The longest-lived U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 100 years old at his home in the U.S. state of Georgia. He leaves behind three generations and a legacy of decades of humanitarian work.
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00:00The U.S. flag at half-mast at the nation's capital to commemorate the death of former
00:09U.S. President Jimmy Carter at age 100.
00:13This is a sad day but it brings back an incredible amount of good memories.
00:19Today America and the world, in my view, lost a remarkable leader.
00:25He was a statesman and humanitarian.
00:29Jill and I lost a dear friend.
00:31Jimmy who?
00:32Jimmy Carter.
00:33Jimmy who?
00:34I don't know who he is.
00:35I heard he was a peanut farmer.
00:39Jimmy Carter was virtually unknown when he campaigned for president in 1976, a former
00:45naval submarine officer who left to take over the family peanut farm in Georgia.
00:50He ran as a Democratic Party candidate on a platform of sincerity and healing after
00:55Watergate and the U.S. losses during the Vietnam War, becoming the 39th president of
01:01the United States.
01:02Our commitment to human rights must be absolute.
01:08Our laws, fair, our natural beauty preserved.
01:15The powerful must not persecute.
01:18The weak and human dignity must be enhanced.
01:23Only in office for one term, Carter is known for several landmark events during that time,
01:29among them severing ties with the Republic of China, known as Taiwan, in 1979, and formally
01:36recognizing the People's Republic of China, setting the stage for relations felt to this
01:41day.
01:42So by the time we come to 1979, there was a broad view among U.S. political circles
01:49that there had to be a more normal relationship with the PRC, in part because they were working
01:56together in response to the Soviet threat, what both Beijing and Washington saw as the
02:03Soviet threat.
02:04Though the official relationship was broken, Carter signed the Taiwan Relations Act into
02:09law soon after, providing the framework for unofficial U.S.-Taiwan ties that endures 45
02:15years later.
02:17In March of 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, sealing the Camp David Accords
02:22brokered by Carter the year before and normalizing relations with Israel, an agreement denounced
02:29across the Arab world.
02:30But his most difficult days in office were yet to come.
02:39In November, Iranian militants took 52 Americans hostage in Tehran, and months later, eight
02:45U.S. servicemen died trying to rescue them.
02:48Combined with skyrocketing inflation and an energy crisis back home, re-election became
02:53impossible.
02:54In 1980, Republican challenger Ronald Reagan asked voters a simple question.
03:00Are you better off than you were four years ago?
03:05Carter lost 46 out of 50 states, leaving office deeply unpopular.
03:10But it was his post-White House years that built his lasting legacy.
03:14Crediting his lifelong Christian faith, Carter dedicated the rest of his years to humanitarian
03:20work.
03:21He and his wife Rosalyn established a Carter Center to promote peace, democracy and human
03:25rights.
03:33They built over 4,000 homes for impoverished people with Habitat for Humanity, and campaign
03:39across the world for democracy and justice.
03:42Twenty-two years after leaving office, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,
03:48cementing his legacy as a humanitarian and democracy advocate.
03:52Really the thing that I think most about in terms of Jimmy Carter is the legacy after
03:58his presidency and the enormous good and philanthropic work he did in the world, both he and his
04:05wife, Rosalyn.
04:07He was always remembered as a great humanitarian, starting Habitat for Humanity and really uplifting
04:14the people.
04:15So today's a very sad day.
04:16He did wonderful things with his life.
04:20It's a really sad thing.
04:21It's a loss.
04:22It is a loss.
04:23It is a loss.
04:24Sad news, Jimmy.
04:25Yeah.
04:26Sad news.
04:27At age 91, Carter revealed a cancer diagnosis that had spread to his brain, continuing his
04:32volunteer work until entering hospice care for the last two years of his life.
04:37He made a rare public appearance in 2023 when his wife, Rosalyn, by his side for 77 years,
04:44and in his words, his equal partner in everything, passed away.
04:48Leaving behind three generations of descendants, the longest-living U.S. president died at
04:53his home in Georgia, a global humanitarian at rest in the bosom of the nation he loved.
04:59I'm Klein Wong and Harrell Hughes for Taiwan Plus.