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Amid the sadness upon hearing of the passing of former US President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29, there were many fond memories of his unique contribution to the American people and humanity as a whole, much of which took place in the decades that followed his time in the White House.
He and his wife Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, dedicated their lives to public service and, first and foremost, to the well-being and prosperity of their fellow human beings, very often the less-fortunate ones. The Carter Center, the motto of which is “Waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope,” ensures their legacy will live on.
Carter was a single-term president but even upon defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980, his honesty, decency and adherence to the values most dear to him shone through. During his farewell address, he said, in the spirit of the Founding Fathers: “In a few days, I will lay down my official responsibilities in this office to take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of president, the title of citizen.”
This remained his leitmotif for the rest of his life: Power is temporary, no one is automatically entitled to it, and even as an ordinary (well, almost) citizen, he could still contribute to the betterment of society.
Moreover, he felt that one should seek power in order to serve, and upon losing the presidency, while he was finding a new purpose in life, he declared that a smooth transition of power was paramount so “that the American people are served well.”
Two events in the Middle East largely shaped Carter’s presidency, one for better, the other for worse. The former was the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978. This might not have been an American initiative but Carter and his administration nevertheless identified an exceptional opportunity for Washington to harness its unique position and help both sides cross the finishing line.
In one of those history-making events that until then had seemed impossible, he succeeded where so many others had failed. Reaching this agreement required patience, dedication, and a readiness to employ America’s powers of persuasion, along with a profound conviction about the good in people and the ability to appeal to their better nature.
Despite the enormous strains on this peace agreement, which has been tested more than ever in the past 15 months, it still stands, and for this Carter deserves much of the credit — although its marginalization of the Palestinian issue is beyond regrettable.
The 1979 Iranian tumult was the other history-determining event that occurred during Carter’s time in office, and it was one that would ultimately end his hopes of winning a second term.
As a result of the tensions between his human rights convictions and his realpolitik, his personal friendship with the Shah of Iran, and pressures arising from vested interests, he ended up sending mixed messages and failing to understand the magnitude of the events.

Things got worse for the US, and Carter himself, when Iranian students seized control of the US Embassy in Tehran and took more than 50 Americans hostage. The diplomats were held for 444 days, and a failed military operation to save them cast a further shadow over Carter’s time in office.

Carter’s work was informed by his deep religious beliefs and his faith in humanity and human beings.

Yossi Mekelberg

Unfortunately, these events eclipsed some of his real successes on the international stage, including his signing of the agreement for the US withdrawal from the Panama Canal, which contributed to improved relations with Latin America, and the part he played in restoring diplomatic relations with China.
Carter’s commitment to human rights was a major feature of his presidency. After he left office, and for a period of more than 40 years, he established an enduring legacy that was free of party politics, highlighted his deeply caring character, and showed his panache when it came to exploiting, in the most positive and constructive sense and for noble causes, his position as a former president.
Unlike many of his successors he was not looking to cash in on his celebrity status. He and his wife continued to live in the same modest abode in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where they had both been born and made their home after they married.
They might have come from a small town but their mission to improve the world was on a global scale, without boundaries. As much as their fundraising and drawing attention to crucial human rights and humanitarian issues, it was the personal example set by the Carters, in rolling up their sleeves and doing such work on the ground with people less than half their age, that made them so remarkable and enhanced their reputation.
Since 1984, for instance, for one week every year, they had joined volunteers from Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps people around the world build or improve their homes. The Carters demonstrated their building skills, whether in the US or faraway places such as Thailand or Vietnam, working shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of volunteers to improve the conditions of people living in poverty.
However, it is the Carter Center in Georgia that is the greatest representation of the massive impression the former president and his wife made on humanitarian and development work, along with efforts to advance freedom, democracy, and peace.
Over the years, the center has observed more than 100 elections in 39 countries, helping to ensure they were free and fair. It has become a standard-bearer for respecting the processes and results of many elections in which trust was a commodity in short supply.
Furthermore, the Carters understood that unless people’s lives and health are safeguarded, the importance of efforts to guarantee political and human rights is diminished, and so they involved themselves in initiatives to improve global public health.
The Carter Center has been at the forefront of efforts to tackle tropical diseases, for example by leading an international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease. The result is that there is the real prospect that it will soon become only the second human disease in history, after smallpox, to be eradicated; and for the first time this would happen without the use of vaccines or medicines, but through health education and improved water sanitation brought about by the distribution of millions of water filters.
Carter had a rare ability to move seamlessly between big-picture domestic and international politics while never losing sight of how the decisions made in those arenas affect individuals in their daily lives. This was true of his approach to nuclear disarmament, for example, or as one of the first world leaders to foresee while in office the impending climate cataclysm.
Carter’s work was also informed by his deep religious beliefs and his faith in humanity and human beings. He asserted that “the bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.”
It will be a long time before we see another public servant with such vision, devotion, altruism, decency, and modesty. However, whether individuals are in positions of power or simply going about their daily lives, the long and fulfilled lives of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter offer inspiration to us all.

• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg