Peanut farmer president and peacemaker..

How his time in power was outshone by his later work

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

Јimmy Carter's work as a former president in many ways came to eclipse his time in the White House. Dusting himself off after his humiliating defeat at the 1980 US election, he spent his remaining years as a distinguished diplomat and humanitarian, pursuing peace and fairness around the globe.

His philanthropic causes included building houses for the poor, combating disease, promoting human rights in places of repression, monitoring elections and seeking to end conflicts.

The former peanut farmer was one of the very few US leaders to be memorialised while still alive.

The evolution of his legacy was unusual as he had such a long period between the end of his presidency and his death at the weekend aged 100.

His four years as President were marred by his struggles to tackle formidable challenges, including a major energy crisis, high inflation, and unemployment.

The Democrat took office in 1977 with the outgoing president, Gerald Ford, having left the government in disarray.

Carter, nicknamed Jimmy Cardigan after wearing a jumper for a televised speech, entered the Oval Office facing mounting problems, including Soviet aggression and the public's deep mistrust of leadership.

In foreign affairs, he reopened US relations with China and tried to broker peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but was damaged late in his term by a hostage crisis in Iran.

Carter's diagnosis of America's "crisis of confidence" did little to boost his flagging popularity, and he suffered one of the biggest landslide defeats of the modern era, losing the 1980 election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan.

But Carter then built his revered post-presidential career.