Atlanta City Council members on Monday unanimously passed a resolution honoring former President Jimmy Carter and thanking him for “his selfless service to humanity.”
The gesture was part of an outpouring of well wishes to Carter and his family after the Carter Center announced over the weekend that the former president decided to return home and receive hospice care following a series of hospital stays.
Councilman Michael Julian Bond, who introduced the resolution, said he wanted the body to formally recognize the Georgia native for his lifetime of public service.
“He is really a living example of what it means to be an earnest, devoted public servant,” Bond said. “He’s served not only America well as a veteran, as a policymaker, but even as a greater role as a citizen.”
The resolution lists Carter’s positions in office from four years in the Georgia State Senate and five years as governor to being voted the 39th president of the United States. Among his many accolades, Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his human rights work through the establishment of the Carter Center, the Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes peace and democracy across the world.
But to many Georgians, like Bond, Carter is more than a political icon. He holds a special place in their hearts.
“Having known him since I was a small child, my sister, Cookie, and Amy Carter (the former president’s daughter) played just across the street at the Capitol when he was governor and ran all amongst the building causing all kinds of chaos,” Bond said.
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