Jimmy Carter , the 39th American president and the oldest - at 98 years - former US head of state alive, is dying at his residence in Plains, Georgia , where he is receiving the last palliative care alongside his large family and especially to his beloved wife Rosalynn, married 77 years ago.

"After a series of short hospital stays, Carter has decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive palliative care instead of undergoing further medical procedures," the Carter Center tweeted Saturday afternoon. created by the former president in 1982, after he left the White House.

His nephew , former Georgia governor Jason Carter, said on Twitter that he saw him on Friday with his wife. « They were serene, as always, their home is full of love ».

"Jill and I are standing by our friends Jimmy and Rosalynn and their family and sending them our love," President Joe Biden said on Twitter. “We admire you for the strength and humility you have shown in difficult times . May you continue your journey with grace and dignity," wrote the US president.

A story, the one between Jimmy and Rosalynn, celebrated two years ago with a party for 300 guests, for the 75th wedding anniversary which the former president did not want to give up despite his precarious health conditions. A survivor of liver, brain, and so far treated for melanoma, biographers describe him as a "fighter" and a "gentle force of nature."

THE PRESIDENCY YEARS – From peanut farmer on the family farm in the southern state to the highest echelons of Washington politics, he was president of the United States from 1977, after defeating Republican Gerald Ford, until 1981 , when he was beaten by Ronald Reagan, thus becoming one of the few American leaders to have led the country for a single term. Author of the Camp David agreements which led, in March 1979, to the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, protagonist of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with China and the signing of the agreement for the "limitation of strategic arms" with Russia, fatal for the democrat it was the hostage crisis in Iran, one of the events that most conditioned relations between Washington and Tehran.

A few months after the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlav was welcomed to the United States by decision of Carter to be treated for severe lymphoma . The next day, November 4, 1979, hundreds of Islamic students attacked the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 of its employees hostage. The liberation took place 444 days later, at the end of long and complicated negotiations, on January 20, 1981, while Reagan was being sworn in as the new president.

A story, told in the famous film with Ben Affleck "Argo", which brought down the presidency of Carter , also because an attempt at liberation with military helicopters in April 1980 failed miserably due to the weather conditions and the collision between two aircraft.

THE NOBEL FOR PEACE - After leaving the White House, the former president together with his wife founded the Carter Center with which in 2002 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for "decades of tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts" . And it was his foundation that broke the news that the president was dying.

"The decision to receive palliative care at home was made in agreement with the family and doctors" of the former president. Now, the foundation's official statement underlines, "thanking Carter's admirers for their affection", the relatives are asking that "their privacy be respected".

(Unioneonline/vl)

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