Former President Jimmy Carter departs after the funeral service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter, at Maranatha Baptist Church, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Plains, Ga. The former first lady died on Nov. 19, 2023. File Photo by Alex Brandon/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 29 (UPI) — Visitors began arriving at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta Sunday evening to pay tribute to and share memories of the late President Jimmy Carter.
Carter, the longest-living president in U.S. history, died Sunday at his home in Georgia, according to his son. He was 100.
“He was someone who really cared for this country and tried to make it better for everyone,” said Jodie Taylor, who drove to the library from her home in the Atlanta suburbs to leave flowers. “He didn’t stop serving his country when he wasn’t re-elected. He just kept working for the poor and common people, through Habitat [for Humanity] and all the other work he did.”
Visitors laid flowers and at the center’s entrance, some paying homage to Carter’s legacy and calling him “truly altruistic.”
In addition to the Carter Center visitors paying their respects and sharing memories, tributes were also pouring in from people across the globe as well as friends and former colleagues on both sides of the political aisle in the United States.
“A remarkable person who was the epitome of the phrase ‘public service,'” the British journalist and commentator Piers Morgan said on social media. “I had the honor of interviewing him 3 times, and he was one of the wisest, smartest, most compassionate, modest, and human world leaders I’ve ever met. A great man.”
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang called him a “role model on so many levels” and “truly altruistic.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg lauded Carter both personally and professionally in a social media post not long after Carter’s death was announced.
“President Jimmy Carter’s leadership, intellect, and moral example ennobled our country, during and ever since his presidency,” Buttigieg posted on X.
“Today, we mourn the loss of one of our most humble and devoted public servants, President Jimmy Carter,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, wrote on X. “President Carter personified the true meaning of leadership through service, through compassion, and through integrity.”
Praise came from both sides of the political aisle for Carter, who was well liked by his allies, but by most of his political opponents, too.
“A devoutly religious peanut farmer from small-town Georgia volunteered to serve his country in uniform,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said in a statement.
“He found himself manning cutting-edge submarines hundreds of feet beneath the ocean. He returned home and saved the family farm before feeling drawn to a different sort of public service. And less than 15 years after his first campaign for the state Senate, his fellow Americans elected him leader of the free world.”
Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp praised Carter’s legacy, and noted the former president’s roots and his legacy in the state.
“As the only American president thus far to come from Georgia, he showed the world the impact our state and its people have on the country,” Kemp said. “And as a son of Plains, he always valued Georgians and the virtues of our state, choosing to return to his rural home after his time in public office.”
Another prominent and long serving Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, looked back on his time working with Carter.
“Pres Jimmy Carter was a man rooted in his faith The country grieves as we celebrate his life I had the honor of speaking at conf he hosted in Atlanta in 08 at his invitation We were bit by different political bug but hv much in common incl love of the Lord,” Grassley posted on X.
“President Carter lived his faith through his public life, and he had one of the most impactful post-presidencies in American history,” said Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. “Fran and I extended our sincerest condolences to President Carter’s children Jack, James, Donnel, and Amy, and his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle released a statement Sunday on social media, referencing to the many years Carter spent teaching Sunday school at his Plains, Ga. church.
“Some who came to hear him speak were undoubtedly there because of what President Carter accomplished in his four years in the White House,” former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama wrote in a statement Sunday upon Carter’s death.
“Others were likely there because of what President Carter accomplished in the longest, and most impactful, post-presidency in American history.”
“But I’m willing to bet that many people in that church on Sunday morning were there, at least in part, because of something more fundamental: President Carter’s decency,” the Obamas said.
The Obama’s statement also highlighted the former president’s record of having lived a life of grace, dignity, justice and service.
This is a developing story. Check back for further updates.
