Jimmy Carter, a former president, celebrated his 99th birthday on Sunday, but his supporters started rejoicing a day early due to the possibility of a government shutdown.
When the federal funding that helps keep the lights on at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library as well as the Museum in Atlanta was in danger of running out, museum officials said, the official birthday celebration for the longest-living U.S. president in history was rescheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday instead of Sunday. Just hours prior to the deadline, that evening, Congress voted to approve a stopgap measure.
Before the 39th president’s birthday, Tony Clark, the museum’s director of public affairs, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “We want to make ensure we are celebrating despite what Congress does.”
Therefore, the only event listed on the museum website on the day Carter turned 99 is a naturalization ceremony & an invitation to “come celebrate 99 new American citizens!”
Carter received birthday wishes from the president in a video that was uploaded to X, the social media website that replaced Twitter. In the post, he stated, “President Jimmy Carter, you are the spirit & the heart of the American people.”
The former president’s boyhood farm and school, as well as the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, were located in Plains, Georgia, where celebrations also took place on Saturday.
The park wrote in a birthday greeting shared on Facebook on Sunday that Jimmy Carter’s commitment to public service, steadfast support of human rights, and persistent attempts to improve the globe “continue to inspire us all.”
Carter’s location for lighting the candles remained to be determined.
At the Plains Peanut Festival on Saturday, Carter and his 96-year-old wife Rosalynn were observed traveling in a black SUV.
That was one of the former president’s few public appearances since he underwent hospice care at home seven months ago after a string of health issues, including melanoma that spread to his brain and liver.
Carter declared he would cease any further medical treatment and spend his final days with his wife, who was given a dementia diagnosis in May.
The Carter Center’s Board of Trustees chairman, Jason Carter, his grandson, stated in September that the couple was “coming to the end.”
He told USA Today, “He’s been in hospice for a while now, but they are happy. “They are a unit. In their home. Nobody gets more than being in love, in my opinion. It really is the ideal circumstance for them at this point in their lives.
During his one-year tenure as president (1977 to 1981), Carter oversaw the signing of the Camp David Accords, which put an end to years of hostilities between Israel and Egypt. He also established human rights as a cornerstone of American foreign policy and adopted a tough stance towards the Soviet Union.
Carter founded the Carter Center to advance and broaden human rights after losing his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan; for this work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He also contributed to the global good work of Habitat for Humanity.