Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President and Champion of Musicians, Dies at 100

James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr., the 39th president of the United States, has died, the Carter Center announced. He had been in hospice care since February 2023, and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, died in November 2023. The former president was 100 years old.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” one of Carter’s sons, James Earl “Chip” Carter III, said in a statement. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Hailing from a peanut-farming family in rural Georgia and a distant cousin of the Carter Family, Jimmy Carter had a unique affinity for music that he carried all the way to the White House, emphasizing music as an important cultural presence and point of connection for all people. He was especially close with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and the Allman Brothers. Carter’s genuine passion for music provided him an avenue of association with his colleagues and constituents alike, which became an important soft-power tool in the wake of Richard Nixon’s ignominious administration. His affection was captured in the 2020 documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President.

Carter began his political career in 1962, winning a seat in the Georgia State Senate. His love for music was formative from a young age, beginning with his upbringing around gospel songs in church. He called gospel “rural music,” saying, “it has both Black and white derivations. It’s not a racial music… it’s a music of pain, of longing, of searching, of hope, and of faith.” Carter’s rise in politics coincided with the civil rights movement, and, as a white man in Georgia politics, he spoke with uncommon clarity and resolve against racial segregation.

By the time Carter was at the forefront of the New South movement in the early 1970s, his home state was known as a hotbed of powerful musical output, including James Brown, Ray Charles, and Otis Redding. The Allman Brothers, who made a home of Macon, Georgia, were recognized as being one of the first racially integrated rock bands by 1970, and the group’s blend of rock with rhythm and blues appealed to Carter easily. His love for all types of music aligned with his fervently held belief that humans have a universal right to dignity and free expression. When Carter took office as the governor of Georgia in early 1971, he declared in his inaugural speech, “The time of racial discrimination is over.”