Jimmy Carter dies aged 100 as tributes pour in for former US President Nobel Peace Prize winner

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Former US president Jimmy Carter has died at 100 years old as tributes have poured in for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

His son, Chip Carter, confirmed his father died at his home in Plains, Georgia at around 3:45pm local time.


The former US president was the first Georgian ever elected to the White House, leaving office after a single term during which he helped forge peace between Israel and Egypt.

In the decades after his term ended, his reputation grew through his work at the Carter Center in Atlanta and his philanthropic causes such as Habitat for Humanity.

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter has died aged 100

Getty

Carter was born in Plains on October 1 1924. After a career in the Navy, the former president turned to politics, where he first ran for school board, then state senator.

He was elected governor in 1970, where he served a successful term before running for president.

He won the Democratic nomination and then defeated Republican President Gerald Ford in 1976.

During his inauguration, rather than driving past the crows in a limousine, the former president and his wife Rosalynn emerged from the car with their daughter Amy and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, waving and holding hands.

His success as president was marked by reestablishing the government’s credibility after the Watergate Crisis and helping forge the Camp David, creating peace between Egypt and Israel.

However, this was overshadowed by the Iran hostage crisis, where Iranian militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, taking American hostages.

Carter failed to resolve the situation until the last day of his presidency.

The rise of the Republican party under Ronald Reagan and a foundering economy contributed to his defeat in 1980.

Carter then returned to Plains and began volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, building houses for the poor.

He then founded the Carter Center with his wife Rosalynn, focused on making peace and spreading health and democracy around the world.

Because of his work as president and leader of the Carter Center he won the Nobel Peace Prize and the United Nations Human Rights Prize amongst other notable awards.

Jimmy and Rosalynn were also both awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow.

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