The Most Heartbreaking Reactions To Jimmy Carter's Death

On December 29, 2024, after nearly two years in hospice care, America's 39th president and centenarian Jimmy Carter died. Famously the son and eventual heir to a peanut farmer, Carter navigated the U.S. through difficult times during his single term as president, before losing to Ronald Reagan amid public dissatisfaction with his handling of several economic and global crises. However, Carter worked tirelessly in his post-presidential years to advance peace and prosperity, both at home and abroad, even winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Through his efforts and character, Carter made a positive impact on people around the globe, whether it be brokering cease-fires in foreign lands or simply sharing time over dinner with his fellow Georgians. As would be expected, a flood of heartfelt and heartbreaking tributes came forth in the hours after Carter's death.

From former and current presidents — including a president-elect — to family members to the countless numbers of those who admired Carter from near and afar, there's an extraordinarily long list of eulogies, and some of them tug at the heartstrings.

Jimmy Carter's surviving family members announced the former president's death via The Carter Center, which was formed in 1982 and has since been a central part of its eponymous founder's altruism. It was President Carter's second-oldest son, James Earl "Chip" Carter III, who expressed the Carter family's shared sadness in their statement on The Carter Center's website, saying, "My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love ... My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs."

Carter's big-hearted interactions extended well beyond his family and peers, including one of his close friends, Jill Stuckey. As superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park in Plains, Georgia, Stuckey enjoyed Saturday dinners with Carter whenever he was in the area, and on the news of his death she reminisced (via 7News) how he was trustworthy to the core and a "Handyman and a man of the free world."

It was Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, who perhaps delivered the most poignant immediate eulogy, although not with his own words. Embodying what many felt about Carter, the man who became the longest-surviving president to date, Jason's social media post simply linked to the Jason Isbell song "Last of My Kind."

In 1999, President Clinton awarded Jimmy Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Carter's death in late 2024 left Clinton as the last surviving U.S. president to hold office in the 20th century. Hillary and Bill Clinton made a joint statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, which included the words: "Guided by his faith, President Carter lived to serve others ... he worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world."

For decades since the dawning of his post-presidency years in the 1980s, Carter had taught Sunday school in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, and to a packed Maranatha Baptist Church at that. Alluding to his popularity as a Sunday school teacher, Michelle and President Barack Obama paid tribute to Carter, stating: "Many people in that church on Sunday morning were there, at least in part, because of something more fundamental: President Carter's decency."

Carter died less than a month before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025. The soon-to-be 47th president stated on social media, ".. we all owe him a debt of gratitude," but perhaps just as poignant were the reports that flags would still be flying at half-mast for Carter on the day Trump is sworn in.

Jimmy Carter touched countless individuals throughout his long life, many of whom went on to occupy the halls of power and industry. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia described how Carter had employed him when he was fresh out of law school, saying of Carter's death (via The Guardian), "We lost a giant." As news of Carter's death echoed around the globe, condolences poured in from world leaders, both past and present, and the Empire State Building was lit in red, white, and blue in his memory.

However, the former peanut farmer and Sunday school teacher ended his days as a humanitarian first and foremost, earning universal post-mortem praise from those engaged in similar efforts. Dr. Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, posted on X: "If we had 10 more Jimmy Carters, maybe our world would be a different place today."

President Carter's hopeful energy may have found a more eternal platform, not on earth, but in the stars. Affixed to both Voyager spacecraft — now hurtling through interstellar space, billions of miles from Earth — is a golden record that contains a recording made by then-President Carter in the 1970s, including the immortal line, "We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours." NASA referred to this in their tribute to Carter, stating on X: "Carter's message of peace continues to reach across the 'vast and awesome universe.'"