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As Jimmy Carter celebrates his 100th birthday Tuesday, perhaps he is feeling a bit like Mark Twain, who was one of the few people in history who read his own obituary – hearing from the New York Journal in 1897 that he had died. His response to the reporter was, “I have heard on good authority that I was dead.” Yet he corrected the record with the reply, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
A quick internet search today simultaneously shows articles about a concert in honor of President Carter’s 100th birthday on Oct. 1 – as well as an article announcing his death in May 2023, which is still posted.
Even the Democratic National Committee omitted Carter in a post celebrating living Democrat presidents this past year. In their “Happy President’s Day” post they included Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but forgot about President Carter.
Former President Jimmy Carter speaks to the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, on April 28, 2019. (aul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Yet I have heard on good authority that any reports of Carter’s death are premature. In fact, today is a day for Carter – and all of America to celebrate and commemorate.
Regardless of whether the internet or the DNC acknowledges it, Carter is poised to make history again today. In his first milestone, he long ago became the only president of the United States to make it to the age of 95 and now, will remarkably turn 100 – not only surpassing the presidential record, but reaching an achievement that only 0.02% of Americans ever reach – and only one-fifth of those are male.
Remarkably, though he entered hospice care in February 2023, Carter continues to beat the odds and even outlived his wife, Rosalynn, who only survived a few days in hospice care, passing away at the age of 96 in November 2023. Jimmy Carter continues to break his own record of longevity with each additional day.
Former President Herbert Hoover tips his hat after returning from a vacation in San Francisco at New York International Airport on Aug. 4, 1962. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Being part of the elite club of presidents of the United States is already a remarkable achievement. Yet beyond that, out of all the presidents, only six have made it to the age of 90. Surprisingly, after the first president, George Washington, passed away at the young age of 67, his successor, our second president, John Adams, lived to the age of 90, appropriately passing away on July 4, 1826.
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Other presidential nonagenarians included our 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who lived to be 90, our 38th and 40th presidents, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, who both lived to the age of 93, and our 41st president, George H.W. Bush, who lived to be 94.
Carter alone has surpassed that milestone many years ago and will be celebrated today as the first POTUS to turn 100 – America’s first presidential centenarian.
President Ronald Reagan, and former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon at the White House on Oct. 8, 1981. (HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)