Sen. Cantwell Issues Statement on Late Ex-President Jimmy Carter

Sen. Maria Cantwell has issued an encomium to late former President Jimmy Carter. Cantwell, the junior senator from Washington, has held that office since 2005.

Her statement eschews any mention of Middle East diplomacy, a cause very dear to Carter's heart, or the "stagflation" crisis that dogged his time in office. Instead Cantwell highlights the 39th president's unusual odyssey from industrious peanut farmer and salesman, to U.S. Navy submariner, to governor, to White House occupant.

When Carter was elected 48 years ago, America was still regrouping from the Watergate scandal - a black eye if there ever was one for the executive branch. At a time of rampant institutional mistrust, Cantwell says, Carter was a rare beacon of transparency, telling hard truths to the American people. But his cheerless affect seems to have been a political stumbling block. (Click here to watch his legendarily blunt "malaise speech," which was ill-received by large portions of the electorate.)

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Cantwell praises Carter as one of the first presidents to recognize the importance of conserving the nation's public lands and waters, crediting his leadership for the preservation of Alaska's premier wilderness areas, among other natural landscapes.

She also expresses gratitude for Carter's dedication to Habitat for Humanity, a housing profit headquartered in his native Georgia. He is on record as calling safe and affordable housing a "basic human right."

Carter, who'd been receiving end-of-life care for the better part of two years, passed away on Sunday at age 100. His wife of nearly eight decades, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, died in November 2023, not long after her dementia diagnosis had been made public.

Carter was the longest-living ex-president, and is survived by his four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.