Hands-on and modest: former President Carter dies

Hands-on and modest: former President Carter dies dpa • 5 hours • 5 minutes reading time Died at the age of 100: Jimmy Carter. He was down-to-earth, home-loving and modest. Jimmy Carter grew up on a farm in the southern US state of Georgia - without electricity or running water. This experience shaped him throughout his life. He learned to get stuck in. Even in old age, he helped wherever it was needed. Once he became dehydrated in the summer heat while building houses for poor families in Canada and ended up in hospital. The very next day he was back on the construction site. Carter was tireless. "Exciting, adventurous and satisfying life" The former US president dealt with his cancer diagnosis in 2015 in a similar way. "I had an exciting, adventurous and satisfying life," he said - and seemed completely at peace with himself. The former peanut farmer from the small town of Plains never made a big fuss about himself. And so it was above all the time after his presidency that brought him respect and recognition - unlike the sometimes unlucky years in the White House. Now Carter died on Sunday at the age of 100 surrounded by his family. Carter thus outlived his wife Rosalynn by a good year. She died in mid-November 2023 at the age of 96 - before that her health had deteriorated rapidly, she suffered from dementia, among other things. The Carters were married for 77 years. After the death of the former First Lady, Jimmy Carter announced through his foundation: "As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew that someone loved and supported me." She was also considered his political companion. Deeply marked by illness, half lying in a wheelchair, covered with a blanket, the 99-year-old paid his last respects to his wife at the funeral in Atlanta. Humiliations and triumphs Hardly any other US president has had to endure such humiliations and defeats during his presidency as this man - from the hostage drama in Tehran to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Even triumphs such as the Camp David peace agreement between Egypt and Israel paled in comparison. Later he made a name for himself as a mediator in crises and with humanitarian aid. He managed a kind of new start after his time in the White House. In 1982 he and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center in Atlanta to promote democracy, human rights and economic development - especially in poorer countries. Carter was involved as a mediator in peace efforts. In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this. His mother's values ​​were formative Carter entered politics as an outsider - and eventually came to Washington. The ex-president came from a humble background in the south of the country - a region characterized by the separation of people according to skin color. On his parents' farm he had a lot to do with black people, but his father saw people with white skin as superior. His mother Lilian, on the other hand, a nurse, was a completely different type of person and treated black people with respect. It was these values ​​of his mother that also shaped Carter's character - even if he did not initially publicly criticize the racist system of segregation between blacks and whites. It was only later in his career that he spoke out against discrimination. In the 1950s he ran his parents' peanut farm in Plains. Eventually the Democrat began to get involved in politics, initially at a local level. In 1971 he was elected governor of Georgia - in 1976 he ran against the Republican incumbent Gerald Ford for the White House. "Jimmy who?" many asked. Carter was hardly given any chances. But after the Watergate scandal, which ultimately drove Richard Nixon out of office, people in the country wanted change. Carter relied on this in the election campaign - and was successful. Coup after secret negotiations in Camp David The trained peanut farmer and nuclear engineer was considered a morally clean newcomer who was supposed to finally overcome the Nixon era. During his time in the White House, he was certainly successful. In September 1978, Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed two peace framework agreements - a sensational coup that Carter had arranged in secret negotiations in Camp David. A further step was the SALT II treaty to limit strategic armaments, which Carter and Soviet party leader Leonid Brezhnev signed in Vienna in June 1979. But during his time as US President from 1977 to 1981, Carter was often unlucky. His presidency was shaped above all by high consumer prices and the "shame of Tehran", which ultimately cost him re-election. At that time, Iranian students took dozens of Americans hostage during an attack on the US embassy. The drama dragged on for 444 agonizingly long days, the hostage takers had their prisoners parade blindfolded in front of the TV cameras. Carter's popularity ratings plummeted. In April 1980, Carter finally sent his elite soldiers to end the hostage crisis after more than five months. But the operation ended in a debacle. Eight soldiers were killed when a US helicopter crashed into a transport plane, the elite unit did not even reach Tehran and had to turn back. This sealed his defeat in the 1980 presidential election - Republican Ronald Reagan replaced Carter in the White House. Carter was completely duped when the hostages were released on the day of Reagan's swearing-in. It was a calculated humiliation. Painting and good wine For Carter, a new era began, one that he devoted entirely to his commitment to the good cause. "Certainly my reputation has improved in the years since my presidency," Carter said with a smile in a TV interview in 2006. And he kept joking that he probably wouldn't have founded the Carter Center if he had been re-elected. The political magazine "The Nation" wrote shortly before Carter's death: "Jimmy Carter is our greatest former president." He always remained loyal to his hometown of Plains. He moved back from the capital Washington to the small town with a few hundred inhabitants. But even apart from his humanitarian work, Carter was not bored: in his free time he painted oil paintings, wrote books, worked in his workshop and appreciated good wine. Voted for Harris in November And he didn't mince his words politically either. Carter said in 2019 that then-President Donald Trump was only in office because of alleged Russian influence on the 2016 election. Trump repeatedly criticized Carter. Carter, on the other hand, asked Democratic US President Joe Biden to give the eulogy. Carter already knew by then that he didn't have long to live. In February 2023, he wished to only receive palliative care. He wanted to spend the time he had left at home, surrounded by his family. Carter turned 100 at the beginning of October this year. In the US election in November, Carter cast his vote by mail for Democrat Kamala Harris. "My father was a hero - not just to me, but to all who believe in peace, human rights and selfless love," the foundation quoted Carter's son Chip as saying in the statement about his death.