To mark former President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy, posted a video Tuesday celebrating his service and ties to the school.
The video begins with a group of midshipmen singing “Happy Birthday” on stage, displaying photos of Carter at the academy. As it progresses, midshipmen across campus share personal birthday messages, ending with Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette M. Davids on stage in an auditorium full of midshipmen.
“Mr. President, on behalf of the United States Naval Academy, and on the special occasion of your 100th birthday, we’d like to wish you a happy birthday,” she said, as the auditorium joined in.
Carter entered the Naval Academy in 1943. He graduated early in 1946 to support the fleet, completing an “accelerated wartime program,” according to the U.S. Naval Academy website. Following his graduation, he spent seven years as a submarine officer.
Last year, the Naval Academy renamed an engineering building after the former president. Now known as Carter Hall, it was previously named for Matthew Fontaine Maury, an oceanographer and naval officer who joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. Maury Hall was one of several monuments a federal task force examining Confederate symbols on military installations recommended be renamed in 2022.
Carter continued as a naval officer until 1953 when he was honorably discharged. Almost a decade later in 1961, he transferred to the retired reserve with a lieutenant rank at his request, according to the Naval Academy website. The next year, Carter began his political career in the Georgia Senate. He is the only academy graduate to become president. He served one term in the White House, from 1976 to 1980.
“A big thank you to all the midshipmen and faculty at the U.S. Naval Academy for your enthusiastic birthday wishes for alumnus President Jimmy Carter,” the Carter Center tweeted in response to the academy on Tuesday. The Carter Center is a human rights nonprofit organization founded by the former president and his wife, Rosalynn, according to its website.
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