Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died. He was 100 years old and had spent more than a year in hospice care.
The Georgia peanut farmer served one turbulent term in the White House before building a reputation as a global humanitarian and champion of democracy. He defeated President Gerald Ford in 1976 promising to restore trust in government but lost to Ronald Reagan four years later amid soaring inflation, gas station lines and the Iran hostage crisis.
He and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, then formed The Carter Center, and he earned a Nobel Peace Prize while making himself the most active and internationally engaged of former presidents.
The Carter Center said the former president died Sunday afternoon in Plains, Georgia.
Georgia State Sen. Jimmy Carter hugs his wife, Rosalynn, at his Atlanta campaign headquarters on September 15, 1966 after making a strong showing in Wednesday’s primary election, September 14, 1966, in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia. In late returns, Carter and businessman Lester Maddox were in a tight race for the runoff spot against former Gov. Ellis Arnall for the Democratic nomination. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, points to his name in a voting machine as he casts his vote in Plains, during Georgia’s first joint primary, Sept. 9, 1970. Plains is Carter’s hometown. (AP Photo) Former state Sen. Jimmy Carter breaks into a broad smile after early returns gave him a lead of almost 2-1 in the Democratic runoff against former Gov. Carl Sanders, Sept. 23, 1970, in Atlanta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly) Former Georgia State Sen. Jimmy Carter, center, gets applause and victory signs at his headquarters as his mother Lillian Carter looks on at right, Wednesday, Sept 10, 1970, Atlanta, Ga. The rest of the group is unidentified. (AP Photo/John Storey) Governor-elect Jimmy Carter and his daughter Amy, 3, walk about the grounds by the fountain at the Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 10, 1971, as they get to know the place where they will live for the next four years. (AP Photo) Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter holds his daughter, Amy, 7, just after he had made his official announcement in Atlanta that he would seek the Democratic nomination for the presidency, Dec. 13, 1974. Earlier, Carter had told the National Press Club in Washington that he planned to enter primaries in New Hampshire, Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana, Alabama, New York and California. (AP Photo) Presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter, left, greets an unidentified factory worker as they arrive at the Allis-Chalmers Plant in suburban West Allis, Wis., April 5, 1976. Carter was seeking votes in Tuesday’s Wisconsin Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Paul Shane) Jimmy Carter, right, shook hands with some people who can vote, and a few who can’t, in a campaign visit to Youngstown, Ohio, his second such trip to drum up support in Ohio’s presidential primary Monday, June 7, 1976. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter on the final day of the national democratic convention in Madison Square Garden in New York July 15, 1976. (AP Photo) In this Sept. 23, 1976, file photo President Gerald Ford speaks during the first of three televised presidential debates with Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater. During one of those debates Ford didn’t dominate when he declared Poland was not under the domination of the Soviet Union, which at the time it was. Time magazine called it “the blooper heard round the world.” Ford’s rival said the president had “disgraced our country.” (AP Photo/File) Portrait of US President Jimmy Carter taken in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., United States in 1977. (AP Photo) President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd while walking with his wife Rosalynn along Pennsylvania Avenue and their daughter Amy. The Carters elected to walk the parade route from the Capitol to the White House following his inauguration in Washington, on Thursday, Jan. 20, 1977. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis) U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center left, and first lady Rosalynn Carter hold hands as they walk down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 1977. Carter was sworn in as the nation’s 39th president during the inauguration ceremonies earlier. In the background is the U.S. Capitol building. (AP Photo) President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter dance at one of the inaugural balls in Washington on Thursday, Jan. 20, 1977. Their daughter Amy watches them from her seat. (AP Photo) President Jimmy Carter, flanked by members of his cabinet, says he may urge industries to go on a four-day work week because of the energy emergency, Jan. 29, 1977. With the president, from left, are: Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus, energy advisor James Schlesinger, Carter, Defense Secretary Harold Brown, and Transportation Secretary Brock Adams. (AP Photo/John Duricka) President Jimmy Carter stands in the center of a crowd at the Westinghouse plant, east of Pittsburgh, Penn., Jan. 30, 1977, drawing attention to the fuel shortage. The plant, which employs about 9,000 in the manufacture of turbo generators, had its natural gas supply cut off. (AP Photo/John Duricka) President Jimmy Carter receives the applause of members of Congress who witnessed his signature on a bill creating the Department of Energy in a Rose Garden ceremony Thursday, August 4, 1977 at the White House in Washington. Shown directly behind the President, from left, are: Sen. Jennings Randolph; D-W. Va., Rep. Neal Smith, D-Iowa; Sen. Abraham Ribicoff; D-Conn.; Sen. Henry Jackson, D-Wash.; Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Texas; Rep. Frank Horton, R-N.Y., and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Va. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma) In this Tuesday, Aug. 30, 1977 file photo, President Jimmy Carter meets with civic leaders from Georgia and Florida at the White House in Washington to explain his new Panama Canal treaty. On Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, Carter announced he had cancer and would undergo treatment at an Atlanta hospital. (AP Photo/Harvey Georges) In this Sept. 6, 1978, file photo provided by the White House, the principals in the Middle East Summit, from left, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, meeting for the first time at Camp David, Md. For U.S. presidents, Camp David offers a respite from Washington where they can shed their ties and relax with family. The compound in the Maryland mountains just 60 miles from the capital features everything from a bowling alley to an archery range. It’s been used by every president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt first went there in 1943 as a personal hideaway, and has been the site of major diplomatic negotiations and policy discussions. (AP Photo, File) Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House March 26, 1979, as they completed the signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, Oct. 11, 2002, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File) President Jimmy Carter, center left, and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev, center right, wave to the waiting crowd outside the U.S. Embassy after both heads of state finished their first round of talks prior to the Monday Salt II Treaty signing, June 16, 1979, in Vienna, Austria. In the Brezhnev years, Washington and Moscow engaged in the so-called “detente” period that saw several arms treaties signed, improved trade relations and the Apollo-Soyuz spacecraft docking, the first joint mission in outer space. (AP Photo/File) In this July 15, 1979, file photo, college student Chuck McManis watches President Jimmy Carter’s nationally televised energy speech, which became known as the “malaise” speech, from a service station in Los Angeles, as a gas station attendant fills up a customer’s car. When Carter felt beset by pessimism amid the energy crisis in 1979, he gave a startling speech warning that a “crisis of confidence” posed a fundamental threat to U.S. democracy. (AP Photo/Mao, File) President Jimmy Carter waves from the roof of his car along the parade route through Bardstown, Ky., July 31, 1979. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File) In this April 10, 1980 file photo, U.S. President Jimmy Carter calls for a question during a nationally televised news conference in the East Room of White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File) In this Nov. 4, 1980, file photo, President Jimmy Carter, accompanied by his wife Rosalynn, daughter Amy, and grandson Jason tells supporters at a Washington hotel that he has conceded the election to challenger Ronald Reagan. (AP Photo/File) President Jimmy Carter holds up the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which declared 104 million acres in Alaska as national parks, wildlife refuges and other conservation categories, after signing it into law in a ceremony in the White House, on Dec. 2, 1980. From left are: Rep. John F. Seiberling, D-Ohio; Rep. Morris Udall, D-Ariz; and Rep. Phillip Burton, D-Calif. Others present are not identified. (AP Photo) Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who came to Wiesbaden to greet the U.S. hostages released from captivity, embraces one of the former hostages, believed to be Bruce Laingen, Jan. 21, 1981. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo) President Ronald Reagan joined by former Presidents Richard Nixon, left, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, right, toast each other in the Blue Room at the White House on October 8, 1981 as the four met prior to the departure of the three former Presidents to Cairo for the funeral of President Sadat. Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America’s history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday Dec. 26, 2006. He was 93. (AP Photo /White House) President George Bush, left, walks with former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon in the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Monday, Nov. 4, 1991 in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander) Former President Jimmy Carter greets well-wishers after holding a news conference in Plains, Ga., Friday, Oct. 11, 2002, to discuss being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Carter won the prize Friday, more than two decades after he left the White House. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Jimmy Carter runs at Disneyland before the park opened in 1982. (Courtesy of ©2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc.) President Jimmy Carter, left, and Republican Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, shake hands Tuesday night, Oct. 28, 1980, in Cleveland, before debating before a nationwide television audience. (AP Photo/staff) From left to right, President Bush, first lady Laura Bush, former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY., former President George H. W. Bush, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, hold hands and bow their heads together during funeral services for Coretta Scott King at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006 in Lithonia, Ga. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Former President Jimmy Carter leans on a wall as he helps build a Habitat for Humanity house in Violet, La., Monday, May 21, 2007. Carter was working on the 1000th Habitat for Humanity house in the Gulf Coast region since hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Former President Jimmy Carter, right, and his wife Rosalynn wave to the audience at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) President George W. Bush, center, poses with President-elect Barack Obama, and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, right, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) President-elect Barack Obama is welcomed by President George W. Bush for a meeting at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, with former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, left, monitors the vote as a woman, right, leaves a ballot booth before casting her vote at a polling station in Beirut’s Christian sector of Achrafieh, Lebanon, Sunday, June 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) This Sept. 22, 2009 photo shows former President Jimmy Carter teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga. Since leaving the White House, he’s logged millions of miles and visited dozens of countries on missions to wipe out diseases, mediate conflicts, advocate for human rights and monitor elections. He’s built a legacy that few, if any, American ex-presidents can match. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn look at a new interactive exhibit Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2009 at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta. The museum is scheduled to reopen Sept. 30 after a $10 million redesign. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) In this handout photo provided by Jeff Moore, Nelson Mandela is reunited with Jimmy Carter as other members of the Elders watch on May 29, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Nelson Mandela, who founded The Elders in 2007, met members of the group at a private lunch in Johannesburg. The Elders were tasked by Mandela to be “a fiercely independent and robust force for good.” (Photo by Jeff Moore via Getty Images) In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a child salutes former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, upon his arrival at the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Carter arrived in North Korea on a mission U.S. officials said was aimed at bringing home an imprisoned American. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yao Ximeng) Former President Jimmy Carter, left, and OPEC Fund for International Development Director General Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish, speak before signing an agreement for two $500,000 grants to fund the Carter Center’s programs to eliminate Guinea worm and river blindness diseases Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, in Atlanta, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan conclude a visit to a polling center at the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan capital of Juba Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) Former President Jimmy Carter views the Carter Wall at St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, Tuesday, February 19, 2013. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer) President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, former President Jimmy Carter and former President Bill Clinton wave as they leave 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr., spoke, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga, Sunday, June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) In this Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 photo, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks during a forum in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) Former President Jimmy Carter with his book “A Full Life: Reflection at Ninety” at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif., Thursday, July 30, 2015. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/ Pasadena Star-News) Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. The 90-year-old Carter gave one lesson to about 300 people filling the small Baptist church that he and his wife, Rosalynn, attend. It was Carter’s first lesson since detailing the intravenous drug doses and radiation treatment planned to treat melanoma found in his brain after surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. (AP Photo/David Goldman) In a Monday, Nov. 2, 2015 file photo, former President Jimmy Carter answers questions during a news conference at a Habitat for Humanity building site, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) Justin Timberlake, from left, ASCAP president Paul Williams, former President Jimmy Carter and Trisha Yearwood take a photo after Yearwood received the Voice of Music Award during the 53rd Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards at the Omni Hotel on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Sanford Myers/Invision/AP) Former President Jimmy Carter works between his wife, Rosalynn Carter, right, and singer Trisha Yearwood, left, at a Habitat for Humanity building site Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, in Memphis, Tenn. Behind Yearwood is her husband, singer Garth Brooks. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Former President Jimmy Carter speaks during his presentation of the Voice of Music Award to Trisha Yearwood during the 53rd Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards at the Omni Hotel on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Sanford Myers/Invision/AP) In this Nov. 2, 2015, file photo, former President Jimmy Carter works at a Habitat for Humanity building site in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) Former President Jimmy Carter smiles as he speaks after being awarded the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero by Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela during a ceremony at the Carter Center, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in Atlanta. The award, named for Panama’s first president, is given to recognize distinguished people in the areas of politics, science and the arts. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter arrive on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, for the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. (Saul Loeb via AP, Pool) Former President George W. Bush, center, speaks as fellow former Presidents from right, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter look on during a hurricanes relief concert in College Station, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter smiles during a book signing event for his new book ‘Faith: A Journey For All’ at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Midtown Manhattan, March 26, 2018 in New York City. Carter, 93, was a prolific author since leaving office in 1981, publishing dozens of books. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Contributing: Associated Press
