(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court on Monday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury’s verdict last year that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s.
The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided “Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings” and “has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
The jury in the civil case held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, and determined that, in 2022, he made defamatory statements about her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
A different jury, in a separate civil trial, ordered Trump to pay Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, $83 million in damages. Trump’s appeal of that verdict is pending.
In the first trial, Trump claimed District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan erred by allowing two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, to testify about Trump’s alleged sexually assaults of them. Trump denied the claims of those two women.
Trump also faulted Kaplan’s decision to allow part of the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape into evidence. In the 2005 recording, Trump is heard describing to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush how he kissed and grabbed women without first obtaining their consent.
The appellate court, in Monday’s opinion, decided the tape was admissible “as evidence of a pattern” of alleged behavior by Trump.
“The jury could have reasonably concluded from those statements that, in the past, Mr. Trump had kissed women without their consent and then proceeded to touch their genitalia,” the opinion said.
(WASHINGTON) — The funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday at the age of 100, will be held on Jan. 9 at Washington National Cathedral.
Carter, the son of a peanut farmer who was elected the nation’s 39th president, passed away surrounded by family at his home in Plains, Georgia, just months after he became the longest-lived former chief executive in U.S. history.
President Joe Biden, who praised Carter as a “man of principle, faith, and humility,” has also marked Jan. 9 as a National Day of Mourning for the former Democratic president.
Biden said in March 2023 that Carter had asked him to deliver his eulogy. Their relationship spans decades, back to when Biden endorsed Carter for the presidency during Biden’s first term as a senator in 1976.
In remarks on Sunday evening, Biden spoke about Carter’s support for him and his family after his son Beau died of cancer. Carter was later diagnosed with metastatic melanoma.
“I think that what Jimmy Carter is an example of is just simple decency, simple decency,” Biden said as he reflected on that time in his life. “And I think that’s what the rest of the world looks to America for.”
Washington National Cathedral, situated just miles north of the White House, has been the site of several state funerals for former presidents, including Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush.
Carter is expected to be buried in Georgia next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who died last year at the age of 96. Carter, who had been in hospice care, made a rare public appearance to attend his wife’s memorial service.
The couple previously spoke about being laid to rest together at their family residence, near the edge of a pond on the property where they fished together.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(SEOUL and LONDON) — The two survivors of South Korea’s deadliest plane crash in decades were recovering at separate hospitals in Seoul on Monday, as investigators began far-reaching probes into both the fatal crash and the country’s broader aviation operations.
The only survivors, a man and a woman, were among the six crew members onboard the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 when it skidded along a runway, crashed into a wall and burst into flames on Sunday morning, officials said. A total of 181 people were onboard.
The man who survived, who was receiving treatment for fractures in an intensive care unit, was alert and speaking with medical staff, Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, said at a press conference on Monday.
The man, a flight attendant identified only by his surname, Lee, had “already been rescued” when he woke up, the hospital official said. “(Lee’s) fully able to communicate,” Woong added. “There’s no indication yet of memory loss or such.”
The woman, 25-year-old flight attendant named Koo, was also recovering, though not in intensive care, hospital staff and officials with the Korean Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport said. Neither survivor had life-threatening injuries, the ministry said, adding that both had awoken in the hospital without a clear recollection of what had happened after they heard a blast during the landing.
Authorities were working on Monday to confirm the identities of more than three dozen of the 179 people who were killed when the plane crash-landed. The bodies of 141 people had been identified through their fingerprints or DNA, but 38 of the dead remained unidentified, local officials said.
Officials had recovered the flight’s data recorders from the wreckage and were releasing information. The acting president, Choi Sang-mok, who has been leading the country since Friday, ordered an emergency safety inspection of South Korea’s entire air fleet and operations.
The transport ministry said it will conduct a full inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in use in South Korea. Six low-cost airlines operate a total of 101 of that model aircraft, including the 39 operated by Jeju Air. But the airline said it would not suspend operations of those planes.
“There are no plans to suspend operations, but they will examine those parts once more and check them thoroughly during the inspection process,” said Song Kyung-hoon, head of Jeju Air’s Management Support Division.
Flight 7C2216 had taken off from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand before dawn on Monday, according to Flightradar24, a flight tracker.
As the aircraft approached South Korea’s Muan International Airport at 8:54 a.m., the control tower gave it permission to land on a south-to-north runway, according to an official timeline by the transport ministry.
Three minutes later, the flight control tower issued a warning of a possible bird strike, the transport ministry said. About two minutes after that warning, a pilot sent a distress signal, saying, “Mayday, mayday, mayday, bird strike, bird strike, going around,” the ministry said.
The plane ascended and made a 180-degree before descending from the north side, crash-landing and crashing into the wall at 9:03 a.m., the ministry said.
The official death toll, provided by the National Fire Agency, climbed steadily in the hours after the crash. By nightfall on Sunday, local officials said all but two of the 181 people onboard had died in the crash.
The aircraft’s voice and data recorders, or “black boxes,” were recovered from the wreckage, the Air and Railway Investigation Committee said. The flight data recorder was found partially damaged and the cockpit voice recorder was collected intact, officials said.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday it would send an investigative team — which was to include members from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration — to assist South Korean officials. The results of that investigation will be released by the Republic of Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board, or ARAIB.
Efforts were being made to speed up the identifications of the remaining 38 people who died, but some bodies were too damaged for their fingerprints to be used.
Others were the bodies of minors, whose prints were not on file to compare, authorities said. According to the flight manifest, the youngest passenger on board was 3 years old. The manifest recorded five children under 10 years old on the flight.
Jeju Air, which operates an all-Boeing fleet, is a popular low-cost carrier in South Korea. The airline operated about 217 flights a day and carried more than 12 million people during 2023.
More than 68,000 Jeju Air tickets have been canceled since the crash, according to Jeju Air. All will be fully refunded, the airline said.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Hakyung Kate Lee, Jack Moore, Will Gretsky, Victoria Beaule and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(SEOUL) — South Korean investigators are seeking an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law, according to the Yonhap news agency.
A joint investigation team reportedly announced on Monday they sought the warrant on insurrection and abuse of power charges after Yoon ignored three summonses to appear for questioning.
Under South Korea’s constitution, if a sitting president is accused of insurrection, the police have the authority to arrest him while he is still in office.
A court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon, which would mark the first presidential arrest in the country’s history.
Yoon declared martial law in a televised speech on Dec. 3. The president said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country’s liberal opposition, the Democratic Party, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government.
The move sparked protests, and hours after the declaration, the National Assembly voted to demand that the president lift the martial law order. A majority of parliament — all 190 members who were present, out of the 300-person body — voted to lift the decree — requiring that it then be lifted, under the South Korean constitution.
Following the National Assembly’s vote, Yoon said he withdrew the troops that had been deployed to carry out martial law and “will lift martial law as soon as we have a quorum in the cabinet.” The State Council then convened to vote to officially lift it.
The country’s Democratic Party called on Yoon to resign following what it called the “fundamentally invalid” declaration of martial law. Without Yoon resigning, the opposition party worked to enact impeachment proceedings against the president.
Yoon has been suspended from his position since Dec. 14, when the National Assembly voted for his impeachment in a 204-85 vote.
Earlier this month, however, Yoon vowed to “fight until the last moment” and said that he had never intended to disrupt the “constitutional order” when he ordered hundreds of troops into the National Assembly on Dec. 3.
The public reaction has been complex and varied, reflecting the deep political, social, and generational divides in South Korea. But overall there is a mass consensus that putting the country under martial law was an inexcusable action, no matter what motivated the president to do so.
“It was an unthinkable, unimaginable situation,” Seo Jungkun, a professor at Kyunghee University in Seoul, previously told ABC News. “President Yoon attempted to suspend the functions of the national assembly. He ordered the removal of lawmakers, therefore he could be charged with treason,” Seo explained, referring to a testimony by Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, who oversaw the special forces dispatched to the National Assembly on the night of the martial law declaration.
ABC News’ Joohee Cho and Hakyung Kate Lee contributed to this report.
DECEMBER 30: Palestinians taking shelter in tent camps are battling harsh weather conditions as heavy rainfall has flooded their tents on December 30, 2024 in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. The ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza are worsen by the severe storms, which have led to widespread flooding in the camps where thousands have sought shelter. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.
The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip around several Palestinian hospitals.
Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.
Ukraine foreign minister meets Syrian leader in Damascus
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa — also known by nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.
Sybiha became the latest foreign representative to meet with Sharaa in Damascus, where the latter’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham forces and their allies are establishing a transitional government having toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Sybiha wrote on X that he “personally conveyed the message” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We are with you and ready to assist in restoring normal life, stability and food security,” Sybiha said.
“We rely on the new Syria respecting international law, including Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added. “This will pave the way to fully restoring our diplomatic ties, political dialogue and diplomatic presence. We are ready to develop cooperation in a number of areas.”
The visit came days after Zelenskyy announced Kyiv’s dispatch of 500 tons of wheat flour to Syria as part of the “Grain from Ukraine” humanitarian program in cooperation with the World Food Program.
Gaza hospitals become ‘battlegrounds,’ WHO chief says
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said early Monday that Gaza’s beleaguered hospitals “have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat.”
Ghebreyesus said the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahia “is out of service,” following an Israeli raid which itself came after several weeks of encirclement and bombardment.
Israeli forces raided the compound on Friday, forcibly evacuating all remaining patients and staff. The Israel Defense Forces said it detained 240 alleged militants, among them hospital director Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya. The IDF said the hospital was a “command center” for Hamas “military operations” in the surrounding area.
Ghebreyesus said Safiya’s “whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release.”
Kamal Adwan patients were transferred to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, both of which have also reported repeated Israeli attacks. The latter “is itself out of function,” Ghebreyesus said.
“Seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remain at the severely damaged Indonesian Hospital, which has no ability to provide care,” he added.
Four patients were detained by the IDF during their transfer out of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the WHO chief said.
Two other facilities — the Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City — were also attacked and sustained damage on Monday, Ghebreyesus said.
“We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals,” he wrote. “People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!”
Family of Gaza hospital director asks international community to help find him
The family of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip, is pleading with the international community to help learn his whereabouts, alleging he was detained by Israeli forces during a recent raid on the medical facility.
The family posted a message on Abu Safiya’s official Instagram page, on which the doctor had been posting updates about the hospital’s functioning, pleading, “We do not know the fate of our father.”
“We appeal to every compassionate individual and all international organizations and institutions to take action,” said the family, asking the international community to apply media pressure and make appeals to “help us push for his swift release from captivity.”
The message said Abu Safiya is still recovering from injuries he suffered a month ago while working at the hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement released on Saturday that Abu Safiya is suspected of being a Hamas terrorist and is being held in Gaza.
Abu Safiya had not been arrested in previous IDF raids of the hospital.
-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini and Nadine Shubailat
IDF issues statement on Kamal Adwan Hospital raid
The IDF released a statement outlining their operations in and around Kamal Adwan Hospital in the last few days.
The Israel Defense Forces said the hospital was a “command center” for Hamas “military operations in Jabaliya,” although the statement and attached media do not provide corroborating evidence of this.
The statement says the IDF faced heavy fighting in areas near the hospital, and says the IDF detained 240 terrorists, including the director of the hospital, Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, whom it says is is “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.”
Abu Safiya was one of the only male staff members at the hospital not detained during the IDF’s raid of the hospital in October, and he would have helped coordinate numerous resupply and patient evacuations with Israel over the last several months.
Kamal Adwan is the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza and is operating at a limited capacity due to a lack of medical supplies and the repeated attacks on the hospital.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced on Monday that the United States would offer almost $2.5 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine, a move that will bring an “immediate influx of capabilities” as the country defends itself against Russia’s assault.
“At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office,” Biden said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — World leaders have offered their condolences after the death of former President Jimmy Carter at the age of 100.
Carter died in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday afternoon, the Carter Center wrote in a post to X. President Joe Biden led the tributes, saying that “America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian.”
Leaders abroad were quick to offer their own tributes.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Carter’s legacy “is one of compassion, kindness, empathy and hard work. He served others both at home and around the world his entire life — and he loved doing it. He was always thoughtful and generous with his advice to me.”
“My deepest condolences to the Carter family, his many loved ones and the American people who are mourning a former president and a lifelong humanitarian,” Trudeau added. “May his selfless service continue to inspire us all for years to come.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a post to X that, above all, Carter “was a lover of democracy and a defender of peace.”
Lula recalled Carter’s pressure on the military dictatorship in Brazil in the 1970s to release political prisoners. “Later, as a former president, he continued to campaign for the promotion of human rights, peace and the eradication of diseases in Africa and Latin America,” the president added.
“Carter achieved the feat of having a job as a former president, over the decades, that was as important or even more important than his term in the White House,” Lula wrote.
A slew of tributes also came from leaders in Europe. Several alluded to one of Carter’s landmark foreign policy achievements in brokering the Camp David Accords in 1978, which led to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty the following year.
“Throughout his life, Jimmy Carter has been a steadfast advocate for the rights of the most vulnerable and has tirelessly fought for peace,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “France sends its heartfelt thoughts to his family and to the American people.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “very sorry to hear of President Carter’s passing. I pay tribute to his decades of selfless public service. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”
King Charles III expressed “great sadness” at the news. “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote, “We join our American friends in mourning the loss of their former President Jimmy Carter. The U.S. has lost a committed fighter for democracy. The world has lost a great mediator for peace in the Middle East and for human rights.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted Carter’s continued advocacy for democracy and human rights even towards the end of his life.
“He was a leader who served during a time when Ukraine was not yet independent, yet his heart stood firmly with us in our ongoing fight for freedom,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“We deeply appreciate his steadfast commitment to Christian faith and democratic values, as well as his unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked aggression,” he added.
“He devoted his life to promoting peace in the world and defending human rights. Today, let us remember: peace matters, and the world must remain united in standing against those who threaten these values.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Carter “served his country with honor — and humanity, with compassion. His work advanced peace, health and democracy worldwide.”
“He will be remembered for his moral leadership,” she added. “May his noble legacy live on.”
(SEOUL) — Authorities in South Korea were working on Monday to confirm the identities of more than three dozen of the 179 people who were killed when a Jeju Air plane crash-landed at an airport on Sunday.
The bodies of 141 people had been identified through their fingerprints or DNA, but 38 of the dead remained unidentified, local officials said.
A day after the deadly crash, in which the Boeing 737 skidded along a runway, crashed into a wall, and burst into flames, officials had recovered the flight’s data recorders from the wreckage and were releasing information about both the dead and the two survivors. Six crew members and 175 passengers had been on the flight.
The acting president, Choi Sang-mok, who has been leading the country since Friday, ordered an emergency safety inspection of South Korea’s entire air fleet and operations.
The two survivors, a man and woman who were both crew members, were not in life-threatening condition, officials said. The man was receiving treatment in an intensive care unit and the woman was recovering, officials said.
Flight 7C2216 had taken off from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand before dawn on Monday, according to Flightradar24, a flight tracker.
As the aircraft approached South Korea’s Muan International Airport at about 9 a.m., the flight control tower issued a warning of a possible bird strike, the Korean Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport said on Sunday.
About a minute after that warning, a pilot sent a mayday distress signal, after which the tower issued permission for the aircraft to land, the ministry said.
The official death toll, provided by the National Fire Agency, climbed steadily in the hours after the crash. By nightfall on Sunday, local officials said all but two of the 181 people onboard had died in the crash.
The aircraft’s voice and data recorders, or “black boxes,” were recovered from the wreckage, the Air and Railway Investigation Committee said. The flight data recorder was found partially damaged and the cockpit voice recorder was collected intact, officials said.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday it would send an investigative team — which was to include members from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration — to assist South Korean officials. The results of that investigation will be released by the Republic of Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board, or ARAIB.
Efforts were being made to speed up the identifications of the remaining 38 people who died, but some bodies were too damaged for their fingerprints to be used.
Others were the bodies of minors, whose prints were not on file to compare, authorities said. According to the flight manifest, the youngest passenger on board was 3 years old. The manifest recorded five children under 10 years old on the flight.
Jeju Air, which operates an all-Boeing fleet, is a popular low-cost carrier in South Korea. The airline operated about 217 flights a day and carried more than 12 million people during 2023.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Hakyung Kate Lee, Jack Moore, Will Gretsky, Victoria Beaule and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(SANTIAGO, CHILE) — Three luxury watches, including a Rolex worth about $9,000, that were stolen from actor Keanu Reeves’ Los Angeles home have been discovered in Chile, police confirmed to ABC News.
Authorities in Chile said a man was arrested in Santiago on Saturday in connection with the robbery, and that his arrest was part of a larger, local operation.
The unnamed suspect is currently in custody, police said.
One of the three watches discovered was a Rolex Submariner that had the “John Wick” star’s name engraved on it.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed in Dec. 2023 to ABC News’ Los Angeles station that a group of burglars were at large after breaking into Reeves’ house in Hollywood Hills.
It was unclear at the time whether any property was stolen, and it was not immediately clear whether the stolen property recovered in Chile was related to that break-in.
The break-in was reported by a caller who reported observing four suspects who were also recorded by a surveillance camera entering the home through a window at the rear of the hillside residence, an LAPD spokesperson said at the time.
Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president known as a champion of international human rights both during and after his White House tenure and who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his lifetime of dedication to that cause, has died at 100, ABC News has learned.
Carter’s death was also announced by the Carter Center on X, which posted “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia.”
Carter, whose wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, died on Nov. 19, 2023, at age 96, is survived by the couple’s children — John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip) and Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff); and their daughter, Amy Lynn.
Carter had endured several health challenges in recent years. In 2019, he underwent surgery after breaking his hip in a fall. Four years earlier, Carter was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma that had spread to his brain, though just months later, he announced that he no longer needed treatment due to a new type of cancer therapy he’d been receiving.
In February of 2023, the Carter Center, the organization founded by the former president to promote human rights worldwide, announced that Carter, with “the full support of his family and his medical team,” would begin receiving hospice care at home.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the Carter Center said in a statement.
Carter attended the public memorial service for his late wife on Nov. 28, 2023, some nine months after the announcement that he’d entered hospice care. Frail and in a wheelchair, he didn’t speak at the memorial. Instead, his daughter, Amy, spoke on his behalf, reading from a letter Carter sent to Rosalynn some 75 years earlier, when he was away serving in the Navy.
“My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I returned to discover just how wonderful you are,” the letter read, in part. “While I am away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be, as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again.”
Carter turned 100 years old on Oct. 1, 2024, an occasion that was celebrated with events both at the Carter Center in Atlanta, and in Carter’s Plains, Georgia hometown, though Carter himself was by that time too frail to attend them. Just 16 days later, the Carter Center announced that the former president had cast his ballot by mail in the presidential election. Carter’s grandson, Jason, previously told ABC News that his grandfather would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The son of a Georgia peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter first appeared on the national political scene in 1976 with a toothy grin and the simple words that would become his trademark: “My name is Jimmy Carter, and I’m running for president.”
Among his administration’s most notable achievements were the Camp David Accords, which Carter brokered between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978, and that led to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty the following year. Carter’s time in office also saw the first efforts toward developing a U.S. policy for energy independence.
However, the Iran hostage crisis, in which 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran for a total 444 days, beginning Nov. 4, 1979, battered Carter’s 1980 reelection campaign. He won just six states and the District of Columbia, for a total of 49 electoral votes compared to Republican challenger Ronald Reagan’s 489 electoral votes. Reagan also defeated Carter by more than eight million ballots in the popular vote.
Though political pundits of the era predicted he would be remembered as an average, one-term president, it’s often been observed that Carter’s reputation became more distinguished after he left the White House. He continued to champion international human rights and peace efforts, prompting Time magazine to declare in 1989, just eight years after the end of his presidency, that Carter “may be the best former president America has ever had.”
Carter “redefined the meaning and purpose of the modern ex-presidency,” Time wrote. “While Reagan peddles his time and talents to the highest bidder and Gerald Ford perfects his putt, Carter, like some jazzed superhero, circles the globe at 30,000 feet, seeking opportunities to Do Good.”
Carter was the third U.S. president, following Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in 2002 after creating the Carter Center. Barack Obama became the fourth, in 2009. In selecting Carter for the honor, the Nobel Committee cited “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
Peanut farmer to politician
James Earl Carter Jr. was born in Plains, Georgia, on Oct. 1, 1924, to James Earl Carter Sr., a peanut farmer and businessman, and Lillian Gordy Carter, a registered nurse who famously became known as ‘Miss Lillian.’ Though he was the first American president born in a hospital, Carter was raised in a farmhouse without indoor plumbing or electricity.
Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1946 and after spending seven years as an officer — he volunteered for submarine duty and was honorably discharged in 1953 — he returned to farming. He began his political career in 1962 when he was elected to the first of two terms as a state senator in Georgia. During his tenure, he promised to read every bill that came to a vote, even taking a speed-reading class to keep up.
After an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1966, Carter fell into a spiritual crisis, emerging as a born-again Christian. He later recalled this period as one that changed his life dramatically, saying on the campaign trail: “Since then, I’ve had an inner peace and inner conviction and assurance that transformed my life for the better.”
Armed with this renewed energy, Carter launched an aggressive gubernatorial campaign and won the office in 1970.
Carter announced his bid for the presidency in December 1974 as his term as governor of Georgia was ending. A relative unknown, Carter won early victories in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. He became more well-known as he steadily picked up delegates and beat back challenges from Rep. Morris ‘Mo’ Udall and U.S. Sen. Henry M. Jackson to secure the nomination.
The deeply religious candidate caused controversy late in his campaign when he told an interviewer from Playboy magazine, “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” While there was considerable criticism of that line and some of the other language Carter used in the interview, then-U.S. Rep. Andrew Young, whom Carter later appointed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Carter had “taken care of his religion problem once and for all.”
In November 1976, Carter defeated President Gerald Ford with 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 241 to become the 39th president.
Energy and economy
From the moment of his inauguration, Carter set a different tone in Washington. He avoided formality, taking the oath of office as ‘Jimmy’ instead of ‘James Earl’ Carter. He and the first lady even walked the mile-and-a-half inaugural parade route to the White House, rather than ride in a limousine.
Once in the Oval Office, Carter continued to bring a common touch to the presidency. He discontinued limousine service for presidential staff and even personally controlled the schedule of the White House tennis courts. As America weathered an energy crisis, Carter ordered his staff to turn the White House thermostats down in the winter and up in the summer, an energy-conscious practice he continued throughout his public career.
Focus on foreign policy
Carter struggled with domestic policies, fighting near-record highs in inflation and unemployment. Among his few victories was the establishment of the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, the latter in response to a continued energy shortage at the time.
Yet, while his domestic policies drew criticism, Carter found widespread success in foreign affairs. His administration attracted worldwide praise for distinguishing itself with a firm commitment to international human rights. Unlike his predecessors, Carter did not hesitate to criticize repressive right-wing regimes, saying in a 1977 commencement speech at Notre Dame, “Because we know that democracy works, we can reject the arguments of those rulers who deny human rights to their people.”
The Iran Hostage Crisis and the end of an administration
The largest stain on Carter’s foreign policy record came in November 1979, when a group of Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took hostage 52 American citizens. The militants demanded the return to Iran of the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from the U.S., where he was seeking medical attention, to stand trial.
Carter initially responded to the crisis by cutting diplomatic ties with Iran and blocking imports from the country. But when those measures failed, in April 1980, he ordered a secret armed rescue mission. It ended in disaster when several American helicopters malfunctioned and two aircraft collided, killing eight U.S. servicemen.
The hostages were freed Jan. 20, 1980, after 444 days in captivity. Perhaps as a final insult to Carter, Iran released the hostages just minutes after President Ronald Reagan had been sworn in. The new president sent Carter to Germany to greet the hostages.
Post-presidency legacy of public service
It wasn’t until years after he left the White House that many came to appreciate Carter. The former president embarked on a new phase of his career in public service, devoting his days to peacemaking and humanitarian efforts.
“He has made the post-presidency an institution that it had never been before,” said historian and author Steve Hochman, who helped establish the Carter Center. “He has been the most successful, most influential former president in American history.”
Among the organization’s many efforts, the Carter Center helped spearhead a successful campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, a debilitating parasitic infection spread by drinking water contaminated with the worm’s larvae. In 1986, the disease affected 3.5 million people per year in 21 African countries, but by 2017, it had been reduced by 99.99%, to just 30 cases, according to the Carter Center.
Carter told ABC News in 2015 that his goal was to eradicate the disease entirely. “I think this is going to be a great achievement for — not for me — but for the people that have been afflicted and for the entire world to see diseases like this eradicated,” Carter said.
Carter also became the highest-profile supporter of Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit devoted to creating affordable housing. The Carters personally helped to build, renovate and repair 4,390 homes in 14 countries, according to the organization, which also called Carter and wife Rosalynn “two of the world’s most distinguished humanitarians.”
Guided by ‘deep Christian faith’
In addition to his extensive humanitarian work, Carter wrote more than two dozen books after leaving the White House, including “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a President” (1982), “An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of My Rural Boyhood” (2001), “The Personal Beliefs of Jimmy Carter” (2002), and “Faith: A Journey for All,” (2018). He also wrote poetry collections, as well as a fictional work about the Revolutionary War, titled “The Hornet’s Nest” (2003).
Carter referenced his Christian faith in the opening lines of his presidential inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1977, quoting the biblical Old Testament call “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
Carter’s faith and seemingly limitless energy manifested themselves as he taught at his church’s Sunday school in his Plains, Georgia hometown, where congregants lined up to attend. He was also known for walking the length of every plane on which he traveled – he always flew commercial – to shake hands with every passenger.
Yet behind Carter’s easygoing Southern manner was an iron will and inexhaustible determination. Biographer Douglas Brinkley recalled the 39th president as “a kind of military man” who never seemed to get tired.
“I mean,” Brinkley noted, “the Secret Service nickname for him was ‘Dasher’ because he could move around so much.”
Jimmy Carter’s commitment to the principles that defined his life was, again, expressed in his presidential inaugural address: “Our commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved,” Carter declared. “The powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.”
ABC News’ Patricio Chile and Christopher Watson contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
