European leaders have paid tribute to Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who played a key role in bringing an end to communist rule in Central Europe, after his death at the age of 100.
Carter, the 39th U.S. president, passed away at a hospice in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, on Sunday.
A peanut farmer before becoming a politician, Carter occupied America’s highest office from 1977 to 1981, in a presidency which reached its zenith with the Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt but which was brought down the Iran hostage crisis and a faltering economy.
He was also instrumental in shoring up support for fledgling anti-communist movements in Central Europe. He appointed Poland-born Zbigniew Brzezinski as his National Security Advisor, in a move that underscored his determination to weaken the Soviet grip over Central and Eastern Europe.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said that Carter “was a leader who served during a time when Ukraine was not yet independent, yet his heart stood firmly with us in our ongoing fight for freedom.”
“He devoted his life to promoting peace in the world and defending human rights. Today, let us remember: peace matters, and the world must remain united in standing against those who threaten these values,” Zelenskyy added.
"The memory of President Jimmy Carter will always be cherished in Hungary. By returning the Holy Crown to the people of Hungary at the end of the 70s, he gave freedom-loving Hungarians hope in a hopeless time,” said Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, in reference to the U.S. handing over the crown of King Stephen of Hungary in 1978.
The crown of the monarch, who became the Hungarian king in 1000, had been in U.S. hands since WWII. Its return rewarded the tentative steps taken by Hungary’s communist government aimed at improving the country’s human rights record.
It was Carter’s decision to focus on human rights that marked a strategic shift in U.S. policy towards the then communist bloc.
In a tribute to the former president published by the Atlantic Council, Daniel Fried, a former Amercian ambassador to Warsaw, wrote that Carter’s new policy broke away from the consensus that Soviet power had to be lived with, rather than undermined.
“Carter’s shift toward human rights challenged this uber-realist consensus,” wrote Fried. “It came just as democratic dissidents and workers’ movements inspired by them began to gather strength in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland.
Carter, and his national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, put the United States in a better position to reach out to these movements and to work with them when communist rule began to falter as Soviet Bloc communist regimes started running past their ability to borrow money on easy ‘détente terms,’ making them vulnerable.”
This crucial change in foreign policy was later continued by Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, despite the many differences between the two politicians, Fried added.
Also paying tribute the late president, Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, wrote: “He served his country with honor — and humanity, with compassion. His work advanced peace, health and democracy worldwide. He will be remembered for his moral leadership. May his noble legacy live on.”
“The world has lost a great mediator for peace in the Middle East and for human rights,” wrote Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
President Joe Biden decided that January 9 will be a national day of mourning throughout the United States for Carter, the White House said in a statement.
"I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter," Biden said.
Under the same decision, flags will be flown at half-mast for a period of 30 days, including during the inauguration of the President-elect Donald Trump.
Carter ran for re-election in 1980 but was swept from office in a landslide as voters embraced Republican challenger Reagan, the former actor and California governor.
But Carter, who lived longer than any U.S. president and, did not retire or ‘cash in’ on his status after leaving the White House. Instead, he embarked on a philanthropic journey which eventually earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.
"It just never had been my ambition to be rich," Carter told the Washington Post, speaking about his choice of career after his time in the Oval Office.
