PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Johnny Jones learned of Jimmy Carter’s death within minutes. Even a former U.S. president and world-renowned Nobel Peace Prize winner can make it work in a small town.
On Monday, the day after the 39th president died at age 100, Jones said while he and his late wife were surrounded by family in their one-story home, “Someone texted my wife and told her.” I noticed,” he said. Rosalyn was built before she started her first political campaign more than 60 years ago.
“His presence here at Plains really boosted the morale of everyone here,” said Jones, 85, recalling warm interactions with “Mr. Plains.” Jimmy” and “Ms. Rosalyn” passed away in November 2023.
In fact, the Carters put this town of less than 700 people (not even much bigger than it was when Carter was born on October 1, 1924) on the world stage. His remarkable rise to the White House, landslide defeat in 1980, and subsequent rehabilitation as an independent diplomat and global humanitarian were reflected Monday in tributes from Plains residents and around the world. Ta.
Not far from where Mr. Jones sat on his front porch, black ribbons hung next to American flags flying in front of the souvenir shops and cafes that make up the core of Plains’ main street. The street spans just a few blocks from Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign headquarters. An old train depot where a family once operated a peanut warehouse. Television cameras and news trucks lined the street in front of the old gas station where the former president’s late brother, Billy Carter, was holding court with national journalists who once covered him.
Across the tracks, Philip Kurland stands in his political memorabilia store, which he opened a few years after the Carters returned from Washington, and says he doesn’t see the former president as a celebrity, but as a man who once prayed with him when he was sick. He remembered me as a friendly neighbor.
“We are in a state of denial,” he said. “I told people, ‘Let’s start planning for his 101st birthday.'”
A small number of residents trickled in Monday night for a quiet vigil at Maranatha Baptist Church, where the Carters taught Sunday school for many years. A piano played quietly as people lit candles at an altar flanked by lighted Christmas trees.
In Washington, plans continued for a state ceremony to confirm Carter’s world status. President Joe Biden confirmed that January 9, 2025, will be a national day of mourning and that the federal government will be closed for Carter’s state funeral at the National Cathedral. Mr. Biden, a longtime friend and political ally of Mr. Carter, plans to pay tribute to his fellow Democrats. Congressional leaders have confirmed to the Carter family that the former president will receive a state funeral from January 7th to January 9th and that his remains will be transferred to the cathedral for a state funeral.
In New York, 15 members of the United Nations Security Council paid silent tribute to the Nobel Peace Prize winner. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Dorothy Shea read a statement from the United Nations’ most powerful body at the beginning of an emergency meeting on Yemen.
The Security Council statement said, “During his time in office and throughout his many years since, President Carter worked tirelessly and effectively to mediate conflicts, promote human rights, and strengthen democracy.” “He was a person,” he said.
China’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, recalled Carter as a “driving force” in establishing China-US relations. “We highly value his achievements,” Geng said, adding that Carter “has made significant contributions to cooperation between our two countries over the years.”
Hossam Baghat, a prominent Egyptian rights activist and fierce critic of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government, said that Carter was one of the first to warn of “Israeli apartheid” against the Palestinians, and that this position said Mr. Carter is at odds with much of the United States. Establishment of foreign policy.
“A very courageous person,” Bhagat wrote on Facebook. “He was warning about Israeli apartheid as early as 2007. He understood his mission and, without appeasing donors or pleasing a board full of hedge funders, he Because of his convictions, he held fast to his principles and moral standards.”
Back in Georgia, neighbors at Atlanta’s Carter Center gathered near where Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter redefined what the post-presidency meant. The Carters founded the Carter Center in 1982 and oversaw diplomatic missions, election monitoring, and public health programs for four decades, with work spanning five continents.
“I’m really grateful to him as a former president and what he’s done since then,” Atlanta resident Richard Hopkins said after he left office.
Hopkins said Carter’s public service went beyond an elected office. Hopkins, a Korean War veteran, noted that Carter was a graduate of the Naval Academy and a submarine officer after World War II. He also highlighted the efforts of Habitat for Humanity and the Carters to build housing for low-income people. The involvement with Carter’s Habitat was in addition to the work of the Carter Center. They headlined their own annual productions until the early ’90s.
Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford said the Carters have been integral to Habitat’s growth.
“A lot of people think that President Carter founded and ran Habitat, but that’s not actually the case,” he said Monday. “But the truth is, Habitat was founded in 1976, and it was in 1984 that President Carter and his wife famously took a bus from south Georgia to spend a week sleeping in a church basement and renovated the building. It was a small organization on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. That’s when the world learned about Habitat. ”
Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson and current director of the Carter Center, said in a recent interview that Plains helped solidify the former president’s lifelong commitment to service.
“My grandfather could go to any village in the world and help people without being patronizing,” said the younger Carter. “Because he himself was from such a village.”
Some residents like Jones are worried about their small town now that the Carter family is gone.
“Interest in the Plains will wane,” he predicted.
Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s who oversees Jimmy Carter National Historical Park for the National Park Service, is more optimistic. Although she expressed personal sadness, she praised the Carters for ensuring they had the same lasting impact on the Plains as they have around the world through the Carter Center.
“From the moment Rosalynn died, he wanted to be with her. So it’s great to know that he’s finally reunited with Rosalynn. But selfishly he didn’t want to leave him here forever.” Those of us who wanted to keep them are in that camp,” Stuckey said.
But she stressed that the Carters had long planned to be buried in the same town where they were born, married and spent most of their lives. Rosalynn Carter is already buried in a plot visible from the front door of her parents’ home. The house and cemetery will eventually be added to the national park.
Stuckey said: “I think they set us up for success.”
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