Jimmy Carter’s post Presidency of 44 years will, forever, remain unmatched.
Carter left office at the early age of 56, and survived health challenges to reach age 100, also highly unlikely, ever to be matched or surpassed.
Carter established the Carter Center to promote human rights in 1982, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum was opened in 1986 in Atlanta, and this blogger and scholar visited the site two times, finding it a very impressive memorial to the President.
Carter also spent several years teaching at Emory University in Atlana.
Carter wrote a total of 33 books in his lifetime, more than any other President.
Carter participated in building housing for the poor through Habitat For Humanity.
Carter traveled the world, fighting disease, promoting free elections, and advocating resolution of various international conflicts.
Carter had varying relations with his successors and predecessors, becoming particularly close to President Gerald Ford, creating the closest friendship with a fellow President since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Other Presidents who were active after their Presidency included John Quincy Adams, who served in the House of Representatives for nearly 18 years, and wrote a diary from age 12 to age 80.
Also, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, and Theodore Roosevelt ran for the Presidency after their terms in office.
William Howard Taft served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for nine years after his Presidency.
Also, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon, along with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presently, have been active, but none on the level of Jimmy Carter.
Carter’s historical ranking is sure to rise from the mid 20s to the top one third over time, as his passing makes the true Carter scholarship ever more expansive in the next generation!