Jimmy Carter at 100: A century of changes for a president, the US and the world since 1924
🥰Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark.
The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924.
Here are some notable markers for Carter, the nation and the world over his long life.
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Carter has seen the U.S. population nearly triple. The U.S. has about 330 million residents; there were about 114 million in 1924 and 220 million when Carter was inaugurated in 1977. The global population has more than quadrupled, from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion. It already had more than doubled to 4.36 billion by the time he became president.
When James Earl Carter Jr. was born, life expectancy for American males was 58. It’s now 75.
TV, radio and presidential maps
NBC first debuted a red-and-blue electoral map in the 1976 election between then-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, and Carter, the Democratic challenger. But NBC’s John Chancellor made Carter’s states red and Ford’s blue. Some other early versions of color electoral maps used yellow and blue because red was associated with Soviet and Chinese communism.
Attention shoppers
There was no Amazon Prime in 1924, but you could order a build-it-yourself house from a catalog. Sears Roebuck Gladstone’s three-bedroom model went for $2,025, which was slightly less than the average worker’s annual income.
Walmart didn’t exist, but local general stores served the same purpose. Ballpark prices: loaf of bread, 9 cents; gallon of milk, 54 cents; gallon of gas, 11 cents.
From suffragettes to Kamala Harris
The 19th Amendment that extended voting rights to women was ratified in 1920, four years before Carter’s birth. The Voting Rights Act that widened the franchise to Black Americans passed in 1965 as Carter was preparing his first bid for governor.
Now, Carter is poised to cast a mail ballot for Kamala Harris. Grandson Jason Carter said the former president is holding on in part because he is excited about the chance to see Harris make history.
Immigration, isolationism and ‘America First’
Carter was born in an era of isolationism, protectionism and white Christian nationalism — all elements of the of the right in the Trump era.
Months before Carter was born, Pres Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law created the USBP and sharply curtailed immigration, limiting admission mostly to migrants from western Europe. Asians were banned entirely. Congress described its purpose plainly: “preserve the ideal of US. homogeneity.”
America’s and Carter’s pastime
Carter is the Atlanta Braves’ most famous fan. Jason Carter says the former president still enjoys watching his favorite baseball team.
In the 1990s, when the Braves were annual features in the October playoffs, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were often spotted in the owner’s box with media mogul Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, then Turner’s wife.
Booze, Billy and Billy Beer
Prohibition had been in effect for four years when Carter was born and wouldn’t be lifted until he was 9. The Carters served only wine at state dinners and other White House functions, though it’s a common misconception that they did so because of their Baptist mores. It was more because Carter has always been frugal: He didn’t want taxpayers or the residence account (his and Rosalynn’s personal money) to cover more expensive hard liquor.