PLAINS, United States (AFP) – The military flyover is ready, the songs have been rehearsed: Plains, Georgia is waiting to celebrate Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday on Tuesday, when its hometown hero becomes the only ever US president to reach the centennial mark.
Carter’s longevity — he announced he was going into hospice care more than 19 months ago — has defied all expectations.
The former peanut farmer and onetime Georgia governor, known for a strong sense of modest decency, returned post-presidency to the rural hamlet — with a population of approximately 600 — and has remained a steady and celebrated presence here since.
No longer regularly appearing in public — his last trip out was to see Independence Day fireworks in July — the Democratic ex-president will spend his birthday in the home he and his late wife Rosalynn had built in Plains in the 1960s.
It will include a lunch with some 20 members of his extended family, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We are thrilled that the president from this little town is going to be the only president to ever live to be 100 years old,” Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the National Park Service’s Jimmy Carter historical site and longtime family friend, told AFP.
She spoke from Plains High School, where Carter graduated in 1941 and which now serves as the visitors center for the national park that features sites from his early life, such as the nearby peanut farm where he grew up.
On Tuesday, the school will hold not just an evening concert featuring local and other musicians but also a naturalisation ceremony for 100 new US citizens.
The flyover, which includes four Navy F-18s, according to Stuckey, is particularly fitting since Carter worked on the Navy’s nuclear submarine program, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He should be able to see it from home.
Tributes for the former US leader have already begun pouring in, with President Joe Biden calling Carter “a moral force for our nation and the world” in a video statement on CBS over the weekend.
“Your commitment to a better world, and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us,” Biden said.
Beyond serving as president for a single term from 1977 to 1981, Carter worked as a global mediator, rights activist and elder statesman, founding the well-respected Carter Center in 1982 to pursue his vision of world diplomacy.
His presidency included the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, establishment of diplomatic relations with China following a rapprochement initiated by president Richard Nixon, and return of control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
But his administration hit numerous snags, including the Iran hostage crisis and a renewed oil crisis in 1979-1980.
A devout Baptist and self-described “born-again” Christian, Carter is remembered for a moralistic streak, but also civility admired even by detractors across the aisle.
“Healthy habits and his faith are a lot of the reasons why he is still with it today,” Stuckey said, referencing Carter’s penchant for fresh food and exercise.
According to family, Carter remains keenly interested in politics and was highly motivated to make it to 100 to vote in the November election for fellow Democrat Kamala Harris.
“He will be voting by mail-in ballot,” Stuckey told AFP, adding “he’s always been very politically active, and nothing has changed with that respect.”
In Plains, like in many rural places with strong evangelical Christian leanings, far more yard signs support Republican Donald Trump than Harris.
But it is also not uncommon to see a sign celebrating Carter’s centennial birthday next to one supporting Trump.
Carl Lowell, who has lived in Plains since infancy, said he tries not to get involved in politics because it is “so divisive” right now.
Like most residents of Plains, he is linked to Carter in various ways — he says his grandfather helped build the Carters’ house and that he himself even went dove hunting with him once.
“Jimmy’s a good man, he’s a godly man, and that’s what people like about him,” the 59-year-old retired firefighter said.
For 72-year-old Inez Battle, Carter’s work establishing the Boys and Girls Club in Plains was particularly meaningful.
He did it, she said, specifically for the community’s African American children “to have somewhere to go and learn after school.”
Battle, a board member of the organization, remembers fondly how he would attend meetings: “Instead of him saying we’ll do this, he would ask your opinion,” she told AFP.
As for his 100th birthday, Battle said, “it’s a blessing.”
