President Biden praised the deceased Sunday night. president jimmy carter As an example of “simple decency” in remarks hours after Carter’s death at age 100 was announced.
In a brief, warm eulogy, the president emphasized Carter’s humanity, saying that Carter “lived a life measured by his actions, not his words.”
Carter, the 39th president and the longest-lived president in U.S. history, died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family.
remember that carter “In today’s world, when you look at Jimmy Carter, you see a man from a bygone era,” Biden, who continued to teach Sunday school at a Plains Baptist church throughout his presidency and is vacationing on St. Croix, told reporters. There are people,” he said. Honesty and character, faith and humility were important, but I don’t think that’s the case in the past.
“I wish we could all be a little more like Jimmy Carter,” the president said.
Biden said what Carter represented was “an example of simple decency.” The president, who has known Carter for more than 60 years, recalled that he was the first sitting senator to support Carter’s 1976 presidential bid. “I told him why I supported him, not just because of his policies, but because of his character, his decency and the honor he conveys,” he said.
Although Mr. Carter is a governor from the South and Mr. Biden is from the Northeast, the two one-term presidents share a strong affinity with working-class Americans. One of the things the president admired most about Carter was their shared belief that “everyone deserves equal opportunity.”
Branden Camp / AP
The president praised Carter for his exemplary presidency. Carter has worked for decades to eradicate the disease at home and abroad, and also works to “strengthen peace, advance civil and human rights, and promote free and fair elections around the world.” Ta. ” and supported the construction of housing for the homeless with his own hands.
Biden said Carter “exemplifies what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose, a life of principles, faith and humility.”
Biden also expressed admiration for Carter’s own long battle with cancer. diagnosis 9 years ago.
“Jimmy Carter was brave in his fight against cancer, just as he was brave in every aspect of his life,” the president said. “Cancer is a common link between our two families,” he added, noting that when his son became ill, Beau Biden diesJimmy and Rosalynn Carter “helped us heal.”
“He lost his father, his brothers, his sisters to this terrible disease,” Biden said. When Carter himself was diagnosed with cancer, he added, “we did our best to comfort him.”
At the end of his remarks, when asked what President-elect Donald Trump should take away from Carter’s example, he replied: “Common sense, common sense, common sense. Everyone deserves it. Everyone.” .
“Can you imagine Jimmy Carter just walking past someone who needed something? Can you imagine Jimmy Carter pointing at someone by the way they look or the way they talk? “I can’t do it. I can’t do it.” He added that one of the reasons the world looks to the United States as a model is because “we’ve made our values clear and said we believe.”
“It’s not just in (the Declaration of Independence) that says, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident,’ it’s a sentiment,” Biden said. “The world is watching us, and he was a remarkable person,” he said of Carter.
contributed to this report.
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