Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Dies at 100, Leaving Humanitarian Legacy

TaiwanPlus News

The longest-lived U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 100 years old at his home in the U.S. state of Georgia. He leaves behind three generations and a legacy of decades of humanitarian work.

Transcript

00:00The U.S. flag at half-mast at the nation's capital to commemorate the death of former

00:09U.S. President Jimmy Carter at age 100.

00:13This is a sad day but it brings back an incredible amount of good memories.

00:19Today America and the world, in my view, lost a remarkable leader.

00:25He was a statesman and humanitarian.

00:29Jill and I lost a dear friend.

00:31Jimmy who?

00:32Jimmy Carter.

00:33Jimmy who?

00:34I don't know who he is.

00:35I heard he was a peanut farmer.

00:39Jimmy Carter was virtually unknown when he campaigned for president in 1976, a former

00:45naval submarine officer who left to take over the family peanut farm in Georgia.

00:50He ran as a Democratic Party candidate on a platform of sincerity and healing after

00:55Watergate and the U.S. losses during the Vietnam War, becoming the 39th president of

01:01the United States.

01:02Our commitment to human rights must be absolute.

01:08Our laws, fair, our natural beauty preserved.

01:15The powerful must not persecute.

01:18The weak and human dignity must be enhanced.

01:23Only in office for one term, Carter is known for several landmark events during that time,

01:29among them severing ties with the Republic of China, known as Taiwan, in 1979, and formally

01:36recognizing the People's Republic of China, setting the stage for relations felt to this

01:41day.

01:42So by the time we come to 1979, there was a broad view among U.S. political circles

01:49that there had to be a more normal relationship with the PRC, in part because they were working

01:56together in response to the Soviet threat, what both Beijing and Washington saw as the

02:03Soviet threat.

02:04Though the official relationship was broken, Carter signed the Taiwan Relations Act into

02:09law soon after, providing the framework for unofficial U.S.-Taiwan ties that endures 45

02:15years later.

02:17In March of 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, sealing the Camp David Accords

02:22brokered by Carter the year before and normalizing relations with Israel, an agreement denounced

02:29across the Arab world.

02:30But his most difficult days in office were yet to come.

02:39In November, Iranian militants took 52 Americans hostage in Tehran, and months later, eight

02:45U.S. servicemen died trying to rescue them.

02:48Combined with skyrocketing inflation and an energy crisis back home, re-election became

02:53impossible.

02:54In 1980, Republican challenger Ronald Reagan asked voters a simple question.

03:00Are you better off than you were four years ago?

03:05Carter lost 46 out of 50 states, leaving office deeply unpopular.

03:10But it was his post-White House years that built his lasting legacy.

03:14Crediting his lifelong Christian faith, Carter dedicated the rest of his years to humanitarian

03:20work.

03:21He and his wife Rosalyn established a Carter Center to promote peace, democracy and human

03:25rights.

03:33They built over 4,000 homes for impoverished people with Habitat for Humanity, and campaign

03:39across the world for democracy and justice.

03:42Twenty-two years after leaving office, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,

03:48cementing his legacy as a humanitarian and democracy advocate.

03:52Really the thing that I think most about in terms of Jimmy Carter is the legacy after

03:58his presidency and the enormous good and philanthropic work he did in the world, both he and his

04:05wife, Rosalyn.

04:07He was always remembered as a great humanitarian, starting Habitat for Humanity and really uplifting

04:14the people.

04:15So today's a very sad day.

04:16He did wonderful things with his life.

04:20It's a really sad thing.

04:21It's a loss.

04:22It is a loss.

04:23It is a loss.

04:24Sad news, Jimmy.

04:25Yeah.

04:26Sad news.

04:27At age 91, Carter revealed a cancer diagnosis that had spread to his brain, continuing his

04:32volunteer work until entering hospice care for the last two years of his life.

04:37He made a rare public appearance in 2023 when his wife, Rosalyn, by his side for 77 years,

04:44and in his words, his equal partner in everything, passed away.

04:48Leaving behind three generations of descendants, the longest-living U.S. president died at

04:53his home in Georgia, a global humanitarian at rest in the bosom of the nation he loved.

04:59I'm Klein Wong and Harrell Hughes for Taiwan Plus.

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