Praising Jimmy Carter, Biden says values of late president ‘can never let slip away’
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Death of former President Jimmy Carter
The peanut farmer from Georgia was a virtual unknown when he launched his long-shot 1976 presidential bid that took him from “Jimmy Who?” to his inauguration as the nation’s 39th president.
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President Joe Biden eulogized former Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29, hours after the former U.S. president — and a friend of Biden for over 50 years — died at the age of 100, calling him an example of “simple decency” over the course of decades in public life.
Speaking from St. Croix, where the president is marking the new year, Biden noted he was the first national figure to endorse Carter’s bid for the presidency in 1976, and said their families had bonded in recent years over shared battles with cancer. Biden’s son, Beau, died of glioblastoma in 2015.
“Jimmy Carter stands as a model of what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose, a life of principle, faith, and humility. He lived his life dedicated to others,” Biden said.
“He worked to eradicate disease, not just at home but around the world,” he said. “He forged peace. Advanced civil rights, human rights. Promoted freedom of elections around the world. He built housing for the homeless with his own hands. And his compassion and moral clarity lifted people up in chains.”
Carter died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on the afternoon of Dec. 29, his family said in a statement. The death of the 39th president resurfaced debate over his legacy in the White House mere weeks before Biden, 82, the oldest man ever to serve in the presidency, is set to leave office.
Biden said he intends to provide Carter with an official state funeral.
Alluding to their shared generation, Biden dismissed criticisms of Carter as a product of a “bygone era.”
“I don’t believe it’s a bygone era. I see a man not only of our times, but of all times – someone who abided the most fundamental human values we can never let slip away, although sometimes it seems like it is,” Biden said. “We’d all do well to try to be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2024 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Praising Jimmy Carter, Biden says values of late president ‘can never let slip away’."
