Carter celebrates 98th birthday
ATLANTA >> Jimmy Carter, already the longest-living U.S. president in history, turned 98 Saturday, the latest milestone he shared with family and friends in Plains, the tiny Georgia town where he and his wife, 95-year-old Rosalynn, were born in the years between World War I and the Great Depression.
The Carter Center, which the 39th president and the former first lady established together after his one White House term, marks 40 years of promoting democracy and conflict resolution, monitoring elections, and advancing public health in the developing world.
Jason Carter, the former president's grandson now leading the Carter Center board, described his grandfather, an outspoken Christian, as content with his life and legacy.
“He is looking at his 98th birthday with faith in God's plan for him,” the younger Carter, 47, said, “and that's just a beautiful blessing for all of us to know, personally, that he is at peace and happy with where he has been and where he's going.”
Carter Center leaders said the former president, who survived a cancer diagnosis in 2015 and a serious fall at home in 2019, already has enjoyed reading congratulatory messages sent by well-wishers around the world via social media and the center's website. But Jason Carter said his grandfather mostly looked forward to a simple day that included watching his favorite Major League Baseball team, the Atlanta Braves, on television.
“He's still 100% with it, even though daily life things are a lot harder now,” Jason Carter said.
“But one thing I guarantee. He will watch all the Braves games this weekend.”
James Earl Carter Jr. won the 1976 presidential election after beginning the campaign as a littleknown one-term Georgia governor.