Jimmy Carter, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll President,’ Dies at 100

Jimmy Carter, who served as the 39th U.S. president from 1977 until 1981, has died at the age of 100.

The former President’s foundation the Carter Center revealed that Carter died peacefully Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family.

The former president had entered hospice care on Feb. 18, 2023, with the “full support of his family and his medical team.”

Born Oct. 1, 1924 in Plains, Ga., James Earl Carter, Jr., graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, after which he served seven years in the Navy, working in their nuclear submarine program until he was discharged in 1953. From there he ran his father’s peanut farm and then entered politics. He served two terms as a Georgia state senator and, in 1970, was elected governor.

As he entered the final year of his term, Carter announced that he was running for president. He had little name recognition at the time, but earned the nomination by winning 30 states in the primaries. Carter then narrowly defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford in November 1976.

The presidency to follow was noted by several successes, such as the Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt and a restructuring of the Cabinet to add the departments of energy and education. But continued economic problems, combined with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis, helped contribute to Carter’s electoral defeat in 1980. Ronald Reagan won in a landslide, but Carter hardly disappeared from the world stage.

Carter was famous for his embrace of rock ‘n’ roll, a particularly risky move at the time. It began when he was governor of Georgia, when Carter discovered the songs of Bob Dylan through his sons. He invited Dylan and the Band to the governor’s mansion in 1974, and the Band would repay the favor by covering “Georgia on My Mind” in his honor. Carter quoted a line from Dylan’s “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” when he accepted the nomination at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, describing America as “busy being born, not busy dying.” (Carter would later introduce Dylan as the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year.)

The Allman Brothers Band and the Marshall Tucker Band played benefits during his initial presidential run, and Carter credited the money raised — matched by federal funds — as essential for keeping the campaign afloat when it was deeply in debt. Guitarist Dickey Betts would later say that Carter, a staunch anti-segregationist, “totally changed the attitude about Georgia.” Carter attended Gregg Allman’s funeral in 2016.

His inaugural balls featured a reunion of Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as performances by Aretha Franklin and Paul Simon. CSN visited the White House, and the Atlanta Rhythm Section performed on the White House lawn in 1978 at his son Chip’s 28th birthday. The connections between Carter and rock music were given a spotlight in Mary Wharton’s documentary, Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President, which aired on CNN in January 2021.

After leaving the presidency, Carter remained in public service. He founded the Carter Center to promote human rights, monitor elections and eradicate diseases in underdeveloped countries, and was the most high-profile volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for low-income people. His lifetime of humanitarian work earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.