Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 23 March 2019
Jimmy Carter’s new milestone: Longest-lived U.S. president

By BILL BARROW forged a historic Middle
Associated Press East peace deal at Camp
ATLANTA (AP) — Nearly David and tried to manage
four decades after voters a hostage crisis that sealed
unceremoniously reject- his one-term fate has a sim-
ed then-President Jimmy ple answer whenever he’s
Carter’s bid for a second asked to recount the best
term, the 39th president or most significant decision
has reached a milestone he’s ever made: “Asking
that electoral math cannot Rosalynn to marry me.”
dispute: He is now the lon- The former president and
gest-living chief executive first lady still live in Plains,
in American history. Georgia, a town of about
Friday is the 172nd day be- 750 where they were born,
yond Carter’s 94th birth- raised and married 73 years
day, exceeding by one ago, weeks after the future
day the lifespan of former commander in chief grad-
President George H.W. uated from the U.S. Naval
Bush, who died Nov. 30 at Academy.
the age of 94 years, 171 A devout Christian, Jimmy
days. Both men were born Carter regularly teaches
in 1924: Bush on June 12, Sunday school at Ma-
Carter on Oct. 1. ranatha Baptist Church,
It’s yet another post-presi- drawing hundreds of visitors
dency distinction for Cart- to Plains for each session.
er, whose legacy since In this March 27, 2018 file photo, former President Jimmy Carter speaks during a funeral service for The Carters pose for pic-
leaving office has long former and former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, in Atlanta. tures with each attendee.
overshadowed both his Associated Press Though he sometimes de-
rocky White House tenure fies medical odds, com- ebrations planned,” said The center’s decades of emphasizes his elected ca-
and the remarkable po- ing more than three years Deanna Congileo, spokes- public health advocacy, reer, living so long after his
litical rise that led him from after Carter announced woman for the former election-monitoring and presidency is allowing Cart-
his family peanut farm and he had melanoma that president and The Carter conflict resolution around er a resurgence of sorts in
a state Senate seat to the had spread to his liver and Center, which Carter and the world have redefined Democratic politics.
governor’s mansion and his brain. He underwent treat- his wife, Rosalynn, now 91, the role of former presi- Two current presidential
unlikely presidential victory ment and received a clean founded in Atlanta in 1982 dents, who before Carter candidates, Sens. Cory
in 1976. bill of health. to focus on global human often retired to relative ob- Booker of New Jersey and
The achievement also de- “There are no special cel- rights issues. scurity. “We at The Carter Amy Klobuchar of Minneso-
Center sure are rooting for ta, have ventured to Plains
him and grateful for his long to meet with the Carters.
life of service that has ben- The former president has
efited millions of the world’s hosted Bernie Sanders, a
poorest people,” Congileo 2016 and 2020 presidential
said. Seemingly downplay- candidate, for a panel at
ing his political career, The Carter Center — and
Carter has for years char- Carter told the audience
acterized the center’s work that he voted for Sanders
as his defining professional over Hillary Clinton in the
achievement — though, of 2016 Democratic primary.
course, having been a U.S. He hosted and endorsed
president is what allowed Georgia Democrat Stacey
him the stature to establish Abrams in her unsuccessful
the center. bid for Georgia governor
“I spent four of my ninety last year.
years in the White House, Georgia Democrats say
and they were, of course, they expect more presi-
the pinnacle of my politi- dential candidates to
cal life,” Carter wrote in a make a Plains pilgrimage.
memoir published on his As for what’s next, Carter
90th birthday. “Those years, has at least one more ac-
though, do not dominate complishment on his mind,
my chain of memories, and pointing often to The Cart-
there was never an order- er Center’s long-running
ly or planned path to get effort to eliminate Guinea
there during my early life.” worm disease, a parasitic
Rather, he continued, infection attributed to poor
“Teaching, writing and drinking water.
helping The Carter Center There were 3.5 million cas-
evolve ... seem to consti- es in 21 countries in 1986,
tute the high points in my when the Carter Center
life.” began its eradication pro-
And the man who once gram. In 2018, there were
held the U.S. nuclear codes, 28 cases worldwide.q