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Honoring, recognizing, and congratulating President Jimmy Carter for his historic 100th birthday.
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WHEREAS, James Earl Carter, Jr. was born October 1, 1924 in Plains, Georgia to World War I veteran James Earl Carter, Sr. and Lillian Carter; and
WHEREAS, The first U.S. President born in a hospital, Carter had a rural upbringing, working as a peanut farmer in his teens. Generations of Carters worked the land as cotton farmers, and the Carter moved several times in his infancy, often living alongside and befriending African American families in his youth; and
WHEREAS, In 1941, Carter graduated from Plains High School and enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College to study engineering. He transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology the next year with dreams of attending the United States Naval Academy. After graduating from Georgia Tech as an ROTC cadet, Carter received an appointment to the Naval Academy from Congressman Stephen Pace; and
WHEREAS, While at the Naval Academy, Carter met his future wife, Rosalynn Smith, through his sister, Ruth. After graduating 60th out of 821 in his class in 1947, Carter married Rosalynn Smith; and
WHEREAS, Carter was commissioned as an Ensign and joined the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine program, traveling across the country for his Atlantic and Pacific deployments while studying nuclear power academically; and
WHEREAS, After serving in the U.S. Navy for seven years, Carter returned to Plains, Georgia to take over his family’s peanut farm after his father’s passing, using his scientific and technological education to expand the business; and
WHEREAS, A quiet integrationist, Carter’s Baptist faith led him to speak out more about the ills of segregation after the Brown v. Board decision, and in 1962 Carter ran for an open seat in the Georgia State Senate. Carter challenged his election loss due to voter fraud organized by the local Democratic Party establishment, and another election was held that he won, beginning his career in Georgia politics; and
WHEREAS, The Carter family were Kennedy Democrats who believed the South should move on from its Dixie identity, and Carter challenged conservative segregationist Lester Maddox in the 1966 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Carter was unsuccessful, he ran again in 1970, positioning himself as more conservative and courting both the Black vote and the votes of populist George Wallace supporters. Carter was victorious and went on to serve one term as the 76th Governor of Georgia; and
WHEREAS, Governor Carter attracted attention by emphasizing ecology, efficiency in government, and the removal of racial barriers in Georgia. Barred from serving more than one term as Governor, Carter announced his candidacy for President in December 1974; and
WHEREAS, Carter was given no chance to win against Party favorites such as Ted Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and Henry “Scoop” Jackson. However, the nation’s appetite for a Washington outsider in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal led little known Carter’s anti-establishment campaign to gain momentum through his early primary and caucus victories, beginning in Iowa and New Hampshire. His strategy paid off and became the blueprint by which every presidential campaign has sought their party’s nomination since; and
WHEREAS, Carter received the Democratic nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and went on to narrowly defeat President Gerald Ford in the 1976 Election. Carter was inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States on January 20, 1977; and
WHEREAS, As President, Carter sought to improve the environment by expanding the national parks system to include 103 acres of Alaskan lands. To increase human and social services, President Carter established the Department of Education and bolstered Social Security. Energy conservation was one of President Carter’s major focuses, and he created the Department of Energy in 1977. President Carter also deregulated several industries, most notably the airline industry in 1978; and
WHEREAS, President Carter was perhaps most renowned for his foreign policy work, negotiating the Camp David Accords with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to attain Egyptian recognition of the State of Israel, the withdrawal of Israel from the Sinai Peninsula, and increased political sovereignty for the West Bank and Gaza. President Carter also signed the SALT II nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Soviet Union, and provided military support to the Afghan opposition after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979; and
WHEREAS, The persistence of the energy crisis, economic “stagflation,” divisions in the Democratic Party over President Carter’s unwillingness to work with Congress, and the Iran Hostage Crisis led to the demise of the Carter presidency, and in 1980 he was defeated in his reelection efforts by Ronald Reagan. President Carter spent the last days of his presidency securing the release of the hostages from Iran; and
WHEREAS, President Carter returned to Plains and has spent his post-presidency championing human rights and promoting humanitarianism across the world. In 1982 he established The Carter Center, a non-governmental and nonprofit organization with the purpose of advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering. Four years later, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum opened near the site; and
WHEREAS, President Carter and The Carter Center have engaged in conflict mediation in over a dozen nations and have sent 107 election-observation missions to the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and its work alongside the World Health Organization has led to the near eradication of Guinea Worm Disease. President Carter has also worked with nonprofit Habitat for Humanity to construct and renovate homes for families, and has authored dozens of books on faith, politics, humanitarianism, and foreign policy; and
WHEREAS, In 2002, President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development; and
WHEREAS, For decades, President Carter taught Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, embodying the timelessness of his commitment to his Christian faith; and
WHEREAS, In February 2023, President Carter entered hospice care, and months later First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away. Despite these heartbreaking emotional setbacks, he turned 99 and public anticipation for his 100th birthday began; and
WHEREAS, On October 1, 2019, President Carter became the longest-lived president in U.S history at 95, and five years later he became the first U.S. President live to one hundred years of age. His century on Earth has been defined by moral conviction and commitment to the betterment of humanity, and may we hope all our leaders govern in the path which he did; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby honors, recognizes, and congratulates President Jimmy Carter for his historic 100th birthday on October 1, 2024.
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