At 98 years old, former President Jimmy Carter decided to undergo hospice care at his Georgia home. This decision follows a string of brief hospital visits as his family asks for privacy during this time.

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He married his wife, Rosalynn Carter, in 1946 who will stay by the president’s side at the age of 95. Before taking office, Carter served seven years as a US naval officer. He was also elected governor of Georgia in 1970 after spending four years as a member of the Georgia State Senate.

Senior Kyla Williams recalls learning about President Carter briefly in her US History class.

“I remember hearing that there was some controversy around him as a president. I think he tried to make things more peaceful, but the way he did it didn’t always work,” Williams said.

As a president, historians also have a conflicted view of Carter. Mrs. Corinne Lashley, the AP World History and Government teacher at CFHS, reflected on the views of other historians surrounding Carter’s controversial time in office.

“During his presidency, especially at the end around the Iran hostage crisis, it was big news. But he established the Department of Energy, and the Department of Education was established under him. He did make progress, it’s just all the issues at the end of his presidency kind of overshadowed everything else he did,” Mrs. Lashley explained.

The Iran hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979 when Iran militants took 52 US diplomats hostage. The hostages remained captive until January 20, 1981 after over a year of lengthy negotiations. January 20 also correlated with the inauguration of the 40th president of the United States: Ronald Reagan

Senior Tina Logan hopes to become a history teacher after college. She explained how the Iran hostage crisis caused a decrease in popularity for the former president in his final days in office.

“We just really wanted strong, quick action to get these people back, and Jimmy Carter was trying to be more diplomatic about it and not cause a war,” Logan described. “It just wasn’t what we wanted to see. It’s one of the reasons Reagan was so popular because he was viewed as a strong character. He was known for being very charismatic and strong-willed, and after Jimmy Carter who we viewed as placid, he was a welcome change.”

Carter’s work outside of the office remains arguably his most notable accomplishment. From 1984 to 2020, Jimmy Carter and his volunteers built over 4,000 homes for Habitat for Humanity. His partnership with the organization transformed it into an internationally recognized program. 

In 2002, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to uplift human rights and his work towards attaining social welfare. The Egypt-Israel peace treaty during Carter’s presidency also elevated his status to receive the award.

“He’s kind of well known, even with American historians, of being a below-average president but an absolutely exceptional post-president,” Mrs. Lashley shared. “Just because of all his work with Habitat for Humanity, and on diplomatic missions, he worked with Nelson Mandela on human rights around the world. That’s been seen as absolutely extraordinary. No other president has done that much since they’ve retired.”