Barack Obama Writes Heartfelt Tribute to Jimmy Carter: ‘Taught All Of Us What It Means to Live a Life of Grace’
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Former President Barack Obama wrote a heartfelt statement praising Jimmy Carter following the 39th president’s death at the age of 100.
Carter’s death was announced by his son on Sunday afternoon after being on hospice care for over a year. The former president who served one-term in office was known his diplomatic and humanitarian work.
“For decades, you could walk into Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia on some Sunday mornings and see hundreds of tourists from around the world crammed into the pews,” Obama wrote. “And standing in front of them, asking with a wink if there were any visitors that morning, would be President Jimmy Carter — preparing to teach Sunday school, just like he had done for most of his adult life.”
Obama then praised Carter for his accomplishments while serving in the White House including the Camp David Accords and the nominating Ruther Bader Ginsburg to the federal bench.
“Some who came to hear him speak were undoubtedly there because of what President Carter accomplished in his four years in the White House — the Camp David Accords he brokered that reshaped the Middle East; the work he did to diversify the federal judiciary, including nominating a pioneering women’s rights activist and lawyer named Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the federal bench; the environmental reforms he put in place, becoming one of the first leaders in the world to recognize the problem of climate change,” he added.
Obama also honored Carter by mentioning the former president’s “decency” before offering his thoughts and prayers to Carter’s family.
Others were likely there because of what President Carter accomplished in the longest, and most impactful, post-presidency in American history — monitoring more than 100 elections around the world; helping virtually eliminate Guinea worm disease, an infection that had haunted Africa for centuries; becoming the only former president to earn a Nobel Peace Prize; and building or repairing thousands of homes in more than a dozen countries with his beloved Rosalynn as part of Habitat for Humanity.
But I’m willing to bet that many people in that church on Sunday morning were there, at least in part, because of something more fundamental: President Carter’s decency.
Elected in the shadow of Watergate, Jimmy Carter promised voters that he would always tell the truth. And he did — advocating for the public good, consequences be damned. He believed some things were more important than reelection — things like integrity, respect, and compassion. Because Jimmy Carter believed, as deeply as he believed anything, that we are all created in God’s image.
Whenever I had a chance to spend time with President Carter, it was clear that he didn’t just profess these values. He embodied them. And in doing so, he taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. In his Nobel acceptance speech, President Carter said, “God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.” He made that choice again and again over the course of his 100 years, and the world is better for it.
Maranatha Baptist Church will be a little quieter on Sundays, but President Carter will never be far away — buried alongside Rosalynn next to a willow tree down the road, his memory calling all of us to heed our better angels. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from this remarkable man.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
