NEWS
Jimmy Carter Emerges US’s Longest-Living President
United State’s former President and philanthropist Jimmy Carter is no longer just the oldest living U.S. president, but now the longest-living in the nation’s history, as well.
The 94-year-old overtook former President George H.W. Bush’s title by one day on Friday. Carter, the 39th president who was in the White House from 1977 to 1981, has now lived 94 years and 172 days.
Bush, the 41st president who was in the White House from 1989 to 1993, died on Nov. 30 after living 94 years and 171 days. Bush set the longest-living record in November 2017 when he surpassed former President Gerald Ford, who lived 93 years and 165 days before his death in 2006.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave the Georgia native the longest-living designation Thursday morning, but the Jimmy Carter Library noted that the newspaper had gotten ahead of itself and the story was corrected. The Atlanta-based library in a Twitter post said the paper “jumped the gun,” but that it was “all for getting the party started early!”
While we still think some of you may have jumped the gun (ahem, @AJC, @Wikipedia), we're happy to join in and recognize that President Jimmy Carter has set, or will soon set, the record for being the US's oldest living president. pic.twitter.com/2LcDGi1cpy
— Jimmy Carter Library (@CarterLibrary) March 21, 2019
Deanna Congileo, a spokeswoman for the Carter Center nonprofit established by the former president, said in a statement to CNN, said that even as the one-time Georgia governor marks the monumental milestone, work isn’t over for him or his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter.
“President and Mrs. Carter are both determined to use their influence for as long as they can to make the world a better place, and millions of the world’s poorest people are grateful for their resolve and heart,” Congileo said.
Carter, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was a dark horse when the race began for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. But in the wake of the Watergate scandal, his pledge to “never lie” to the public resonated with voters, and he went on the capture the nomination and then narrowly defeat GOP President Gerald Ford.
