Former US President Jimmy Carter is turning centenary on Tuesday! According to his grandson, he is in a conscious state. His mind is alert and he has expressed his desire to vote for Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris. But the reality is also that he has been in hospice care for a long time. That is, their routine is in the medical and emotional care of terminally ill patients. Despite this, Jimmy Carter’s hundred years of life, breathing in this care in his own home, has a lot of meaning.
He is the first centenarian president in American history. Therefore, it is natural that America would be congratulating him on Tuesday. Generally, after being out of power, Presidents and Prime Ministers do not spend their old age in a happy retirement. And Jimmy Carter is the leader who retired in 1981.
But Jimmy Carter is that rare former President who, after retirement, along with his wife Rosalynn, did good work in humanitarian concerns through their NGO organization Carter Center for about 35 consecutive years. Remained active everywhere in the country and abroad. Jimmy Carter was 99 years old when his wife died in November 2023 at the age of 96. And he remained sitting in a wheelchair the whole night with his partner of 77 years of married life as she breathed her last. She was also in hospice care.
That’s why Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter hold a different kind of respect among the figures of contemporary American history. The story of the energy, activity and vivacity with which these two lived their lives is not trivial. That’s why there was a good feeling among Americans about Jimmy Carter even when he became President and it remained so even after he lost the election. And what can we say about his contribution in his retired life!
For me, Jimmy Carter is the first world leader whom I saw standing in an open car in Connaught Place, Delhi. Then India welcomed him wholeheartedly. That was a precious moment of independent India. Indira Gandhi was defeated in the 1977 elections. The Emergency was over and amid global applause, in January 1978, US President Jimmy Carter visited India and saluted India’s democracy. Played the tune of human rights. Tried to free India from Soviet Union and Communist influences.
Respected the fearlessness of Prime Minister Morarji Desai, his Gandhian and stubborn nature. Yes, Jimmy Carter also tried hard to convince the Morarji government for the Nuclear Limitation Treaty (NPT) during the visit. But the stand of Morarji government remained the same as the previous governments. Despite this, India welcomed Jimmy Carter wholeheartedly and a village in Haryana was named Carterpuri after him. The reason was also that Jimmy Carter’s mother had once come to India on behalf of the Peace Corps and worked as a volunteer in that village.
And I believe that India never had the same emotional connection with America as it did during Jimmy Carter’s visit. Because during that time of 1977-78, America was freed from the Republican administration of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and in their place, human rights advocate Democratic leader Jimmy Carter was elected President. So, on one hand, the people of India showed the door to Indira Gandhi, the villain of the Emergency in India, on the other hand, America also came out of Nixonism. Therefore, a tsunami of mutual goodwill was created in the chemistry between America, the most powerful democracy, and India, the largest country.
And also know the fact of that time that after the Indian mandate that defeated the dictatorship, leaders from all over the world came to visit India. There was a stream of leaders one after the other. Sometimes Willy Brandt of Germany is coming, sometimes the British Prime Minister, sometimes the King and Queen of Spain and sometimes the Shah of Iran, but the most enthusiastic visit was of Jimmy Carter.
No one may believe this, but it is true that in the history of independent India till now, there have been only three real moments of India’s presence in the world theatre. One, the creation of Bangladesh under the command of Indira Gandhi. Two, the mandate against dictatorship in 1977. And three, liberalization of the economy in 1992. That is why I believe that the twists and turns that have taken place in the story of the Indian nation-state at the hands of Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and PV Narasimha Rao are the real story and everything else is just time pass!
Similar is the case with Jimmy Carter. He remained President for only one term. In 1980, he lost the election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan. But in the four years from January 1977 to January 1981, he made friendship in Israel and Egypt. Camp David Agreement was reached. He raised his voice against human rights violations in the Soviet Union and communist countries. And I believe Carter’s global human rights pressures and the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan in 1979 were the two reasons that led to the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union during Ronald Reagan’s tenure. What’s more, the throne of the Shah of Iran was also overthrown.
Jimmy Carter’s tenure became unpopular in America due to the Iran incident. The issue of American hostages in Iran became a global crisis, which Jimmy Carter lost the election by trying to solve. While Carter’s priority was human rights, there was also the SALT-2 treaty to stop the nuclear arms race. During his tenure, the Panama Canal Treaty was ratified by the Parliament and America established full diplomatic relations with China. He always remained a laughing, smiling face in America’s domestic politics. They were faced with the challenges of inflation, unemployment and budget deficit. While there were some successes, there were also failures. But by the time elections came, inflation, high interest rates and recession had brought down their graph. The right-wing slogans of conservative Ronald Reagan brought about that change in America, as did the rise of Margaret Thatcher in Britain around the same time.
His imprint was felt after Jimmy Carter’s departure from the White House. There are very few leaders in the world who, despite their short rule, have been respected by the people. Jimmy Carter reformed the civil service during his tenure. Created opportunities in government jobs for record numbers of women, black and Latino communities. From environmental concerns to solutions to the energy crisis, many such policies were made to liberalize the civil aviation sector, which had an impact later. Further agreements were reached in the peace process in West Asia. Therefore, in 2002, Jimmy Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize because he emphasized on democracy and human rights and promoted economic-social development along with peaceful resolution of international conflicts.
Obviously, after retiring from active politics, the Carter couple were impressed by the seriousness and virtues of what he and his wife Rosalynn did by establishing their NGO, the Carter Center, in 1982 to help different communities in Africa, South America and within the United States. became the value of. Consider Jimmy Carter’s statement that, ‘We know that world peace cannot last long with one-third rich and two-thirds hungry’. With this in mind, Jimmy Carter, along with his wife, remained active throughout his life. After the death of his wife, the effect of age increased on him. Probably broken down in loneliness. And earlier he was under medical care and these days he is under hospice care at home.
When Jimmy Carter, born on October 1, 2024, in a village in Georgia, will complete 100 years with a conscious mind tomorrow i.e. on October 1, 2024, Americans will definitely wholeheartedly congratulate their good, cheerful, good and cultured former President Jimmy Carter. And our hope is that perhaps his respect will awaken the American psyche a little more. And evil former President Donald Trump’s dream of becoming president for the second time may be dashed.