HOUSTON — Former President Jimmy Carter is now in hospice care. The Carter Center issued a statement Saturday, saying after a series of short hospital stays, the former president decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family.
We’re looking back at the 39th president and his ties to Houston.
Carter only served one term in the White House, but made a difference in the decades after.
"When he passes away, he will be the longest living president in U.S. history,” presidential historian Nancy Beck Young with the University of Houston said. “That's quite an accomplishment."
Young said Carter's presidency was a complicated mix of successes and failures. It's life after the White House that will define his legacy.
"Carter has perhaps been the best ex-president ever in the history of the presidency," she said.
Texas was a big part of Carter's political success. He was the last Democrat to carry Texas in 1976. He campaigned in Texas often.
“Carter’s politics were appealing to a majority of Texans,” said Young. “It’s why he routinely visited Houston and other major ties in the state."
His visits to Houston continued after the presidency. A fierce advocate of affordable housing, Carter and his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, spent time building new homes here with Habitat for Humanity.
The former president -- a passionate defender of human rights -- also established the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation, standing alongside Desmond Tutu at the Rothko Chapel in Houston in 1986 and joining Nelson Mandela on his visit to Houston in 1991.
Houston Habitat for Humanity released a statement Saturday after news of former President Carter getting hospice care.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with President and Mrs. Carter and their family and we hope the family is surrounded with love and peace during this challenging time.”
“In Houston, we have wonderful memories of working side-by-side with the Carters to build 100 Habitat Houston Homes in one week in 1998. Several of these same homeowners feel deep pride that their home was built by the Carters.”