On Dec. 29, 2024, former President Jimmy Carter died in Plains, Georgia in the home that he shared with his wife Rosalynn Carter. During Carter’s 100 years of life, he impacted the United States with his political and nonprofit work.
Carter was the 39th president of the U.S., serving from 1977-81. In 1979, Carter established the U.S. Department of Education with the purpose of strengthening the federal commitment to ensuring equal access to education, improving education quality and making federal education programs more accountable to the president, Congress and the public, according to the ED.
A year prior, in 1978, Carter signed the Middle Income Student Assistance Act into law which established greater financial aid for low-income and middle-income students.
Carter also passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which established 13 national parks, 16 wildlife refuges and 26 wild and scenic rivers, according to Politico. One of these was the country’s largest national park: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
Carter's permanent protection of more than 56 million acres in Alaska more than doubled the land area protected under the National Park Service, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
In 2016, Jimmy Carter was awarded the title of honorary national park ranger for his exceptional contribution to the National Park System, according to the National Park Service.
After his presidency, Carter worked for nonprofit organizations including Habitat for Humanity. At Habitat for Humanity, Carter and his family helped build more than 4,300 homes, according to CBS.
Elizabeth Bolke is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobocom or on X @dailylobo
