On Oct. 1, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter turned 100 years old, becoming the oldest president to ever live and the only to reach the triple mark of 100.
He is one of only six presidents currently alive. The list includes Bill Clinton, president betweepn 1993-2001, Geroge W. Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush.
The younger Bush was president from 2001-2009.
Barack Obama, our most recent two-term president was in office from 2009-2017.
Donald Trump, the current Republican nominee, was in office from 2017-2021.
Joe Biden, the oldest elected president, was elected in 2020 and was inaugurated in 2021. His term is set to expire in 2025 after he dropped out of the presidential race last summer.
Carter was elected as the 39th president in U.S. history in 1976 after defeating Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon’s vice president. Ford was inaugurated as president in 1974 after Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal. Carter previously served as the governor of Georgia prior to running for president. He served as governor from 1971-1975.
He also served in the Georgia Senate from 1963-1967. Carter was born in 1924 and raised in Plains, Georgia. Carter and Clinton are the only 20th century presidents still alive.
Carter attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, which is now known as Georgia Tech University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1946.
Carter also served in the U.S. Navy from 1946-1953 and was in the military reserves from 1953-1961. While in the military Carter won four metals, the American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, China Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
Carter was also a major Civil Rights supporter. He was a major critic of the Vietnam War and pardoned all the draft evaders in his second day in office.
Mass inflation occurred during the later years of his presidency, reaching a 13.5% inflation rate in 1980. To compare how high that number is, in 2022, which is known as one of the worst years for inflation in recent history, the rate was at 8%, 5.5% lower than it was in 1980.
Other controversies that plagued his presidency included the Iran hostage crisis, an energy crisis, the Three Mile Island accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That resulted to Carter losing his presidency to Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California, in a landslide in 1981. Carter lost the electoral college vote 489 to 49 and only won six out of 50 states. He lost the popular vote by nearly 10 points.
Even though being a Democrat back then, Carter is still a figure ultimately respected by both parties and by people with all different types of views.
His legacy will be forever enshrined in history as he lived in one of the hottest political tensions in the mid-‘70s to early 1980s.
