As condolences came in, many focused on Carter’s character, with President Joe Biden, in televised remarks, saying he “lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.”
“The rest of the world looks to us… and he was worth looking to.”
White House leaders past and future joined Biden in issuing remembrances, with Bill Clinton saying in a statement that Carter “worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.”
George W. Bush said Carter’s legacy would “inspire Americans for generations,” and Barack Obama said the former leader “taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service.”
Donald Trump said Americans owed the Democrat “a debt of gratitude,” later adding, in a second social media post, that “I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically.”
One of Carter’s defining foreign policy achievements — negotiating the return of the Panama Canal to Panama — has come back into focus as Trump has threatened to retake the channel.
Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday hailed Carter as “a symbol of humanitarian efforts” for his role in brokering the 1978 Camp David Accords, predicting his work would “remain etched in the annals of history.”
Rosalynn, Carter’s wife of 77 years, died on November 19, 2023 at age 96.
The former president, who looked frail, poignantly appeared at her memorial service in a wheelchair, with a blanket on his lap bearing their likenesses.
Carter is survived by the couple’s four children, three sons and a daughter.
© 2024 AFP