By Abiola Olawale
President of the United States, Joe Biden, former US President Barrack Obama, among other eminent personalities, have celebrated the 39th President of the US, Jimmy Carter, as he clocks 100 years on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
Carter, who was president of the US from 1977 to 1981 made history on Tuesday, becoming the first-ever US president to reach the century mark.
Celebrating the former President, Biden in a video posted on his official X account, described Carter as a friend.
The President also hailed Carter as “one of the most influential statesmen” in US history.
He said: “Your hopeful vision of our country, your commitment to a better world and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continue to be a guiding light for all of us.”
Also, Obama, who took to his official X handle, praised Carter for his act of service.
He said: “Happy 100th birthday, President Carter! Thank you for your friendship, your fundamental decency, and your incredible acts of service through the @CarterCenter. Michelle and I are grateful for all you’ve done for this country.”
Meanwhile, Governor of the State of Georgia, Brian Kemp has issued a declaration in honour of Carter’s 100th birthday.
Kemp, in a press statement issued on Tuesday, declared October 1 as “Jimmy Carter Day” in honour of the former president who also served as Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.
Kemp said: “On former President Jimmy Carter’s 100th Birthday, I have declared today “Jimmy Carter Day” in the State of Georgia to recognize his legacy as our 76th Governor and 39th President. Marty, the girls, and I send him best wishes as he and his family celebrate this milestone.”
The New Diplomat reports that Carter was born on October 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia.
His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, was a registered nurse.
He was educated in the public school of Plains, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946.
In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant. Chosen by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, New York, where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf, the second nuclear submarine.
On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on January 12, 1971. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections.
On Dec. 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He won his party’s nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention and was elected president on Nov. 2, 1976.
Jimmy Carter served as president from Jan. 20, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. Carter’s post-presidency began in 1981 after he lost his reelection bid and when he was 56.
