"President Carter's life-long dedication to the causes of international development and conflict resolution will remain an example and source of inspiration for those in the global peacebuilding community,” said Acting USIP President and CEO George Moose. "His legacy lives on through the work of the Carter Center and will endure for decades to come."

James Earl Carter, Jr. was born in Plains, Georgia in 1924. A former Navy submariner and peanut farmer turned Georgia state senator, Jimmy Carter’s early public life in the 1960’s saw him battling against segregation in his home state. After winning the 1970 gubernatorial election in Georgia and becoming governor, Carter’s advocacy for civil rights became a more entrenched aspect of his leadership.

During his successful run for president in 1976, Carter championed the 1965 Voting Rights Act, appearing alongside John Lewis and making a revolutionary proposition to automatically register every U.S. citizen 18 and older to vote.

Building Peace as President

As president, Carter fine-tuned his diplomacy skills and notched a number of achievements around the world, which propelled him into the conflict resolution arena well after his time in office. As president, Carter championed human rights diplomacy, positioning it at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

Among his many contributions to peace, his effort to broker peace between Israel and Egypt may be his most noteworthy. After decades of enmity and conflict between Israel and Egypt, Carter convened historic peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. The talks resulted in the Camp David Accords, paving the way for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and for Egypt to become the first Arab nation to recognize the Jewish state.

In 1977, Carter orchestrated a dual-fronted diplomatic approach with both Panamanian President Omar Torrijos Herrera and Congress to sign and gain the approval of the Panama Canal treaties. The treaties allowed for the U.S. to hand over control of the critical canal to Panama in 1999 and guarantee the canal’s neutrality. In a landmark move in 1979, Carter helped significantly reduce tensions in East Asia and improve bilateral relations by granting China formal diplomatic recognition.

Post-Presidency: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease

After losing his presidential re-election bid, Carter founded the Carter Center in 1982 as a non-profit with a global goal of promoting democracy and conflict prevention as well as fighting disease and malnutrition. Since then, the Carter Center has made countless contributions to global health and peace efforts in dozens of countries.

Carter himself also took on a prominent role in diplomacy during numerous international crises. From North Korea to Sudan and beyond, Carter navigated complex international relationships for decades, promoting human rights, deescalating tensions and preventing conflict.

USIP awarded Carter the first Spark M. Matsunaga Medal of Peace in 1993 for his “attempts to make human rights a cornerstone of American foreign policy, his role in concluding the Camp David accords and his efforts since leaving office as a mediator, election observer, and promoter of peace.”

In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for 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.”

Carter’s Link to the Institute

Carter played an instrumental role in laying the groundwork for the founding of USIP. In 1979, President Carter formed the Matsunaga Commission after two decades of legislative efforts by Senators Spark Matsunaga, Mark Hatfield, Jennings Randolph, and Vance Hartke; all of whom had also orchestrated a grass-roots campaign to establish a national peace academy. Carter appointed the commission to travel around the U.S. and study the possibilities of forming a national peace academy focused on conflict resolution and mediation. The commission’s formal findings and recommendation to Congress helped trigger the proposal and passage of the 1984 USIP Act, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

The Carter Center and President Carter himself were involved with a number of USIP events over the years, including a symposium on Capitol Hill focusing on how the U.S. could remain committed to advancing human rights and democracy during the War on Terror, an event addressing the role of religion and gender in extremist violence, and an event commemorating Carter’s role in advancing democracy and human rights in Latin America.

In his 1977 commencement address at Notre Dame, President Carter expressed a vision that served as a foundation for the rest of his public life, and for which his memory will endure: “Our policy is based on a historical vision of America's role. Our policy is derived from a larger view of global change. Our policy is rooted on our moral values, which never change. Our policy is reinforced by our material wealth and by our military power. Our policy is designed to serve mankind. And it is a policy that I hope will make you proud to be an American.”