WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Jimmy Carter is remembered for his broad and diverse public life. He served as president, humanitarian, governor, Baptist, peanut farmer, husband, father.

Online condolences book: https://www.jimmycartertribute.org/

Shortly after his passing, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden issued a statement, “To the entire Carter family, we send our gratitude for sharing them with America and the world. To their staff – from the earliest days to the final ones – we have no doubt that you will continue to do the good works that carry on their legacy. And to all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility. He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.”

On social media, incoming president Donald Trump and his wife Melania posted, “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

In the early 1970s, Jimmy Carter was just a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia serving as the state’s governor. Jimmy Carter surged to national notice in 1976 in the wake of the scandals of the Nixon years and the Vietnam war. He defeated Gerald Ford, Republican of Michigan for the White House.

The optimism of the Bicentennial year and the Olympics and an election promising a future as bright as Jimmy Carter’s toothy smile quickly turned to the reality of governing,

Among the changes Carter brought to Washington, he established new federal agencies: the Department of Education and the Department of Energy along with FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He also partially deregulated key transportation industries – the airlines, railroads and trucking.

But those successes ran afoul of economic woes – the Federal Reserve combatted rising inflation with high interest rates. Paul Volcker’s policy worked in the long term but also angered the average American in the short term.

On July 15, 1979, Carter gave an address from the Oval Office now known as the “malaise” speech. “The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national world. We can see this crisis. In the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives. And in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and political fabric of America .”

Just as his domestic record was mixed, his foreign policy had highs and lows as well. His success with the Camp David accords – peace between Israel and Egypt - was complicated by the Iranian Revolution. Conservative Shi’a muslim clerics over threw the Shah. In the tumult, 52 Americans from the U.S. Embassy ended up being held hostage in Tehran for 444 days; until Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. He’d defeated Carter in a landslide.

While in Washington, the Carters also tried to maintain as normal a family life as they could.

Their daughter Amy attended public schools. At First Baptist Washington DC, Jimmy Carter attended church on many Sundays. Back home in Plains Georgia, he taught Sunday school for decades after the presidency. It’s his deep Christian Faith which underpinned his long legacy.

In a statement, former president Barack Obama testified to that faith, “Whenever I had a chance to spend time with President Carter, it was clear that he didn’t just profess these values. He embodied them. And in doing so, he taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. In his Nobel acceptance speech, President Carter said, “God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.” He made that choice again and again over the course of his 100 years, and the world is better for it."

Serving just one four-year term in the White House, Jimmy Carter continued his life of public service.

For Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), the loss of Jimmy Carter feels personal, “And so as someone now who is a pastor now serving in public office, he for me is a guiding light of what it means to make your faith come alive in the noble work of public service. And he did that in incredible ways. Everything from curing diseases all over the world of Guinea, worm disease has virtually been erased and eradicated almost from the face of the planet, largely through his efforts, and then promoting democracy and peace all across the world, empowering and educating women, housing people through his work with Habitat for Humanity. He laid it all on the field. So blessed is he. Long live his memory.”

The Carter Center has fostered democracy by monitoring hundreds of elections around the world and nearly eradicated the guinea worm in Africa by providing clean water. In 2002, he won Nobel Peace prize for the work of the Carter Center.

Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) noted that President Carter achieved global renown as a champion for democracy and for peace, highlighting Carter’s work, “following his presidency, supporting free and fair democratic elections around the world, supporting the peaceful resolution of conflict around the world. He has built a tremendous legacy and remains a treasured part of Georgia history.”

Upon his passing, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted, “Today, we mourn the loss of one of our most humble and devoted public servants, President Jimmy Carter. President Carter personified the true meaning of leadership through service, through compassion, and through integrity.”

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) added, ““Jimmy Carter’s character and commitment, just like his crops, were fruits of all-American soil. After every season when life led him to lofty service far from home, he came back home again, determined to plow his unique experiences and influence into helping others; into building and teaching and volunteering; into further enriching the same rich soil that had made his own life possible.”

And until just the last few years, Carter travelled widely in support of Habitat for Humanity…the organization which rehabilitates and builds housing for people who otherwise cannot afford safe homes.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2015 - which he beat thanks to an experimental drug - Carter said he was at ease at what might come. He’d lived an “exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”

And he summed up his four years as the 39th president of the United States, saying he’d achieved his goals to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and to “enhance human rights here and abroad”

Plans for a state funeral will be announced in the coming days.

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