However Jimmy Carter He was the President of the United States, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the founder of a world-class organization, The Carter Center, for his more than a dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren. grandfather first, his grandson Jason Carter said “Good morning America.”
“He’s an interesting guy, but he was really a grandfather to me first,” Jason Carter said in a live interview on “GMA” Tuesday, just days after the former president. death on December 29, at 100 years old.
“He was my grandfather, so I have a lot of memories, like everyone else, of him taking me fishing or sitting and talking about what I should do with my life,” continued Jason Carter. “When I graduated from college, he and I sat down and I said, ‘What would you do if I were you?’, and he said, ‘I’d go to Africa and join the Peace Corps,’ so I did. .”
Jimmy Carter is survived by four children and about two dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Jimmy Carter Library.
Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, speaks to “Good Morning America” on Dec. 31, 2024.
ABC News
He was preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter he died On November 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
Jason Carter, the son of the Carters’ oldest child, John William “Jack” Carter, described his grandparents’ decades-long marriage as “one of America’s great love stories.”
He said a photo of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter kissing against the backdrop of the US presidency shows who they really were at heart, two people who fell in love after meeting in the small town of Georgia Plains.
“He spent eight years in politics, and the other 92 years at home in Plains, Georgia,” Jason Carter said of his grandfather. “Obviously working around the world, doing things for The Carter Center and stuff, but really, he was a small-town boy who lived that faith that’s reflected in that picture and that love that’s reflected in that picture.”
Jason Carter, who plans to deliver a eulogy at his grandfather’s funeral on Jan. 9, said he sees his grandfather’s legacy as one who stayed true to himself despite reaching the height of power.
In this Oct. 27, 2014, file photo, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state senator Jason Carter with his grandparents, former first lady Rosalynn Carter and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in Columbus, Ga.
Jessica Mcgowan/Getty Images, FILE
In his political career, which included a 2014 run for governor of Georgia, Jason Carter said he tried to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.
“It’s one of those things that proves that you can be in politics and you haven’t changed who you are, that you can be an honest person, a person who lives out his faith and love in the real world, and you can still be in politics, and I think that was my hope,” he said. “Our politics is confusing, and he was always one of those rare people who was able to reach the highest levels, without compromising who he was, and we talked a lot about that aspect.”
Now, after his family’s patriarch died, Jason Carter said Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are reflecting on their annual New Year’s Eve family vacation and sharing memories of drinking champagne together on New Year’s Eve.
Jason Carter talks with his grandfather, former US President Jimmy Carter, as daughter Amy Carter (L) looks on during a memorial service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter at Glenn Memorial Church on November 28, 2023 in Atlanta.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
Heading into the new year, Jason Carter said he and his family want to continue his grandfather’s work at The Carter Center, which describes itself as a “nongovernmental organization that helps improve lives by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy and preventing disease.” “
“He built this remarkable institution that has been his life’s work for 40 years,” said Jason Carter of The Carter Center, who has served as chairman of the board. “There are 3,000 employees working around the world … and of those 3,000 employees, only a couple hundred are in the US, and the rest are in Ethiopia or Sudan or Mali or Chad or Bangladesh, wherever the center can do the best for the most people.”
