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U.S. NEWS Monday 2 october 2023

Jimmy Carter turns 99 at home with Rosalynn and other family as

tributes come from around the world

By BILL BARROW has changed over his life-
Associated Press time while still recognizing
ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy that certain political and
Carter has always been societal challenges en-
a man of discipline and dure.
habit. But the former presi- The Carter Center's dis-
dent broke routine Sunday, ease-eradication work oc-
putting off his practice of curs mostly in developing
quietly watching church countries. But Jimmy and
services online to instead Roslaynn Carter were first
celebrate his 99th birthday exposed to river blindness
with his wife, Rosalynn, and growing up surrounded by
their children, grandchil- the crushing poverty of the
dren and great-grandchil- rural Deep South during the
dren in Plains. Great Depression.
The gathering took place The Center's global de-
in the same one-story struc- mocracy advocacy has
ture where the Carters lived reached countries that
before he was first elected were still part of various Eu-
to the Georgia Senate in ropean empires when Cart-
1962. As tributes poured er was born in 1924 or were
in from around the world, under heavy American
it was an opportunity for Workers work on a wooden cake display on the North Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Sept. 30, influence in the decades
Carter's family to honor his 2023, in honor of former President Jimmy Carter's 99th birthday this weekend. after World War II. Yet in re-
personal legacy. Associated Press cent years, Carter has de-
"The remarkable piece to clared his own country to
me and I think to my family further medical treatments an to anchor a U.S. tele- did the Indigo Girls at a re- be more of an "oligarchy"
is that while my grandpar- and entering home hos- vision network's evening cent concert. than a well-functioning de-
ents have accomplished pice care after a series of news broadcast, praised In Atlanta, the Carter Li- mocracy. And the Center
so much, they have really hospitalizations. Yet Carter, Carter in a social media brary & Museum and adja- has since become involved
remained the same sort of who overcame cancer di- video for his "relentless ef- cent Carter Center held a in monitoring and tracking
South Georgia couple that agnosed at age 90 and fort every day to make the weekend of events, includ- U.S. elections.
lives in a 600-person village learned to walk after hav- world a better place." ing the citizenship ceremo- Carter has lived long
where they were born," ing his hip replaced at age She pointed to Carter's ny. The museum offered enough finally to have a
said grandson Jason Cart- 94, defied all odds again. work to eradicate Guinea 99-cent admission Satur- genuine friend in the Oval
er, who chairs the board at "If Jimmy Carter were a worm disease and river day. The commemoration Office again. President
The Carter Center, which tree, he'd be an tower- blindness, while advocat- there was able to continue Joe Biden was a young
his grandparents founded ing, old Southern oak," said ing for peace and democ- Sunday only because Con- Delaware politician in 1976
in 1982 after leaving the Donna Brazile, a former racy in scores of countries. gress came to an agree- and became the first U.S.
White House a year earlier. Democratic national chair- She noted he has written 32 ment to avoid a partial senator to endorse Carter's
Despite being global fig- person and presidential books and worked for de- government shutdown at campaign against better-
ures, the younger Carter campaign manager who cades with Habitat for Hu- the start of the federal fis- known Washington figures.
said his grandparents have got her start on Carter's manity building houses for cal year, which coincides Now, as Biden seeks reelec-
always "made it easy for us, campaigns. "He's as good low-income people. with Carter's birthday. tion in 2024, he faces the
as a family, to be as normal as they come and tough as "Oh, yeah, and you were Jason Carter said his grand- headwinds of inflation that
as we can be." they come." governor of Georgia. And father has found it "gratify- Republicans openly com-
At The Carter Center in At- Jill Stuckey, a longtime did I mention president ing" to see reassessments pare to Carter's economy.
lanta, meanwhile, 99 new Plains resident who visits the of the United States?" she of his presidency. Cart- Biden had a wooden birth-
American citizens, who former first couple regu- joked. "When are you go- er's term often has been day cake display placed
came from 45 countries, larly, cautioned to "never ing to stop slacking off?" broad-brushed as a failure on the White House front
took the oath of allegiance underestimate Jimmy and Bill Clinton, the 42nd presi- because of inflation, glob- law to honor Carter.
as part of a naturalization Rosalynn Carter." dent and first Democratic al fuel shortages and the The year Carter was born,
ceremony timed for the for- His latest resilience has al- president after Carter's holding of American hos- Congress passed sweep-
mer president's birthday. lowed Carter a rare privi- landslide defeat, showed tages in Iran, a confluence ing immigration restrictions,
"This is so impressive, and I'm lege even for presidents: no signs of the chilly re- that led to Republican Ron- sharply curtailing Ellis Island
so happy for it to be here," He's been able to enjoy lationship the two fellow ald Reagan's 1980 romp. as a portal to the nation.
said Tania Martinez after months of accolades typi- Southerners once had. Yet Carter's focus on diplo- Now, the naturalization
the ceremony. A 53-year- cally reserved for when a "Jimmy! Happy birthday," macy, his emphasis on the ceremony to mark Carter's
old nurse in Roswell, Marti- former White House resi- Clinton said in his video environment before the cli- 99th birthday comes as
nez was born in Cuba and dent dies. The latest round message. "You only get mate crisis was widely ac- Washington continues a
came to the U.S. from Gha- includes a flood of messag- to be 99 once. It's been a knowledged and his focus decades-long fight over
na 12 years ago. es from world leaders and long, good ride, and we on efficient government immigration policy. Repub-
"Now, I will be free forever," pop culture figures donning thank you for your service — his presidency added licans, especially, have
she said, tears welling. "Jimmy Carter 99" hats, with and your friendship and a relative pittance to the moved well to the right of
Celebrating the longest- many of them focusing on the enduring embodiment national debt — have gar- Reagan, who in 1986 signed
lived U.S. president this way Carter's four decades of of the American dream." nered second looks from a sweeping amnesty policy
was inconceivable not global humanitarian work Musician Peter Gabriel led historians. for millions of immigrants
long ago. The Carters an- after leaving the Oval Of- concertgoers at Madison Indeed, Carter's longevity who were in the country il-
nounced in February that fice. Square Garden in a rendi- offers a frame to illuminate legally or had no sure legal
their patriarch was forgoing Katie Couric, the first wom- tion of "Happy Birthday," as both how much the world path to citizenship.q