FILE: Former president Jimmy Carter prior to the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Cincinnati Bengals at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 30, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
A peanut farmer and former one-term governor of Georgia, Carter beat the odds and was elected president in 1977.
"Nobody thought Carter could procure the Democratic nomination. But Carter had a unique amount of bulldog tenacity [and] gumshoe perseverance," Brinkley said.
Jimmy Carter signs Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 ca. 9 November 1977. (Hum Images/Universal Images Group)
Carter designated millions of acres in Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges and he appointed a then-record number of women and non-whites to federal posts. He also built on Nixon’s opening with China and pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy.
Yet, his president was also marked by double-digit inflation, long gasoline lines, and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat.
President Jimmy Carter and his Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan, shake hands as they greet one another before their debate on the stage of the Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. (Getty Images)
Carter ultimately served a single, tumultuous term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
But whatever flaws his presidency may have had, Carter will perhaps be most fondly remembered for the decades he spent post-presidency advocating for democracy, public health, and human rights via The Carter Center.
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The Center, which Carter opened with his wife, Rosalynn, in 1982, has been a pioneer of election observation, monitoring at least 113 elections in Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989. In perhaps its most widely hailed public health effort, the organization recently announced that only 14 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in all of 2021, the result of years of public health campaigns to improve access to safe drinking water in Africa. Carter's work with the Center garnered a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Haitian President Michel Martelly (2L) and former US President Jimmy Carter (C) visit a housing project on November 8, 2011, in Leogane (33 Km in the south of Port-au-Prince) which built by Carter Foundation for 500 families, victims of the last quake on January 12, 2010, in Port-au-Prince. (THONY BELIZAIRE/AFP via Getty Images)
For his humanitarian work, Shirley argued, Carter will be remembered as "one of the best ex-presidents of the 20th century."
"Carter really wasn’t for PR stunts. He really threw himself into his charitable works and did so for many years," Shirley said.
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"We’re going to remember him kindly. He was a terrific former president with what he did with the Carter Center and the various initiatives around the country. His book writing stands out [as does] his charitable works. So, he goes down in his history as an extraordinarily good, former president."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article was written by Fox News staff.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/jimmy-carter-39th-president-remembered-integrity-devotion-humanity