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Jimmy Carter chooses hospice care at home 'to spend his remaining time'

Former President Jimmy Carter, pictured in New York City, on January 12, 2015, has been moved to hospice care following a series of hospitalizations, the Carter Center announced Saturday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
1 of 5 | Former President Jimmy Carter, pictured in New York City, on January 12, 2015, has been moved to hospice care following a series of hospitalizations, the Carter Center announced Saturday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Former President Jimmy Carter, who led the country from 1977 to 1981, has chosen to receive hospice care at home "to spend his remaining time," the Carter Center announced Saturday.

The former president's organization said the 98-year-old has made the decision following a series of recent health setbacks.

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"After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention," the organization said in the statement.

"He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers."

James Earl Carter, Jr., the 39th president of the United States, was born Oct. 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Ga., and grew up in the nearby community of Archery, Ga., according to his official biography.

He attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant.

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Chosen by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, N.Y., where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf, the second nuclear submarine.

On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. Following his Naval career, the couple returned to Georgia and took over the Carter farms and Carter's Warehouse, a general-purpose seed and farm supply company.

In 1962 Jimmy Carter won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia's 76th governor on January 12, 1971.

He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections, and on Dec. 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for U.S. president.

He won his party's nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and was elected president on Nov. 2, 1976.

During his time in office, Carter counted among his achievements the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords -- the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel -- and the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union.

He also established U.S. diplomatic relations with China and became one of the world's foremost champions of human rights.

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His presidency, however, was marked tough economic conditions, including high unemployment and rampant inflation, and his prestige was tarnished by the the Iranian Hostage situation, in which 52 Americans were held captive in Tehran for 444 days.

His bid for re-election in 1980 was ended with a landslide victory for Republican Ronald Reagan.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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