Emory celebrates President Jimmy Carter at 100

1919

Emory University, founded in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia, moves to its current location in Atlanta.

1924

Jimmy Carter is born in Plains, Georgia, the first U.S. president to be born in a hospital. His father, James Earl Carter Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, a registered nurse.

1941

After completing 11th grade, Carter graduates from Plains High School, which did not have a 12th grade until 1952. 

1946

Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy and shortly thereafter weds Rosalynn Smith at Plains Methodist Church. In the Navy he becomes a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He resigns in 1953, after his father’s death, to return to Plains and lead the Carter farms.

1963-67

Carter serves as a Georgia state senator from the 14th District. His successful senatorial campaign was brief, lasting just longer than one month.

1971-75

As the 76th governor of Georgia, Carter focuses on issues including strengthening education and introducing mental health programs.

1976

Defeating incumbent Gerald Ford, Carter is elected president of the United States. During his campaign, he focused on the maintenance of peace, pursuit of human rights, necessity of international cooperation and more.

1977-81

Carter serves as the 39th president of the United States. Policy accomplishments of his administration include the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

1977

James T. Laney becomes president of Emory University, a role he holds until 1993. Laney is instrumental in building the university’s close relationship with Carter.

1979

Emory receives a $105 million gift from Robert W. Woodruff, the late philanthropist and legendary leader of The Coca-Cola Company.

1979

At the invitation of Laney, Carter visits Emory during his presidency to help break ground for Cannon Chapel. During the visit, Carter receives an honorary doctor of laws degree from Emory.

1982

After the conclusion of his presidential service, Carter joins Emory’s faculty as a University Distinguished Professor. During the following decades, he visits campus frequently to visit with students, teach classes and deliver lectures.

1982

President Carter and Emory University establish The Carter Center, initially headquartered in an office on the tenth floor of Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Library while its permanent home is constructed just a few miles away.

1982

Carter begins a tradition of an annual town hall for Emory’s first-year students, deftly fielding a variety of student-submitted questions, ranging from the political to the personal.

1986

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and The Carter Center open in their permanent locations, set within a 35-acre wooded park in downtown Atlanta.

1999

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Bill Clinton during a ceremony at The Carter Center in Atlanta.

2001

Carter dedicates Emory’s Lillian Carter Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility (then called the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing), named for his mother, a nurse and social advocate.

2002

Jimmy Carter receives the Nobel Peace Prize for work with The Carter Center, specifically “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.”

2014

Carter celebrates his 90th birthday with a tour of a new butterfly garden created in his honor. The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Pollinator Garden at The Carter Center was designed with the help of Emory evolutionary ecologist Jaap de Roode and undergraduate students from his lab.

2015

A team of specialists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University begins treating Carter for metastatic melanoma. He undergoes surgery, radiation and immunotherapy.

Watch Carter discuss his cancer treatment at Winship Cancer Institute.

2015

President Carter receives the Emory University President’s Medal, among the university’s highest honors, during the annual Carter Town Hall.

2017

As the Emory School of Law marks 100 years, President Carter delivers the annual Bederman Lecture, discussing “Human Rights in Today’s World.”

2019

Emory grants Carter tenure in Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Oxford College, Candler School of Theology and Rollins School of Public Health.

2019

Carter delivers his final in-person town hall for first-year Emory students, concluding an unbroken 38 years of the campus tradition.

2020

With most in-person events canceled due to COVID-19, President Carter participates in his last Carter Town Hall through a recorded interview with his grandson, Jason Carter. After the pandemic, the town hall continued with other acclaimed speakers as Carter retires from public life.

2023

Reflecting the long collaboration between Emory and the Carters, Emory’s Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church hosts the national tribute service for Rosalynn Carter, who passed away Nov. 19 at their home in Plains. President Carter, age 99 and in hospice care, travels to Emory to attend the service for his beloved partner and wife of 77 years.  

2024

The longest-living president in U.S. history, Jimmy Carter celebrates his 100th birthday on Oct. 1.