99-Year-Old Former President Carter's Commemorative Christmas Decoration to Appear... First Living President Ever

White House Historical Association Creates Commemorative Decorations for Former Presidents
First for Living U.S. President...Expressing Achievements Including Nobel Prize

Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who is 99 years old this year, has been honored as the first living U.S. president to have an official White House Christmas tree ornament made in his honor.

On the 21st (local time), the Associated Press reported that the White House Historical Association unveiled the 2024 Christmas ornament featuring the achievements and life of former President Jimmy Carter. Since 1981, the association has produced Christmas ornaments each year featuring past U.S. presidents, but this is the first time an ornament has been made for a living president.

On the 21st (local time), the White House Historical Association in the United States unveiled the 2024 Christmas ornament commemorating former President Jimmy Carter.
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

The ornament for the 39th president, Carter, was designed in the shape of an anchor to commemorate his unique distinction as the only U.S. president who attended the Naval Academy. Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and served in the Navy for seven years. The back of the ornament features an image of the USS Jimmy Carter, a nuclear submarine named after him, and doves symbolizing peace are depicted throughout to commemorate his contribution to the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel during his presidency. The globe on the back represents Carter’s contributions to global peace during and after his term, according to the White House Historical Association. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Additionally, the ornament includes images of peanuts and peanut blossoms, representing Carter’s life as the son of a peanut farmer and his later years spent farming peanuts in his hometown.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn attending the inauguration of former U.S. President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017.
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

Former President Carter, who turned 99 on October 1 last year, is the longest-lived U.S. president in history. He has faced several health issues, including melanoma, a type of skin cancer, which spread to his liver and brain in 2015. Having continued hospital treatments, Carter stopped life-prolonging treatments in February last year and has been receiving hospice care at home. On the day before his birthday last year, he made a surprise appearance at a celebration held in Plains, his hometown, receiving congratulations and applause from guests. Jason Carter, his grandson and chairman of the Carter Center board, said about Carter’s condition, "He is nearing the end but doing well." Meanwhile, Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years, passed away at the age of 96 last November while receiving hospice care with him at their home.