As Jimmy Carter turns 100, charting his long, long life and presidency

Since March 21, 2019, Jimmy Carter has extended his record as the longest-living former U.S. president. On Tuesday, the nation's 39th president becomes the first to reach 100 years old.

The four longest-lived presidents all served in the same era as Carter. Gerald Ford preceded Carter while Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush followed as the 40th and 41st presidents.

Only two other presidents lived past 90: Herbert Hoover, the 31st president, and John Adams, the nation's second president who had a remarkably long for someone living in the U.S. two centuries ago.

Jimmy Carter is now 100 years old: See photos of his incredible post-presidency life

How long every U.S. president has lived

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Carter's 100-year-old milestone is impressive in its own right. The Census Bureau estimates 101,000 centenarians live in the U.S., making up just 0.03% of the population. When Carter was president, 15,000 people in the U.S. were over 100.

Carter will own the title of longest-lived president for at least 18 years. Perhaps, some day President Joe Biden, who turns 82 in November, will surpass him. Biden is already the 10th longest living president.

It will be much longer before anyone – possibly Barack Obama – might unseat Carter as the president who lived the longest after his presidency. It's been more than 43 years and eight months since he served as commander in chief. Obama took the Oath of Office at 47, five years younger than Carter.

Where Carter's presidency was in the arc of his life

Unlike his contemporaries who lived past 90, Carter won the presidency earlier in life.

When you've lived 100 years, you seen and experienced a lot of things – especially if four of those years were spent as the 39th president.

As Jimmy Carter celebrates his 100th birthday, it's eye-opening to look back on what's occurred in our nation's history during those 10 decades. Here are a just a few moments that shaped Americans' experiences since Carter's birth on Oct. 1, 1924.

Moments of the past 10 decades in America

Carter was born in the Roaring Twenties, which ended with a devastating stock market crash that led to the Great Depression. During much of his formative years, Franklin D. Roosevelt served as president – the longest in our nation's history.

Peanut farmer to President: Jimmy Carter's unprecedented path into politics and beyond

One other lens – admittedly a bit fanciful – can connect Carter to George Washington by just two other presidents.

In the game six degrees of Kevin Bacon , you attempt to connect an actor or actress with Bacon by creating a chain of actors who have worked together and, ultimately, Bacon. The shortest path is the winning combination.

Three degrees of George Washington

Here's one way to show Washington and Carter are only three presidents apart: by determining when two presidents were alive at the same time. The two are separated by four presidents if you think is more appropriate to link a future president with a sitting president.

How Carter's presidency still echoes in 2024

Vaulting to the presidency in the post-Vietnam , post-Watergate year of 1976 , Carter changed the way presidential candidates are nominated and elected, embracing a system centered around primaries, caucuses and debates.

He became the first modern anti-Washington "outsider" to actually win the presidency, forging a model followed, to one degree or another, by most of his seven successors. Read more .

Contributing: David Jackson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As Jimmy Carter turns 100, charting his long, long life and presidency