A century full of change: Jimmy Carter turns 100

Former United States President Jimmy Carter turns 100 on October 1st.

The 39th president celebrates the centennial at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he was born in 1924 hospice Care.

Carter's small southern town is much as it was when he was a boy. But America and the world at large experienced great changes over the course of his long life.

Changes everywhere, but not in Plains

The U.S. population is nearly three times larger than it was in 1924. America grew from about 114 million people to about 330 million today. The world population grew even faster during the same period, from 1.9 billion to over 8.1 billion.

However, this major increase has not yet reached Plains, Georgia. In a town with a population of 500 in the 1920s, there are now nearly 600. Much of the local economy revolves around Carter, his most famous son.

Red state, blue state

Jimmy Carter first ran for president in 1976 against then-President Gerald Ford. In this election, NBC television began using a red-blue electoral map to report election results for the first time.

The colors have since become an integral part of American political language. The color blue represents the Democratic Party and red represents the Republican Party.

Shopping

In 1924, there was no Amazon to order goods online. But Americans could order a self-build home from Sears catalog for $2,025. This amount was slightly below the average annual earnings of an employee.

There were none supermarket like Walmart. But people could buy bread, milk and other things at small local general stores.

By the time Carter was born, Prohibition, the ban on making and drinking alcohol, had been national law for four years. He was nine when it ended.

The former president and his late wife Rosalynn were not known to be big drinkers. Usually they served Wine as the only type of alcoholic beverage at White House state dinners, primarily to save money. Other types of alcohol would increase the costs of the events.

But Carter's brother Billy was known for his beer drinking. When Carter became president, Billy sold his name to a beer manufacturer to make Billy Beer. News sources reported that Billy Carter received an annual payment of $50,000 from a brewer for the use of his name. That would be about $215,000 in today's economy.

Voting rights

The 19th Amendment, which extended the right to vote to women, took effect in 1920, four years before Carter was born. And the Voting Rights Act, which extended voting rights to black Americans, was passed in 1965.

Now Carter should vote by mail for Vice President Kamala Harris, says his grandson Jason Carter. He added that his grandfather was upset about the chance to see Harris make history.

If elected, Harris would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to lead the United States.

Immigration and isolationism

Jimmy Carter was born in a time isolationismProtectionism and white Christian nationalism in the USA

In 1922, Congress enacted taxes on imports, called tariffs, to help U.S. manufacturers. After stock market losses in 1929, lawmakers imposed additional tariffs to help farmers.

Five months before Carter's birth, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law created the U.S. Border Patrol and severely restricted immigration, largely allowing only Western Europeans to enter the country. Asians were completely banned from the country.

Congress said the law was intended to “preserve The Ideal of the USA homogeneity.” The militant white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan held large marches in Washington in 1925 and 1926 to rally support.

A century later, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promises to deliver the biggest contract deportation If he wins the office, it would be the largest effort in U.S. history.

Trump is also calling for tariffs on all goods coming into America.

Other presidents

Carter has lived through 40 percent of U.S. history since the Declaration of Independence in 1776. When Carter took office, only one president, John Adams, had reached 90 years old. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Carter and George HW Bush have all achieved at least 93.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Bill Barrow reported this story for The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted the story for “Learning English.”

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Words in this story

hospice – N. a place where dying people are cared for

catalog – N. a book with a list of things you can buy

Wine – N. an alcoholic drink made from grape juice

upset – Adj. enthusiastic and eager

isolationism – N. the belief that a country should not become involved with other countries

preserve – v. keep something in its original condition

Ideal – N. the idea or standard of excellence

homogeneity – N. consist of the same type of people

deportation – N. forcible deportation of non-citizens to leave a country