Former President Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm, a historic site in Plains, Georgia. Inset: Carter.Photo: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty; Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto/Getty
A collection ofhistoric sitesin Plains, Georgia, associated withJimmy Carter, America’soldest living former president, are now officially a national park after aHistorical Park Redesignation Actwassigned into lawon Wednesday.
PresidentDonald Trumpsigned the act into law.
In a December statement released after the Senate passed the bill, Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and Perdue (both of whom recentlylost their reelection bidsin a pair of runoff races) said that the act would protect the historic sites and draw more visitors to the area.
“Only in America could the son of a small-town peanut farmer become President of the United States,“Perdue said, adding that the designation “will ensure Plains, Georgia continues to be a living monument to the Carters and their lifetime of service.”
President Carter thanked the Georgia delegation for sponsoring and passing the bill.
“No matter where life has taken me, from the Governor’s mansion to the White House, Plains has always been my home,” he said in December. “Rosalynn joins me in thanking Senator Perdue, Congressman Bishop, and the Georgia delegation for helping preserve my family’s legacy.”
Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter in July 2020.Carter Center/Twitter
The ex-president, 96, has focused heavily on humanitarian work since leaving the the White House in 1980, when he lost his own reelection bid to Ronald Reagan.
In 1982, he founded the Atlanta-basedCarter Center, an organization focusing on the alleviation of human suffering, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
He and Mrs. Carter have also for decades been deeply involved in charitable causes such asHabitat for Humanity, and he has continued to teach Sunday school at Plains' Maranatha Baptist Church, though the Carters have been spending time at home during thenovel coronavirus pandemic.
Urging the rioters to “disband immediately,” the statement referred to Trump’s attempts to overthrow the election results as “historically unprecedented and damaging.”
“This has put significant strain on our democratic system and created ill-founded doubt among millions of Americans about the integrity of the elections,” the statement read. “As we have done throughout our history, it is now time to support a peaceful transition and work together toward a prosperous and shared future.”
source: people.com
