Happy 98th birthday, President Carter! Your dedication to public service and the work you and the @CarterCenter have done to lift up others is an example we should all follow. pic.twitter.com/3bJl9RyUN0
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 1, 2022
(Technically, it was yesterday, but who’s counting?)
Happy 98th Birthday to President Jimmy Carter, one of the best human beings in existence. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/7knQsFCC6x
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) October 1, 2022
Per the Washington Post:
Former president Jimmy Carter celebrated his 98th birthday Saturday by seeing family members, taking calls and greeting well-wishers who came for a parade in Plains, Ga., the small town where he began his improbable campaign for the nation’s highest office nearly half a century ago.
“Friends are calling, and family are around,” Jill Stuckey, the superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park and a family friend, said after visiting the former president Saturday morning. “He is remarkable.”…
After leaving Washington, he spent decades promoting human rights and democracy around the world, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. The Nobel committee cited “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
Until recently, he taught Sunday school in his local church. Carter has overcome serious health problems, including in 2015 when he was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain. After treatment, doctors said he defied the odds and announced later that year that he was cancer-free…
Last year, the Carters celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. The two are rarely apart, and they were in their living room, together, speaking with family and friends on his birthday.
Jimmy Carter celebrates his 98th birthday at a parade in his hometown of Plains, Georgia! pic.twitter.com/LwTDmN84rR
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) October 1, 2022
Happy 98th Birthday to President Jimmy Carter. Wishing you a great day filled with Georgia peaches and peanuts! pic.twitter.com/AGf4K0wzZL
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) October 1, 2022
Wishing a very happy 98th birthday to an inspiring leader and humanitarian, President Carter.
📸: AJC/Alyssa Pointer pic.twitter.com/cqrCcq1D4K
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) October 1, 2022
Today President Jimmy Carter turns 98.
A reminder that as a brain cancer survivor, he once broke his hip, fell at home, received 14 stitches, then still showed up a couple days later to help build houses for Habitat for Humanity.
He was 95 at the time.pic.twitter.com/UgYxyD7Nge
— Goodable (@Goodable) October 1, 2022
In his farewell address, 1981, Carter warned Americans to protect “our simple and our most precious possessions—the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land which sustains us….If we do not act, the world of…2000 will be much less able to sustain life than…now.”
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) October 2, 2022
Baud
I would hold his coat.
hueyplong
To Dems: Jimmy Carter’s 98th is just a reminder that it doesn’t matter how centrist, non-controversial, or non-edgy a Democratic candidate is. The GOPers will demonize anyway.
To GOPer incels: Hunter Biden is in bed with your ex right now, typing her number into his laptop.
brantl
There might be a better person somewhere than Jimmy Carter, I would very much like to meet him, though I doubt his existence. I would like to meet him after President Carter, as I should certainly need to practice grace, at the most extreme, before meeting either of them.
WereBear
He’s in my Top Ten of Presidents!
evap
My first vote ever was for Carter. I turned 18 in the summer of 1976 and voted for him that November.
NotMax
Peanuts one of the secrets to long life?
hells littlest angel
There’s satisfaction to be had in outliving your critics.
prostratedragon
Sometimes more than one day is needed.🎂🌲🌲
Raven
Jimmah!
Jeffro
I went and re-watched that SNL skit where Murray and Ackroyd play Cronkite and Carter, taking radio call-ins. “Orange sunshine” – too funny!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I’ve said it before: Jimmy Carter wasn’t the best President of my lifetime, but I feel confident in saying that he’s the best human being to occupy the Oval Office since Abraham Lincoln. (I’d give Obama and Biden the silver and bronze for within my lifetime, but I’m not sure in which order.)
p.a.
I remember late ’75 or early ’76 telling a friend I wasn’t going to the Allman Bros. concert because some of the $$$ was going to a primary candidate who had no chance of winning. I’ve been spot on like that with my political prognostications ever since. Also too I wasn’t even voting age for the ’76 election 🤔😂
HinTN
@Raven: Mizzou gave yer Dawgs all they wanted, didn’ they.
hueyplong
@p.a.: I remember being very happy that the Republican party had narrowly avoided a takeover by extremists in ’76 when Ford held off Reagan, and being sure that, due to his age, Reagan was done.
So I’m also one-stop shopping for dead-on assessments and predictions.
Ladyraxterinok
Wasn’t it George Will who praised Reagan’s performance in the debates only to have it revealed years later that Will had coached Reagan in preparation for the debates??
Cheating seems to be built into the Republican DNA
Patricia Kayden
President Carter is such a decent human being. He left office with no drama. Didn’t send his supporters to storm the Capitol to overthrow an election. Has helped people all over the world with voting and houses. Hope he has many years left.
JML
@Ladyraxterinok: It was Will. But I think it came out months later, not years, after the election. Will was unrepentant, but at least got mocked in Doonesbury.
Carter did some things well as president, but was in a tough situation economically and Hill Democrats were a different animal back then too, and Carter didn’t manage those relationships well either. Carter was also the one who re-set the relationship of the president & vice-president, smartly giving Mondale a real role and portfolio and treating him like a partner and ally, not just someone to send to state funerals. Carter set the model for what could be done with a post-presidency life, a standard that really no one else has come near.
A remarkable life.
catclub
@hueyplong:
The GOP explanation for the 2008 financial crisis was the 1977 CRA – Community Reinvestment Act. never mind that the new – unfinanced mortgage brokers didn’t even have to follow it – banks did.
geg6
Best human this country has produced in my lifetime. Just the very spirit of his faith.
Met him once, before I could actually vote, during the ‘76 campaign. He campaigned here and there was a big event held by the Steelworkers. So Southern, with his graciousness and accent, mingling with all these burly Yinzers from Beaver County. I served him some cake and he was sweet as pie. Loved him ever since.
Baud
@catclub:
A thirty year ticking time bomb.
The Golux
I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention Carter’s contribution to eradicating Guinea Worm disease.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Nicole
Carter is the light I think of when right-wingers are particularly wearing to my secular soul with their screaming bigotry set to the rhythm of them thumping their (unread) Bibles. I love this quote of his:
“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I’m free to choose what that something is, and the something I’ve chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Nicole: I was just thinking about how Carter is a man who lives his faith. And that is so much more inspiring than most of the preachers
satby
@Nicole: ssuh a great quote I had to share it, thanks!
oatler
Jimmy is a demigod in the GOP that can be blamed for everything since 1965. There is a generation raised during Reagan’s rule who were given the Catechisms that the 1970s were full of sluggish coked-out orgy masters causing inflation and Iranian violence. I read articles by this generation’s grandchildren who reference Carter with contempt while praising “Stranger Things”. This nostalgia porn doesn’t reference AIDs, union -busting, farm foreclosures, unemployment, or Nicaragua. “Stranger Things” has an Upside-Down”\ without Contras or Nancy with her Just Say No shoulder pads. It’s a love letter to John Hughes and Morning In America.
mali muso
@The Golux: For this reason he is very beloved in Mali. I had the good fortune to meet him twice while I was a peace corps volunteer there as he and Rosalyn traveled there frequently to check in on the project. Whenever they were in country, they made a point of reaching out to the peace corps director to invite volunteers to the ambassador’s residence for a little reception. Huge highlight of my service. They made us all proud to be Americans during a time when being one abroad (Bush 2’s Iraq misadventures) was not easy.
Skepticat
I agree completely. It’s painful to see the antithesis of these good people invading our governments and lives.
Soprano2
@catclub: I always shook my head at that and said “No way a law that old caused this situation, maybe it was all those high interest loans they gave to people who couldn’t pay them even though they qualified for a much lower interest rate.” The problem with the 2008 mortgage crisis was that it was complicated and thus hard to explain. Blaming it on giving loans to “those people” was much simpler, even if it was completely wrong. I wish everyone had been required to listen to “The Giant Pool of Money” by This American Life; it was the best “explainer” for what happened that I ever heard.
Jimmy and Rosalyn are the kind of people who are rare in this world. They should be celebrated.
UncleEbeneezer
So this has been a crazy emotional roller coaster. Yesterday MIL’s health took a bad turn and her Physician’s Assistant called and told us that her oxygen levels were low, there was fluid in her lungs and there was a good chance she might have to go back on intubation. If that was the case there is a very high probability that she never regains consciousness. Without intubation, things could go downhill very fast. Remember that we were supposed to be going to the Eastern Sierra for Fall Color. We had already modified our vacation plan to a different campground where we would know that we’d have decent cell phone service in case of emergency. So anyways, my wife had to try to explain the dire situation to her Dad. Somehow, he hadn’t had a conversation yet with her Mom about what she would want if this sort of scenario came up again, as was very likely. My wife laid it all out for Mom and essentially had a last conversation with her. Mom was going to think about it and make a decision and we were going to hear back from her transplant surgeon in an hour or so. So we cancelled our campsite reservation and our vacation (for like the fourth time in the past couple years, most due to Covid waves). Finally Dad calls us and puts the nurse on the phone who tells us things have gotten better and Mom’s O2 levels are better and stable, but we still haven’t talked to her doctor. So now we are waiting to hear from a doctor this morning, hoping we get a good enough report early enough that we can still race up to the mountains and snag a first-come-first-serve campsite somewhere for at least a couple days (fortunately, that would be pretty easy since so many people leave on Sundays). But we have no idea when we will hear from the doctor. Usually in mornings but sometimes afternoons.
**Whoops, phone just rang and Dad is on the line saying Mom is doing much better this morning. Hopefully we get enough info to go on and can still have a vacation. Sounds like we should hear from doctor in the next two hours so it’s looking good (fingers crossed)
Anyways, all of this is to say make sure you have these literal life/death conversations with your family, spouses early and don’t wait until somebody is in the hospital facing a second intubation.
Geminid
On important milestone that occurred during Jimmy Carter’s presidency was the amendment of the Federal Reserve Act in November, 1977 to require the Fed to pursue full employment and not just low inflation. This “dual mandate” was reinforced the following year when Carter signed the “Humphrey-Hawkins” Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act.
.Many of the Humphrey-Hawkins bill’s programs were starved out by Republicans in the 1980s, but the Fed’s dual mandate survives to this day
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
Something that’ll be awesome is if he makes it to 100, and then Biden sends him a letter as per tradition. Has any other former prez made it to 100?? Maybe he’ll get a phone call instead :)
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:
Nope. Jimmy’s the longevity champ:
Makes the photo in the first tweet especially pleasing.
EDITED for formatting.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m an atheist, but this is why I have no patience for anti-religious rhetoric. There are a lot of people who put as much thought into their faith as do those who think bellowing U! S! A! is patriotism, but I know personally too many people who walk the walk and do the work– more than I do, if I’m honest– to make the world a better place.
Real Christianity is hard.
And still I reserve the right to make jokes about saddled dinosaurs.
Nicole
@UncleEbeneezer: I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Sending best wishes for your mom’s O2 staying stable and you being able to go on your getaway. Yeah, you’re right about having those conversations early.
Nicole
@SiubhanDuinne: Man, John Adams must have had really good genes, because there sure wasn’t any modern medicine to extend the lifespan back then.
Another Scott
@Nicole: Carter walks the talk, but few remember that he was a canny politician. He knew how to defeat the racists in Georgia when running for governor, even when it meant pretending to be on their side for a bit. He defeated the Kennedy machine when most of the pundits thought it was only a matter of time before Ted was given the chair.
And when he was in the Navy he worked inside a damaged Canadian nuclear reactor:
A remarkable life.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: I was pretty young, but were people aware of this when they did the snl skit about Ackroyd’s Carter going into Three Mile Island and becoming “weawy weawy lawge”?
UncleEbeneezer
@Nicole: Thanks. It’s hard because Dad has some mental acuity issues and is also in a bit of denial at times, of the seriousness of her situation. And the whole thing is triggering my own trauma from seeing my Mom intubated and never getting a chance to say goodbye to her in 2012. But as of now, we are heading in a good direction, and that’s about all we can hope for.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: People were aware that he was a nuclear engineer, but I don’t think that the Canadian incident was well known. (The SNL bit is mentioned in the link, in it Ackroyd says he’s never been in a power reactor before. ;-)
SNL – Two Mile Island
Cheers,
Scott.
Kathleen
@UncleEbeneezer: Holding you and your family in light and prayer.
Miss Bianca
@UncleEbeneezer: Oh, my Lord. What a roller coaster, indeed. So sorry to hear you’re going through all that.
Nicole
@UncleEbeneezer: Sorry, your MIL; I mistyped. And I’m so sorry you didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to your mom in 2012. That sucks. I still think about the last phone call I had with my dad (he died suddenly in his sleep a couple of days later) and how I wish I’d stayed on with him just a little bit longer. It’s never not painful.
Ruckus
@Ladyraxterinok:
Cheating seems to be built into the Republican DNA
If an extremely large segment knew that republicans total concept of government is “Get mine (and everyone else’s) while the getting is good!” they would likely not vote for them. OK, yes I’m being a bit snarky because there would still be a large segment that would vote for them.
StringOnAStick
@UncleEbeneezer: I feel for you. We went through similar with a sibling and terminal disease at the same time that he was caring for my husband’s father, who was also rapidly failing too, and all half the country away. It’s difficult and planning your life around the unpredictability keeps you constantly guessing about everything.
I hope you snag a campsite and get some time to decompress. Fall is glorious in the mountains.
columbusqueen
@Kathleen: Same here. Feeling helpless while a loved one is ill is uniquely difficult. Big hugs to you & the wife.
columbusqueen
@Nicole: Considering how many Adams descendents hit 80 plus years, his genes do seem pretty sturdy. The interesting thing is that various studies suggest if you made it to age 5 in 18th & early 19th America, you had a better chance of reaching extreme old age then you do now.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
2nd nuclear officer in Navy history. Worked with Admiral Hyman Rickover.
Risked his life to save the Canada’s capitol after a nuclear meltdown