The Carter Center announced on Saturday that former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 is the oldest living American president, has entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia.
According to the statement, Carter “chosen to spend his remaining time at home with his family and accept hospice care instead of more medical intervention” following a string of brief hospital stints.
The 39th President is fully supported by his medical staff, according to the statement, and his family “asks for quiet at this time and is appreciative for the care exhibited by his many supporters.”
Prior to the 1976 election, Carter was a little-known Georgia governor who had just started his presidential campaign. After the Vietnam War and the Watergate incident, which resulted in the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, he went on to defeat then-President Gerald R. Ford by capitalising on his outsider status in Washington.
Carter had one turbulent time in office before being soundly defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. This crushing defeat finally prepared the way for Carter’s decades-long promotion of democracy, public health, and human rights around the world through The Carter Center.
The institution was founded in 1982 by the former president and his wife, Rosalynn, 95. In 2002, his efforts there won him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Jason Carter, the couple’s grandson who now chairs The Carter Center governing board, said Saturday in a tweet that he “saw both of my grandparents yesterday. They are at peace and—as always—their home is full of love.”
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