Jimmy Carter was the compassionate, honourable, peacemaker America needed
In the late 1970s, America was not in a good place; reeling from a war and from Watergate.
Then came a man called Jimmy.
“Jimmy who?” the nation asked.
And so it was that the nation was somewhat dismissive when a peanut farmer called Jimmy Carter announced a run for the White House.
Beyond his home state of Georgia, where he had served as governor, James Earl Carter Jr was not well known.
But it would turn out, Jimmy Carter was just what 1970s America needed.
After the political turmoil of Nixon and Watergate and the quagmire of the Vietnam War, America craved stability, calm and integrity.
The 39th president of the United States did not provide the drama of those who came before him or those who would follow him.
Yet over a remarkably long life, punctuated by a short presidency, Jimmy Carter built a considerable legacy deserving of considerable reflection.
Carter the healer
“Compassionate”, “honourable”, a “peacemaker”, a “healer”.
They are words so often used to describe the American leader who lived a life longer than any other.
Late 1970s America was a nation reeling from the Watergate scandal and the disgraced presidency of Richard Nixon followed by the accidental presidency of Gerald Ford.
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An estimated crowd of over 30,000 people greeted the then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in downtown Philadelphia in 1976.
File pic: AP
Jimmy Carter pictured in New York in 1976.
File pic: AP
The wider backdrop was a long war in Vietnam, ending in a humiliating defeat and a fresh blot in a proud nation’s history.
Enter Jimmy Carter, 52-years-old; five feet seven inches – unassuming and unimposing both physically and in character.
Peanut farmer, turned submariner, turned politician; he was a man of the people whose core instinct was that a government is only as good as its people.
His healing qualities, clearly threaded through his life, were displayed on day one of his presidency.
In a bold move he granted unconditional pardons to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the Vietnam War draft.
He had said the pardon was needed “to heal our country after the Vietnam War”.
Of the bitter divisions sparked by the war, he said: “We can now agree to respect those differences and to forget them.”
He pioneered a bold vision for compassionate centre-left politics which would, many years later, be emulated by presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden.
Yet Jimmy Carter would survive only one term as president.
In those four years he faced huge challenges – an energy crisis, Soviet aggression and Iran – themes which, it turns out, endure.
A childhood which shaped a presidency
Jimmy Carter was born where he died, in the town of Plains, Georgia on 1 October 1924.
His childhood unquestionably moulded the person and politician he would become.
1930s Georgia was a place of segregation. Two Americas existed side by side, separated by racism.
But Carter’s mother, a nurse, boldly ignored the state’s segregation laws, and so young Jimmy’s upbringing was one of coexistence in a place where there was none.
Decades later Carter would tell American talk show host Oprah Winfrey how every one of his childhood friends was black.
It was an experience which moulded his mind and would allow him to help change history decades later.
Young Jimmy Carter joined the Navy, serving as a submariner – a role that surely takes a particular type of character.
His father’s death in 1953 brought him back to Georgia where he ran the family peanut farm.
But politics beckoned. It was race and racism which lured Carter to activism with the Democratic Party.
By the 1960s it would propel him to the state senate and, by 1970, to the top job in Georgia – governor.
Jimmy Carter as Georgia’s 76th governor.
Pic: Jimmy Carter Library
The long-shot president
He was the dark horse for president; a long-shot candidate who made it all the way.
His childhood experiences of coexistence over division were threaded through his term in office and led to significant yet oft-forgotten achievements.
President Carter recognised and valued the power of American leadership in the protection of human rights.
Global achievements
It was his blunt message to the white rulers in South Africa which helped to precipitate the end of Apartheid and a peaceful coexistence many years later.
His influence in the Middle East was profound, but controversial too.
The Camp David accords represented Carter’s greatest foreign policy achievement. He brought together Israel and its greatest enemy of the time, Egypt.
The image of Carter cupping the clasped hands of Egyptian president Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin on the north lawn of the White House in September 1978 is iconic. It represented the framework on which coexistence in the Middle East continues to be built.
With the deal he did more for Israeli security than any American president since, and yet he maintained a compassion for the Palestinian cause that no other American president has come close to.
Years later, out of office, he was among the first to accuse Israel of its own apartheid regime against the Palestinians.
Jimmy Carter in Washington DC in 1978.
File pic: AP
A presidency dominated by “events”
Under his presidency, the Cold War got hotter. A wary Carter ditched a key arms reduction treaty with the Soviet Union. It would raise tensions but eventually help precipitate the collapse of the USSR.
With Britain, he fostered the so-called “special relationship”; he and British prime minister James Callaghan were close.
But “events” overtook his vision and his presidency unravelled.
In Iran, revolution came and US hostages were taken. American diplomats were held hostage for more than a year. A risky rescue ordered by president Carter went wrong, eight US servicemen were killed and Carter was blamed.
After just one term, Carter was out. The American people, struggling economically, chose the Republican showman Ronald Reagan and an optimism they could no longer find in Carter.
Misjudged by history?
History is so often cruel and distorted. It would hand many achievements built by Carter to Reagan instead.
It was Carter who laid the foundations for Middle East coexistence, and though he would be let down by partners later, and coexistence seems at times to be very far off, his vision remains at the core of the solution. He has arguably done more to fix the Middle East conundrum than any other American president since.
On the Cold War, it was Carter’s decision to ditch the detente with the Soviet Union which would eventually seal its demise. Reagan would not have been able to demand Gorbachev “tear down this wall” without Carter’s leadership in the years before.
The Democrat presidents since have often borrowed Carter’s core principles and yet the party orphaned him.
In November, as the nation chose between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, his spokespeople confirmed that he had cast his vote.
It was not revealed who he had voted for but was widely assumed that his final democratic act was to vote for Kamala Harris.
His son Chip said his father had not voted Republican in his life.
A legacy beyond politics
This “involuntary retirement”, as Carter would later put it, left much undone and it was really only after leaving office that he began to build the legacy he’d want to be remembered for.
With his wife, Rosalynn, he founded The Carter Center, a charity with his principle of healing at its heart.
The charity’s work – conflict resolution, disease prevention and the promotion of democracy – continues to this day. It represents president Carter’s legacy in 80 nations around the world.
In 2002, it was this work which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Since then, under his leadership, its work has helped to nearly eradicate Guinea Worm Disease. As of 2021 there were just 15 cases reported globally. An extraordinary achievement.
At home in America, the charity Habitat for Humanity was a central part of the Carters’ fundraising efforts. Over many years, Jimmy and his wife were seen building and renovating homes for some of the nation’s poorest.
The former president used to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity to build, renovate and repair homes.
Pic: Habitat for Humanity
And away from this spotlight at his lifelong home in Plains, Georgia, president Carter was a painter, a furniture maker, a winemaker, and an author of a remarkable 32 books.
The death of his wife Rosalynn last year must have been an enormous blow for Carter.
She had been at his side always, and so often hand in hand. His best friend, his counsel, his “chief advisor”, his wife since 1946.
So often over the years, he’s been asked to reveal the magic of their bond. His answer: “Never go to bed angry.”
“Always make peace,” he said.
In much more than just marriage, that was president Carter’s defining principle.
He’s survived by his four children Jack, James (Chip), Donnel (Jeff) and Amy, 11 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
US
Democrat Cory Booker rails against Donald Trump and Elon Musk during marathon Senate speech lasting more than 17 hours
A senior Democrat has taken to the Senate floor to speak against US President Donald Trump – with the 17-plus-hour speech still ongoing.
Cory Booker, a New Jersey senator, began speaking around 7pm (midnight in the UK) and said he intended to disrupt the “normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able”.
Referring to Mr Trump’s presidency, he said: “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis.”
As of 5pm in the UK, Mr Booker was still speaking, having spoken for more than 17 hours. He has remained standing for the entire duration, as he would lose control of the floor if he left his desk or sat down.
Read more: Who is the Democrat making a marathon speech against Trump?
As of 4pm, Cory Booker has held the Senate floor for more than 16 hours. Pic: Senate Television / AP
Other Democrat senators have joined Mr Booker to ask questions so he can rest his voice, including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
At the start of his speech, Mr Booker said: “These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.
“The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
Overnight, he referenced Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
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Prosecutors directed to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione
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“You think we got civil rights one day because Strom Thurmond – after filibustering for 24 hours – you think we got civil rights because he came to the floor one day and said ‘I’ve seen the light’,” he said.
“No, we got civil rights because people marched for it, sweat for it and [civil rights leader] John Lewis bled for it.”
Only Mr Thurmond and Republican Senator Ted Cruz – who spoke for 21 hours and 19 minutes against the Affordable Care Act in 2013 – have held the Senate floor for longer than Mr Booker.
Luigi Mangione could face the death penalty over the killing of UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson.
The 26-year-old has pleaded not guilty to New York state charges of murder as an act of terrorism and weapons offenses.
New York does not have the death penalty for state charges, and so he could face life in prison without parole if convicted in that case.
But he also faces federal charges over Mr Thompson’s killing – and US attorney general Pamela Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
Mangione has not yet been asked to enter a plea to the federal charges.
Here’s what we know about him.
Wealth, private school and Ivy League education
Mangione was born and raised in Maryland and has links to San Francisco and Hawaii.
His social media lists him as being from Towson, a well-to-do area to the north of the city of Baltimore.
He is the grandson of a wealthy property developer and philanthropist and the cousin of a current Maryland state legislator.
He attended Gilman School – a private all-boys school in Baltimore. The school’s annual fees are up to $37,690 (around £29,000) and it boasts alumni including NFL stars and former senators.
After graduating in 2016, Mangione went to the University of Pennsylvania, one of America’s elite Ivy League schools.
According to his social media, he studied computer science and launched a group named UPGRADE (UPenn Game Research and Development Environment).
A university spokesperson said he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees there.
He later co-founded his own computer game company, which focused on small, simplistic games.
Mangione went to a prestigious Ivy League university. Pic: LinkedIn
‘No complaints – a great guy’
According to his LinkedIn page, Mangione moved to California in 2020 and worked for the car-buying website TrueCar. The firm’s boss said he left last year.
Mangione currently lists himself as from Honolulu on LinkedIn, with pictures on Instagram showing him on the Hawaiian island.
In the first half of 2022, he reportedly lived at Surfbreak, a co-living space aimed at remote workers in Honolulu’s Waikiki neighbourhood.
“Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for Surfbreak’s owner, told the AP news agency.
“There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.”
Mr Ryan said Mangione left to get surgery on the US mainland for chronic back pain he suffered from since childhood.
Document reveals back condition
Mangione wrote about his health issue online, saying he has spondylolisthesis – a condition where one of the bones in the spine slips forwards.
Sky News’ Data and Forensics team obtained a 14-page document uploaded to his Google Drive account in 2021.
He details the severity of his “injury” as “low grade two” and goes into fitness goals, diet advice and notes about the condition.
The suspect’s notes say he has back condition spondylolisthesis
His X banner image shows a back X-ray
It’s unclear if the condition is linked to the motive, which police have not publicly identified, but it gives context about his health issues.
Analysis of his Goodreads profile also shows he read books including Crooked: Outwitting The Back Pain Industry and Getting On The Road To Recovery, and Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic At The Root Of Most Chronic Disease – And How To Fight It.
A banner image on his X account also features an X-ray of a lower back with screws.
Law enforcement officials told NBC News they are looking at whether the X-ray is Mangione’s or from a relative and whether it’s connected to the shooting.
‘Violence is necessary to survive’
Mangione appears to have had an active social media presence.
His X account regularly shared and reposted pieces about topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), philosophy, and the future of humanity.
His Goodreads account also gave a four-star review to Industrial Society And Its Future – by notorious US terrorist Theodore Kaczynski.
The piece, which rails against technological advancement, became known as the Unabomber Manifesto after its author began a mail bombing campaign which lasted nearly 20 years.
Three people were killed and dozens were injured before Kaczynski’s arrest in 1996.
The Goodreads review said: “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive. You may not like his methods, but to see things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution.
“‘Violence never solved anything’ is a statement uttered by cowards and predators.”
Luigi Mangione. Pic: Facebook
Why are some calling Mangione a ‘hero’?
A search of social media sites such as Reddit reveals a thread of people who are sympathetic to the suspect.
Highly rated comments on the site include: “Screw the McDonald’s employee that ratted him out” and “Only a matter of time till shirts with #FreeLuigi start popping up”.
To many, these are shocking comments about someone accused of carrying out a cold-blooded killing. But what’s behind them?
Many in the US pay thousands in expensive insurance premiums to cover themselves and their family, while others rely on the Medicare federal insurance programme.
Support for Mangione appears to come from resentment over this and accusations that companies go to great lengths to avoid paying for treatments in order to maximise their profits.
“He got charged with murder quicker than insurance companies deny claims”, said a comment on Reddit with nearly 7,000 likes.
One post that went viral on X before the suspect’s arrest was from Anthony Zenkus, a Columbia University professor.
He wrote: “We mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires.”
Read more from Sky News:
Shooting prompts US healthcare debate
Police shared this picture of the suspect following the shooting. Pic: NYPD
A chart shared widely on X claims to show denial rates by UnitedHealthcare exceed those of competitors, using data from consumer finance website ValuePenguin. This is consistent with publicly available data from 2023 analysed by Sky News.
Other people online appear to be angry about what they say is the disparity between the resources put into Mr Thompson’s case and how less well-off people are treated.
One comment on Reddit with 4,000 likes says: “The murdered guy in death, like in life, is still sucking up a huge undeserved and unwanted portion of resources.
“How many underprivileged people’s murders are going unsolved because NYPD and the feds are spending millions on this overpaid, rich, morally questionable millionaire’s murder.”
Arrested in McDonald’s with ‘ghost gun’
Mangione was detained in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said.
He was arrested in Altoona, around 230 miles (370km) west of New York, after a tip-off from a McDonald’s employee who recognised him from the police appeals.
Mangione also had a fake New Jersey ID matching one used by the suspect to check into a hostel before the killing, said New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch.
He was found carrying a “handwritten document” that Ms Tisch said “spoke to both his motivation and mindset”.
Joseph Kenny, New York’s chief of detectives, said it appeared to show “some ill-will towards corporate America”.
Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 (£7,840) – $2,000 of it in foreign currency.
‘Message’ on bullets
Brian Thompson, 50, was chief executive of UnitedHealthcare – the fourth-largest public company in the US behind Walmart, Amazon, and Apple – and was paid about $10m (£7.8m) a year.
It’s the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans and manages insurance for employers and state and federally funded programmes.
Mr Thompson – who was married with two sons – was shot on 4 December as he was walking to a New York hotel where his company was holding an investors’ conference.
CCTV showed a person shooting Mr Thompson from behind. Pic: NYPD/Reuters
As Mr Thompson walked towards the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue, a gunman appeared behind him from between parked cars.
He was shot in the back and calf and died from his injuries.
The words “defend”, “deny”, and “depose” were written on the cases of bullets found at the scene – similar to the title of a book that criticises health insurance companies.
Mr Thompson’s wife said he was an “incredibly loving father to our two sons” and a “loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest”.
UnitedHealthcare called him a “highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him”.
US
Who is Cory Booker? The Democrat making a marathon speech against Trump (and why it’s not a filibuster)
A Democratic senator is delivering a marathon speech in the US Senate in protest against Donald Trump.
Cory Booker, 55, took to the floor at 7pm local time on Monday (midnight in the UK), saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able”.
As of 5pm in the UK, Mr Booker was still going – more than 17 hours after he started.
The senator for New Jersey said his goal is to “uplift the stories of Americans who are being harmed by the Trump administration’s reckless actions, attempts to undermine our institutions, and disregard for the rule of law”.
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During his speech, Mr Booker has only taken brief breaks from speaking, giving the floor instead to questions from his Democratic colleagues, according to Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News.
According to the rules of the Senate, as long as he stays at the podium Mr Booker will hold the floor – meaning he cannot leave at any point, even to go to the toilet or to eat.
So who exactly is the Democratic senator, and what is his multi-hour speech all about?
Mr Booker has criticised the Trump administration during his speech. Pic: Senate Television via AP
Rising star of Democratic Party
Mr Booker was born in Washington DC and moved to northern New Jersey when he was a boy.
He is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law and started his career as a lawyer for charities.
Entering politics, he was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He was elected to serve on the city council of New Jersey’s biggest state, Newark, and then as mayor, a position he held until 2013.
He was first elected to the US Senate in 2013 during a special election held after the death of politician and businessman Frank Lautenberg.
He went on to win his first full term in 2014 and was re-elected in 2020.
2020 presidential bid
In February 2019 Mr Booker launched his bid for the US presidency from the steps of his home in Newark.
At the time, he played on his personal ties to the “low-income, inner city community” and urged for the US to return to a “common sense of purpose”.
He later dropped out of the race after struggling to raise the money required to make a bid for the White House.
Senator Cory Booker. Pic: AP
Why is he speaking in the Senate?
By holding the floor in the Senate, Mr Booker is protesting against the Trump administration.
Before he began, the senator said he had the intention of “getting in some good trouble”, NBC News reported.
He read letters from constituents about how Mr Trump’s cuts were already taking a toll on their lives.
He claimed the US was giving up being a global leader, citing Mr Trump’s proposals to take over Greenland and Canada while feuding with longtime allies.
He also occasionally took aim at Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who is advising Mr Trump and leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety; financial stability; the core foundations of our democracy,” Mr Booker said on the floor.
“These are not normal times in America. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.”
Appearing to waver slightly on Tuesday morning, Mr Booker was accompanied by Senator Chris Murphy. In 2016, Mr Booker joined the Connecticut Democrat when he held the floor for almost 15 hours to argue for gun control legislation.
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Why he is not a filibuster
Some reports have referred to Mr Booker’s speech as a filibuster, but technically it is not.
A filibuster is a speech meant to halt the advance of a specific piece of legislation.
Mr Booker’s performance is instead a broader critique of Mr Trump’s agenda, meant to hold up any business scheduled to take place in the Senate and draw attention to what Democrats are doing to contest the president.
Democrats have been forced to use these types of opposition methods as they do not hold a majority in either congressional chamber.
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