Zoom Image
Jimmy Carter in 2021
Photo: John Bazemore / REUTERS
The seriously ill former US President Jimmy Carter has surprised the people in his hometown with a public appearance. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, showed up in a dark limo at a peanut parade in the small community of Plains, Georgia, on Saturday. Carter used to be a peanut farmer himself. The Carter Foundation wrote on Platform X: "A beautiful day for President and Mrs. Carter to enjoy a ride through the Plains Peanut Festival. And that's just one week before his 99th birthday." Presumably, there was peanut butter ice cream for lunch.
The 98-year-old Carter has been in palliative care at home surrounded by his family since mid-February. The foundation he founded had announced that the ex-president did not want to take any further medical steps after a series of hospital stays. Carter had made it public in 2015 that he was suffering from cancer. After thinking that he had overcome the disease, his condition deteriorated again. In mid-August, a grandson had said with regard to his grandfather's state of health: "We are in the last chapter."
Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and is the oldest living ex-US president. In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his international achievements. He has been married to his 96-year-old wife Rosalynn for 77 years.
wbr/dpa