters.
This week, to mark Carter’s birthday, scores of Habitat volunteers, including country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, will build 30 homes in St Paul, Minnesota.
Jonathan Reckford, Habitat’s chief executive officer, said: “The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project serves not only as a way to honor the Carters’ legacy, but also as a reminder of what is possible when people from all walks come together to work toward one common goal.”
