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President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all shared statements in response to the death of former President Jimmy Carter on Sunday (December 29).
"Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian," President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden said in a joint statement. "Over six decades, we had the honor of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what's extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well."
Trump said the U.S. owed Carter "a debt of gratitude" in a post shared on his Truth Social account.
“Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Trump wrote. “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”
Clinton, the first Democratic president elected after Carter, shared a joint statement with his wife, former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in which they said they were "proud, early supporters" of his 1976 presidential campaign.
“I will always be proud to have presented the Medal of Freedom to him and Rosalynn in 1999, and to have worked with him in the years after he left the White House,” Bill Clinton said.
Bush also shared a joint statement on behalf of himself and his wife, former First Lady Laura Bush, through the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
"Laura and I send our heartfelt condolences to Jack, Chip, Jeff, Amy, and the entire Carter family," Bush said. “James Earl Carter, Jr., was a man of deeply held convictions. He was loyal to his family, his community, and his country. President Carter dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations.
“We join our fellow citizens in giving thanks for Jimmy Carter and in prayer for his family.”
Obama also shared a joint statement on behalf of himself and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, on his Medium page.
"Whenever I had a chance to spend time with President Carter, it was clear that he didn’t just profess these values," Obama wrote. "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.
Carter, the 39th president in American history, lived longer than any other in U.S. history and was the only Georgian elected to the White House. The former president's death came one year after his wife, Rosalynn, died in November 2023.
Carter defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election, but served one term after being defeated by then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election. Carter's lone term was marked by the Iran hostage crisis, the Three Mile Island accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, as well as the escalation of the Cold War, ending détente by imposing a grain embargo, which led to a multinational boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Carter's legacy grew after his presidency through his and his late wife's work at the Carter Center in Atlanta, which focused on promoting and expanding human rights, as well as his philanthropic causes, most notably Habitat for Humanity, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
“People will be celebrating Jimmy Carter for hundreds of years. His reputation is only going to grow,” Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley wrote in his book entitled 'The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter' via ABC News.