Jimmy Carter, America's Oldest Living Ex-President, Turns 95

PLAINS, GA — America’s oldest living ex-president in history marked another milestone Tuesday as Jimmy Carter celebrated his 95th birthday at his southwest Georgia hometown.

On March 21, Carter officially became the oldest living ex-president, surpassing George H.W. Bush, who died in November. Prior to Bush, previous record holders were Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Herbert Hoover and John Adams.

Carter was elected president in 1976 at age 52. He has been out of office for more than 38 years, losing a re-election bid in a landslide loss to Reagan in 1980. He has since become one of the most active ex-presidents in U.S. history, founding The Carter Center and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, and continuing to participate in frequent Habitat for Humanity homebuilding efforts.

Carter was born in Plains, a tiny town in southwest Georgia. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and married Rosalynn Smith.

After his service with the Navy, Carter returned to Plains in 1962 where he and Rosalynn operated a seed and farm supply company, according to The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. In 1962, the Democratic candidate entered politics and was elected to the Georgia State Senate. In 1966, he lost his first bid for the governorship, but won in a second shot at the seat in 1970.

In 1976 his long-shot presidential bid won him the White House when Carter defeated incumbent Ford to become the 39th president of the United States.

Carter’s presidency is known for various historic milestones, such as the Camp David Peace Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978 and establishing diplomatic relations with China, his library noted. He also was responsible for the creation of the departments of Education and Energy, as well as implementing new environmental protection legislation such as the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the library said.

He famously failed to win re-election in 1980 during a sluggish economy and the Iranian hostage crisis. After more than a year in captivity, the hostages were released the same day Republican President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office — Jan. 20, 1981.

Carter managed to repair his image over the last several decades through his work helping the less fortunate. In 1982, he founded The Carter Center, which works to address national and international issues through public policy. The nonprofit organization has dispatched 100 election observers to countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

To younger generations, Carter is probably best known for his work with Habitat For Humanity, a nonprofit that works to provide housing to less fortunate citizens. The author of several books, Carter also continued in his mission to engage in international diplomacy and advancing human rights around the world. He also worked to promote democracy, prevent diseases and ensure secure and fair elections in developing countries.

In recent years, Carter also spoke out against anti-gay and rising racist sentiment. In 2000, he announced he would be leaving the Southern Baptist Convention due to the body’s literal interpretation of the Bible, a move the New York Times said was mostly symbolic because he didn’t serve in an official capacity with the organization. In 2015, he told the Huffington Post he believed Jesus would be in favor of marriage equality. In 2016, he told the Times Republican criticism of former President Barack Obama had “heavy” racial overtones and then Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s successful campaign “tapped a waiting reservoir there of inherent racism.”

In recent weeks, Carter has stepped up his criticism of Trump. Last month, Carter addressed a crowd at the Carter Center and said while he doesn’t know which Democrat he will support in 2020, a major factor in his decision will be which candidate can unseat Trump, “because I think it would be a disaster to have four more years of Trump,” he said.

Carter also said he could not have undertaken the duties of a president when he was 80, according to Fox News. “If I were just 80 years old, if I was 15 years younger, I don’t believe I could undertake the duties I experienced when I was president,” he said.

Carter said he voted for Bernie Sanders in the last Democratic presidential primary.

In June, Carter said Trump was an “illegitimate” president while participating in a C-SPAN panel on human rights in Washington, D.C., along with his vice president, Walter Mondale. Carter said Trump won the 2016 presidential election because of Russian interference, despite the fact several congressional and judicial inquiries and investigations have uncovered no substantive evidence that Trump colluded with Russian agents to discredit Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Carter was diagnosed with cancer in August 2015 at age 91 after having surgery to remove a lesion on his liver. After the surgery, Carter announced the cancer had spread to other parts of his body. Doctors had found melanoma lesions on his brain. He announced that he would significantly cut back on his schedule while undergoing treatment.

In November of that year, the Carter Center issued an update on the former president’s health, saying he had received good news from his doctors. Recent tests had shown there was no new evidence of malignancy and he was responding well to treatment. In March 2016, he announced to his Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains that he was cleared of the disease.

Click Here: cheap INTERNATIONAL jersey