The Carter Legacy: Peanut farmer, governor, president & peacemaker

By Tom Hall,

Teria Rogers, Rob Sivak, Malarie Pinkard-Pierre

Published February 27, 2023 at 12:39 PM EST

Former President Jimmy Carter sits on the Atlanta Falcons bench before the first half of an NFL football game between the Falcons and the San Diego Chargers, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016, in Atlanta. Carter, at age 98 the longest-lived American president, has had a recent series of short hospital stays. The Carter Center said in a statement Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, that the 39th president has now “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.” (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Jimmy Carter, at the age of 98, is America’s oldest former President. Last week, the Carter family announced that Mr. Carter was entering hospice at his home in Plains, GA.

As the world prepares to bid farewell to the 39th president, re-assessments of his extraordinary life and legacy have begun in earnest, drawing new attention to the unique sweep and impact of Jimmy Carter's accomplishments, from his emergence as a standout liberal Georgia governor who championed civil rights to his election in 1976 as the post-Watergate US president who forged the historic Camp David Middle East Peace Accord.

Mr. Carter has been widely praised as one of the nation's most successful ex-presidents for his four decades of work with the Carter Center's international peace, pro-democracy and global health campaigns — work that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Joining Tom now with an appreciation of Mr. Carter is Dr. James Zogby, an influential Middle East policy expert and the founder and president of the Arab American Institute.

Dr. James Zogby joins Tom on Zoom from Washington, DC.

Dr. James Zogby is an esteemed Middle East policy expert and the co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. Dr. Zogby is also director of Zogby Research Services, a firm that has conducted groundbreaking surveys across the Middle East. (photo courtesy James Zogby)