When and why did Jimmy Carter win the Nobel Peace prize?

News about the current status of former president Jimmy Carter‘s health spread like wildfire after The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization, released a statement over the weekend. 

As previously reported, the statement explained that Carter decided to live the remainder of his life at home with his loved ones and declined “any further medical treatment for an undisclosed illness.” The 98-year-old, who is considered to be the longest-living U.S. president, is also receiving hospice care at his Georgia residence. Although details regarding Carter’s illness have not been released to the public, the humanitarian has had to seek treatment for cancer in the past. 

Following the tragic news, many worldwide decided to commemorate Carter’s life and his past contributions to society, including when he helped build a home in Nashville for the charity organization Habitat for Humanity at 95, or when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

When and why did former president Jimmy Carter received a Nobel Peace Prize?

The Nobel Peace Prize, named for Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, is often awarded to individuals who went to great lengths to achieve peace.

According to the Nobel Peace Prize site, Carter was honored in 2002 for his role in seeking to find “peaceful solutions to international conflicts” as well as his work to “advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” One of the chairpersons of the Nobel Committee at the time claimed that Carter should have first received this award in 1978 while the former president was in office for the mediated peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. 

In the peace agreement terms, Britannica reports that Israel was forced to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. At the same time, Egypt acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. Prior to Carter’s peace agreement, the two countries had been at odds for about three decades and even had four major wars. 

With Carter winning the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, he also broke another record by being one of four presidents to have been given the prestigious award, sharing the honor with Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Barack Obama.