Timeline: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024

Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency of anyone to hold the office, and one of the most active. Here is a look back at his life.

1924 — Jimmy Carter was born on Oct. 1 to Earl and Lillian Carter in the small town of Plains, Georgia.

1928 — Earl Carter bought a 350-acre farm 3 miles from Plains in the tiny community of Archery. The Carter family lived in a house on the farm without running water or electricity.

1941 — He graduated from Plains High School and enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus.

1942 — He transferred to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

1943 — Carter’s boyhood dream of being in the Navy becomes a reality as he is appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

1946 — He received his naval commission and on July 7 married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. They moved to Norfolk, Virginia.

1946-1952 — Carter’s three sons are born, Jack in 1947, Chip in 1950 and Jeff in 1952.

1962-66 — Carter is elected to the Georgia State Senate and serves two terms.

1953 — Carter’s father died and he cut his naval career short to save the family farm. Due to a limited income, Jimmy, Rosalynn and their three sons moved into Public Housing Apartment 9A in Plains.

1966 — He ran for governor, but lost.

1967 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s fourth child, Amy, is born.

1971 — He ran for governor again and won the election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on Jan. 12.

1974 — Carter announced his candidacy for president.

1976 — Carter was elected 39th president on Nov. 2, narrowly defeating incumbent Gerald Ford.

1978 — U.S. and the Peoples’ Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations. President Carter negotiates and mediates an accord between Egypt and Israel at Camp David.

1979 — The Department of Education is formed. Iranian radicals overrun the U.S. Embassy and seize American hostages. The Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty is signed.

1980 — On March 21, Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled in Moscow. A rescue attempt to get American hostages out of Iran is unsuccessful. Carter was defeated in his bid for a second term as president by Ronald Reagan in November.

1981 — President Carter continues to negotiate the release of the American hostages in Iran. Minutes before his term as president is over, the hostages are released.

1982 — Carter became a distinguished professor at Emory University in Atlanta, and founded The Carter Center. The nonpartisan and nonprofit center addresses national and international issues of public policy.

1984 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes, until 2020. He also taught Sunday school in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains from the mid-’80s until 2020.

2002 — Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

2015 — Carter announced in August he had been diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain.

2016 — He said in March that he no longer needed cancer treatment.

2024 — Carter dies at 100 years old.

Sources: Cartercenter.org, Plains Historical Preservation Trust, The Associated Press; The Brookings Institution; U.S. Navy; WhiteHouse.gov, Gallup