— Oct. 1, 1924: James Earl Carter Jr. is born in Plains, Georgia, son of James Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter.
— June 1946: Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy.
— July 1946: Carter marries Rosalynn Smith, in Plains. They have four children, John William (“Jack”), born 1947; James Earl 3rd (“Chip”), 1950; Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), 1952; and Amy Lynn, 1967.
— 1946-1953: Carter serves in a Navy nuclear submarine program, attaining rank of lieutenant commander.
— Summer 1953: Carter resigns from the Navy, returns to Plains after father’s death.
— 1953-1971: Carter helps run the family peanut farm and warehouse business.
— 1963-1966: Carter serves in the Georgia state Senate.
— 1966: Carter tries unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
— November 1970: Carter is elected governor of Georgia. Serves 1971-75.
— Dec. 12, 1974: Carter announces a presidential bid. Atlanta newspaper answers with headline: “Jimmy Who?”
— January 1976: Carter leads the Democratic field in Iowa, a huge campaign boost that also helps to establish Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus.
— July 1976: Carter accepts the Democratic nomination and announces Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota as running mate.
— November 1976: Carter defeats President Gerald R. Ford, winning 51% of the vote and 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240.
— January 1977: Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States. On his first full day in office, he pardons most Vietnam-era draft evaders.
—September 1977: U.S. and Panama sign treaties to return the Panama Canal back to Panama in 1999. Senate narrowly ratifies them in 1978.
— September 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Carter sign Camp David accords, which lead to a peace deal between Egypt and Israel the following year.
— June 15-18, 1979: Carter attends a summit with Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna that leads to the signing of the SALT II treaty.
— November 1979: Iranian militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages. All survive and are freed minutes after Carter leaves office in January 1981.
— April 1980: The Mariel boatlift begins, sending tens of thousands of Cubans to the U.S. Many are criminals and psychiatric patients set free by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, creating a major foreign policy crisis.
— April 1980: An attempt by the U.S. to free hostages fails when a helicopter crashes into a transport plane in Iran, killing eight servicemen.
— Nov. 4, 1980: Carter is denied a second term by Ronald Reagan, who wins 51.6% of the popular vote to 41.7% for Carter and 6.7% to independent John Anderson.
— 1982: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter co-found The Carter Center in Atlanta, whose mission is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights and prevent disease around the world.
— September 1984: The Carters spend a week building Habitat for Humanity houses, launching what becomes the annual Carter Work Project.
— October 1986: A dedication is held for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. The center includes the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and Carter Center offices.
— 1989: Carter leads the Carter Center’s first election monitoring mission, declaring Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega’s election fraudulent.
— May 1992: Carter meets with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at the Carter Center to discuss forming the Gorbachev Foundation.
— June 1994: Carter plays a key role in North Korea nuclear disarmament talks.
— September 1994: Carter leads a delegation to Haiti, arranging terms to avoid a U.S. invasion and return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.
— December 1994: Carter negotiates tentative cease-fire in Bosnia.
— March 1995: Carter mediates cease-fire in Sudan’s war with southern rebels.
— September 1995: Carter travels to Africa to advance the peace process in more troubled areas.
— December 1998: Carter receives U.N. Human Rights Prize on 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
— August 1999: President Bill Clinton awards Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
— September 2001: Carter joins former Presidents Ford, Bush and Clinton at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington after Sept. 11 attacks.
— April 2002: Carter’s book “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” chosen as finalist for Pulitzer Prize in biography.
— May 2002: Carter visits Cuba and addresses the communist nation on television. He is the highest-ranking American to visit in decades.
— Dec. 10, 2002: Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
— July 2007: Carter joins The Elders, a group of international leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela to focus on global issues.
— Spring 2008: Carter remains officially neutral as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton battle each other for the Democratic presidential nomination.
— April 2008: Carter stirs controversy by meeting with the Islamic militant group Hamas.
— August 2010: Carter travels to North Korea as the Carter Center negotiates the release of an imprisoned American teacher.
— August 2013: Carter joins President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton at the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington.
— Oct. 1, 2014: Carter celebrates his 90th birthday.
— December 2014: Carter is nominated for a Grammy in the best spoken word album category, for his book “A Call To Action.”
— May 2015: Carter returns early from an election observation visit in Guyana — the Carter Center’s 100th — after feeling unwell.
— August 2015: Carter has a small cancerous mass removed from his liver. He plans to receive treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.
— August 2015: Carter announces that his grandson Jason Carter will chair the Carter Center governing board.
— March 6, 2016: Carter says an experimental drug has eliminated any sign of his cancer, and that he needs no further treatment.
— May 25, 2016: Carter steps back from a “front-line” role with The Elders to become an emeritus member.
— July 2016: Carter is treated for dehydration during a Habitat for Humanity build in Canada.
— Spring 2018: Carter publishes “Faith: A Journey for All,” the last of 32 books.
— March 22, 2019: Carter becomes the longest-lived U.S. president, surpassing President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018.
— September 18, 2019: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter deliver their final in-person annual report at the Carter Center.
— October 2019: At 95, still recovering from a fall, Carter joins the Work Project with Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s the last time he works personally on the annual project.
— Fall 2019-early 2020: Democratic presidential hopefuls visit, publicly embracing Carter as a party elder, a first for his post-presidency.
— November 2020:The Carter Center monitors an audit of presidential election results in the state of Georgia, marking a new era of democracy advocacy within the U.S.
— Jan. 20, 2021: The Carters miss President Joe Biden’s swearing-in, the first presidential inauguration they don’t attend since Carter’s own ceremony in 1977. The Bidens later visit the Carters in Plains on April 29.
— Feb. 19, 2023: Carter enters home hospice care after a series of short hospital stays.
— July 7, 2023: The Carters celebrate their 77th and final wedding anniversary.
— Nov. 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter dies at home, two days after the family announced that she had joined the former president in receiving hospice care.
— Oct. 1, 2024 — Carter becomes the first former U.S. president to reach 100 years of age, celebrating at home with extended family and close friends.
— Oct. 16, 2024 — Carter casts a Georgia mail ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, having told his family he wanted to live long enough to vote for her. It marks his 21st presidential election as a voter.
— Dec. 29, 2024: Carter dies at home.
Notable quotes:
We have a tendency to exalt ourselves and to dwell on the weaknesses and mistakes of others. I have come to realize that in every person there is something fine and pure and noble, along with a desire for self-fulfillment. Political and religious leaders must attempt to provide a society within which these human attributes can be nurtured and enhanced. — from 1975 book “Why Not the Best?”
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Our government can express the highest common ideals of human beings — if we demand of government true standards of excellence. At this Bicentennial time of introspection and concern, we must demand such standards. — “Why Not the Best?”
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I am a Southerner and an American, I am a farmer, an engineer, a father and husband, a Christian, a politician and former governor, a planner, a businessman, a nuclear physicist, a naval officer, a canoeist, and among other things a lover of Bob Dylan’s songs and Dylan Thomas’s poetry. — “Why Not the Best?”
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Christ said, “I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery.” I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do — and I have done it — and God forgives me for it. But that doesn’t mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. — Interview, November 1976 Playboy.
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This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it. — Inaugural address, January 1977.
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It’s clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper — deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation and recession. … All the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. … It is a crisis of confidence. — So-called “malaise” speech, July 1979.
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But we know that democracy is always an unfinished creation. Each generation must renew its foundations. Each generation must rediscover the meaning of this hallowed vision in the light of its own modern challenges. For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival; liberty is human rights; the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants. — Farewell Address, January 1981.
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We appreciate the past. We are grateful for the present and we’re looking forward to the future with great anticipation and commitment. — October 1986, at the dedication of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
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War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. — December 2002, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
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Fundamentalists have become increasingly influential in both religion and government, and have managed to change the nuances and subtleties of historic debate into black-and-white rigidities and the personal derogation of those who dare to disagree. … The influence of these various trends poses a threat to many of our nation’s historic customs and moral commitments, both in government and in houses of worship. — From 2005 book “Our Endangered Values.”
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I think that this breakthrough by Barack Obama has been remarkable. When he made his speech (on race) a few months ago in Philadelphia, I wept. I sat in front of the television and cried, because I saw that as the most enlightening and transforming analysis of racism and a potential end of it that I ever saw in my life. — August 2008, commenting on then-Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy.
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I think it’s based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president. … No matter who he is or how much we disagree with his policies, the president should be treated with respect. — September 2009, reacting to Rep. Joe Wilson’s shout of “You lie!” during a speech to Congress by President Barack Obama.
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I’m still determined to outlive the last guinea worm. — 2010, on The Carter Center’s work to eradicate guinea worm disease.
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You know how much I raised to run against Gerald Ford? Zero. You know how much I raised to run against Ronald Reagan? Zero. You know how much will be raised this year by all presidential, Senate and House campaigns? $6 billion. That’s 6,000 millions. — September 2012, reacting to the 2010 “Citizens United” U.S. Supreme Court decision permitting unlimited third-party political spending.
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I have become convinced that the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, largely caused by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the United States. — From 2014 book “A Call to Action.”
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I don’t think there’s any doubt now that the NSA or other agencies monitor or record almost every telephone call made in the United States, including cellphones, and I presume email as well. We’ve gone a long way down the road of violating Americans’ basic civil rights, as far as privacy is concerned. — March 2014, commenting on U.S. intelligence monitoring after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks
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We accept self-congratulations about the wonderful 50th anniversary – which is wonderful – but we feel like Lyndon Johnson did it and we don’t have to do anything anymore. — April 2014, commenting on racial inequality during a celebration of the Civil Rights Act’s 40th anniversary.
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I had a very challenging question at Emory (University) the other night: “How would you describe the United States of America today in one word?” And I didn’t know what to say for a few moments, but I finally said, “Searching.” I think the country in which we live is still searching for what it ought to be, and what it can be, and I’m not sure we’re making much progress right at this moment. — October 2014 during a celebration of his 90th birthday.
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The life we have now is the best of all. We have an expanding and harmonious family, a rich life in our church and the Plains community, and a diversity of projects at The Carter Center that is adventurous and exciting. Rosalynn and I have visited more than 145 countries, and both of us are as active as we have ever been. We are blessed with good health and look to the future with eagerness and confidence, but are prepared for inevitable adversity when it comes. — From 2015 book, “A Full Life.”
