{"id":3602,"date":"2024-12-31T10:43:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T14:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3602"},"modified":"2024-12-31T10:43:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T14:43:42","slug":"jimmy-carter-is-being-mourned-in-his-tiny-hometown-and-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3602","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Carter is being mourned in his tiny hometown and around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) \u2014 Johnny Jones found out about Jimmy Carter\u2019s death<\/a> within a matter of minutes. That\u2019s how it works in a small town, even for a former U.S. president and Nobel Peace Prize winner known throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomebody texted my wife and told her about it \u2014 that\u2019s when I found out,\u201d Jones said Monday, a day after the 39th president died at the age of 100, surrounded by family in the one-story house he and his late wife, Rosalynn, built before he launched his first political campaign more than 60 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis presence here in Plains has really boosted the morale of everyone who lives here,\u201d said Jones, 85, as he recalled warm exchanges with \u201cMr. Jimmy\u201d and \u201cMs. Rosalynn,\u201d who died in November 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the Carters put this town of fewer than 700 people \u2014 not much bigger than when Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924 \u2014 on the world stage. His remarkable rise to the White House, landslide defeat in 1980 and rehabilitation thereafter as a freelance diplomat and global humanitarian were reflected Monday in tributes from Plains\u2019 residents and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not far from where Jones sat on his front porch, black ribbons hung alongside U.S. flags flying in front of the souvenir shops and cafes that make up the nucleus of Plains\u2019 main street, which spans just a few blocks from Carter\u2019s 1976 presidential campaign headquarters \u2014 the old train depot \u2014 to where the family once operated its peanut warehouses. TV cameras and news trucks lined the street that runs in front of the old gas station where the former president\u2019s late brother, Billy Carter, once would hold court with national journalists who covered his older brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the railroad tracks, Philip Kurland stood in his political memorabilia shop, which he opened years after the Carters returned from Washington, and recalled the former president not as a famous figure but an approachable neighbor who once prayed with him when he was sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a state of denial,\u201d he said. \u201cI was telling people: Let\u2019s start planning for his 101st birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Maranatha Baptist Church, where the Carters long taught Sunday school, a handful of residents trickled in for a silent vigil Monday evening. A piano played softly as people lit candles at the altar, with lighted Christmas trees standing on either side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Washington, plans continued for the state rites that will affirm Carter\u2019s global status. President Joe Biden confirmed that Jan. 9, 2025, will be a day of national mourning, with federal offices closed for Carter\u2019s state funeral at the National Cathedral. Biden, a longtime Carter friend and political ally, will deliver a eulogy for his fellow Democrat. Congressional leaders have confirmed to the Carter family that the former president will lie in state from Jan. 7 to Jan. 9, when his remains will be transported to the cathedral for the state funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New York, the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council stood in silent tribute to the Nobel Peace Prize winner. U.S. deputy ambassador Dorothy Shea read a statement from the U.N.\u2019s most powerful body at the start of an emergency meeting on Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Carter was a peacemaker who worked tirelessly and effectively in support of conflict mediation, the furtherance of human rights and the strengthening of democracy, both while he was in office and during his many years of service thereafter,\u201d the Security Council statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s deputy U.N. ambassador, Geng Shuang, remembered Carter as \u201ca driving force\u201d in establishing relations between Beijing and Washington. \u201cWe highly commend his achievements,\u201d Geng said, stating that Carter \u201cmade great contribution over the years to … cooperation between the two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prominent Egyptian rights defender Hossam Bahgat, a fierce critic of the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi\u2019s government, said Carter was among the first to warn of \u201cIsraeli apartheid\u201d against Palestinians \u2014 a position that put Carter at odds with much of the U.S. foreign policy establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuch a profile of courage,\u201d Bahgat wrote on Facebook. \u201cHe warned of Israeli apartheid as early as 2007. He stood by his principles and moral standards because he understood his mission and stayed true to his beliefs without seeking to placate donors or please hedge-funder packed boards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Georgia, neighbors of the Carter Center in Atlanta congregated near the grounds where Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter would redefine what a post-presidency can be. The Carters established the Carter Center in 1982 and for four decades oversaw diplomatic missions, election monitoring and public health programs with operations that spanned five continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really appreciate him as an ex-president, what he\u2019s done since\u201d leaving office, said Richard Hopkins, an Atlanta resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopkins said Carter\u2019s public service went beyond elected office. A Korean War veteran, Hopkins noted that Carter, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a submarine officer after World War II. He also highlighted the Carters\u2019 work with Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses for low-income people. The Carters\u2019 Habitat involvement came in addition to their Carter Center work; they headlined their own annual builds into their early 90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford said the Carters were integral to Habitat\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost people think President Carter started and ran Habitat, which is not actually true,\u201d he said Monday. \u201cBut what is true is Habitat was founded in 1976, and it was a tiny organization in 1984 when President and Mrs. Carter famously rode a bus up from south Georgia to spend a week sleeping in a church basement and rehabbing a tenement building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. That\u2019s when the world found out about Habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Carter, the former president\u2019s grandson who now chairs the Carter Center\u2019s governing board, said in a recent interview that the former president formed that lifelong commitment to service because of Plains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy grandfather could go to a village anywhere in the world,\u201d the younger Carter said, and help people without patronizing them. \u201cBecause he was from a village like that himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some residents like Jones are worried about their small town now that the Carters are gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInterest in Plains will dwindle,\u201d he predicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jill Stuckey, a longtime Carter friend who oversees the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park for the National Park Service, is more optimistic. She expressed personal sadness but commended the Carters for ensuring a lasting impact in Plains, just as they have globally through the Carter Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince the moment Rosalynn passed, he wanted to be with her. So knowing that he\u2019s finally reunited with Rosalynn is a wonderful thing. But those of us who selfishly wanted to keep him here forever, I\u2019m in that camp,\u201d Stuckey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Carters, she emphasized, planned long ago to be buried in the same town where they were born, married and spent most of their lives. Rosalynn Carter already is buried in a plot visible from the front porch of the family home. The house and gravesite eventually will be added to the National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said Stuckey: \u201cI think they\u2019ve kind of set us up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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