As Jimmy Carter celebrates his 100th birthday Tuesday, perhaps he is feeling a bit like Mark Twain, who was one of the few people in history who read his own obituary – hearing from the New York Journal in 1897 that he had died. His response to the reporter was, ‘I have heard on good authority that I was dead.’ Yet he corrected the record with the reply, ‘The report of my death was an exaggeration.’
A quick internet search today simultaneously shows articles about a concert in honor of President Carter’s 100th birthday on Oct. 1 – as well as an article announcing his death in May 2023, which is still posted.
Even the Democratic National Committee omitted Carter in a post celebrating living Democrat presidents this past year. In their ‘Happy President’s Day’ post they included Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but forgot about President Carter.
Yet I have heard on good authority that any reports of Carter’s death are premature. In fact, today is a day for Carter – and all of America to celebrate and commemorate.
Regardless of whether the internet or the DNC acknowledges it, Carter is poised to make history again today. In his first milestone, he long ago became the only president of the United States to make it to the age of 95 and now, will remarkably turn 100 – not only surpassing the presidential record, but reaching an achievement that only 0.02% of Americans ever reach – and only one-fifth of those are male.
Remarkably, though he entered hospice care in February 2023, Carter continues to beat the odds and even outlived his wife, Rosalynn, who only survived a few days in hospice care, passing away at the age of 96 in November 2023. Jimmy Carter continues to break his own record of longevity with each additional day.
Being part of the elite club of presidents of the United States is already a remarkable achievement. Yet beyond that, out of all the presidents, only six have made it to the age of 90. Surprisingly, after the first president, George Washington, passed away at the young age of 67, his successor, our second president, John Adams, lived to the age of 90, appropriately passing away on July 4, 1826.
Other presidential nonagenarians included our 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who lived to be 90, our 38th and 40th presidents, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, who both lived to the age of 93, and our 41st president, George H.W. Bush, who lived to be 94.
Carter alone has surpassed that milestone many years ago and will be celebrated today as the first POTUS to turn 100 – America’s first presidential centenarian.
Despite our many differences politically and our challenges personally today, America remains a land of opportunity and possibility for lives that are full and long.
Born James Earl Carter Jr. to a mother who was a nurse, and a father was a farmer who ran a general store – President Carter was raised in impoverished, rural Plains, Georgia. His father gave him an acre of land on which he grew peanuts, which he packaged and sold as an enterprising teenager.
Carter went to the Naval Academy, giving him an opportunity to leave Plains, yet after a career in the Navy, in state politics, and in the White House, he returned to Plains in January 1981 and has remained there ever since. Many Americans relate to Carter, finding home and comfort in the small towns that dot our great nation, rather than the big cities adorning its coasts.
In many ways, Carter is quintessentially American in his love for this country and his love of God. He embodies the American dream, which afforded him every opportunity to find a big life beyond the city limits of Plains.
And while he achieved many of those dreams, in the end he chose to return to the place where he began. A place of simplicity, not stardom. A place of land, not luxury.
Though Jimmy Carter stood on the world stage, he is – and has always been – most at home in Plains, Georgia, the place where he was born 100 years ago, and the place he will be buried and remain when the God he has faithfully served throughout his life finally calls him to his eternal home.
Happy 100th birthday, Mr. President.