midnight. i love how they're doing it by hand still. yep. we hire people to work there. you can watch it here live on abc seven. dick clark's new year's rockin eve with ryan seacrest gets the festivities going at 8 p.m, then join us for abc seven news at a special time at 10 p.m. at 1030, that is, we rejoin ryan seacrest to get to midnight. all here on abc seven. on tuesday, the 31st. so it should be a fun time. all around 10:00 here come new year's eve. that's all the time we have for ab of "world news tonight." former president jimmy carter, the 39th president of the united states, has died. he was 100 years old. he was the longest living american president. a veteran of world war ii, a peanut farmer turned politician. a popular but little known georgia governor when he entered

the presidential race in 1976. a long shot at best to unseat a sitting president. carter served just one term in office in the wake of vietnam and the watergate scandal. a humble man. with roots in the deep south. beloved for his humanitarian work after leaving office, winning the nobel peace prize. carter dying peacefully today at his home surrounded by his family. flags at the white house now at half staff. president biden speaking tonight, saying the nation has lost a remarkable leader. the mourners gathering at the carter center. we'll look back at jimmy carter's life and legacy. in other major news, what we're learning about that deadly plane crash in korea that killed 179 people. the boeing 737 attempting to land, skidding across the runway, its landing gear not deployed, slamming into a concrete barrier and bursting into flames. >> a rare december tornado outbreak slams parts of the south. the harrowing moments as a twister touched down in a mississippi neighborhood.

at least five people dead. and we look back on jimmy and rosalynn carter's enduring love story and 77-year marriage. our own steve osunsami with the carters' last interview. >> announcer: from abc news world headquarters in new york, this is "world news tonight." >> mary: good evening. and thanks so much for joining us on this busy sunday. i'm mary bruce in for linsey davis. we begin tonight with breaking news. the death of the 39th president of the united states. jimmy carter. at 100 years old, carter living longer than any other u.s. president. he served just four years in the white house and went on to transform the role of former presidents. traveling the globe as a fierce defender of human rights. carter also enjoying an incredible love story with his wife, rosalynn, the couple partners in every sense of the word. married for 77 years. president biden addressing the nation a short time ago, calling

carter a statesman. the other tributes pouring in tonight. the flag at the white house at half staff, and new york's empire state building lit up in red, white, and blue. tonight, we look back at his remarkable life and legacy, beginning with abc's steve osunsami who conducted the final television interview with carter and his late wife, leading us off tonight from georgia. >> reporter: former president jimmy carter had just celebrated his 100th year on this earth and had been long retired to a small country home in plains, georgia, about three hours south of atlanta. he died peacefully this afternoon surrounded by his family on a sunday. and for a religious man who was famous for his sunday school lessons at his hometown church, this was for many a fitting day to cross over. >> i jimmy carter do solemnly swear -- >> he is the longest lived u.s. president in history. celebrated today by leaders around the world. u.s. senator mitch mcconnell -- president carter lived a truly american dream, after every season when life led him to

lofty service far from home, he came back home again. former president bill clinton and former secretary of state hillary clinton -- guided by his faith, president carter lived to serve others, until the very end. president-elect donald trump -- the challenges jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country, and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all americans. for that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude. >> president joe biden. >> america and the world in my view lost a remarkable leader. he was a statesman and a humanitarian. and jill and i lost a dear friend. jimmy carter lived a life measured nomby words but by deeds. >> reporter: this was the last television interview in the summer of 2021 with his wife rosslyn by his side, celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary. we did not speak about world events, politics. or any news of the day. only about the love they shared

and how their relationship would keep them going in this world and the next. >> mary: their love story truly one for the ages. steve osunsami joins us now from the carter center. what more are you learning about funeral arrangements in the days ahead? >> reporter: mary, president carter will be buried next to his wife in plains, georgia. there will be remembrances here in atlanta and in the nation's capital, but the scheduling has yet to be determined because these events, they have been planning them for years, but now, some of them are going to be taking place over a holiday. his son chip tonight is calling his father a hero. saying that he's had to share him with the rest of the world, and they will continue doing so. here at the carter center, they're asking people not to send flowers but instead to donate to the carter center, which helps fulfill his lifelong mission, mary, of helping heal the world. >> mary: a lifelong mission indeed, steve, thank you. president carter along with his wife rosalynn promoted health, human rights, and justice around the globe while

maintaining a fierce commitment to faith, family, and their southern roots. for more on carter's life of impact, here's david muir. >> reporter: he was the boy from georgia, from the small town of plains, to the presidency. >> my name is jimmy carter, and i'm running for president. >> reporter: growing up on a peanut farm in a home with no running water or electricity, he would forge his own path, an outsider determined to take on a corrupt washington and to try to turn the page. >> i say to you quite frankly, that the time for racial discrimination is over. >> his path to the presidency began in plains. valedictorian of his high school, graduate of the naval academy and after running the family business, he would turn to politics. in 1970 he was elected governor, but so unknown nationally, he came out in the game show what's

my line, no one knew who he was. >> is this anything to do with the world of fashion? >> no. >> reporter: yet in 1976, there was a hunger in this country for his plain spoken promise, to be honest with the american people. >> my name is jimmy carter from georgia. >> and this outsider would become the democratic nominee. >> as candidate as president, i will never tell a lie. >> after richard nixon's scandals and gerald ford's controversial pardon, voters were drawn to this new face with a post-watergate message. carter's campaign fueled in part by rock 'n' roll. >> i want to introduce to you the great allman brothers. >> reporter: he would later count bob dylan and willie nelson among his best friends. and it would all help launch a relative unknown to victory. >> abc now projects carter is

the winner with 272 electoral votes. >> he said he was surprised the first time he heard the words, president carter. >> it was kind of a shock to me. but i felt ready for it and prepared for it. >> reporter: and determined to avoid formality, james earl carter jr. would take the oath of office as jimmy. >> i jimmy carter do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute -- >> the office of president of the united states -- >> the office of president of the united states -- >> reporter: his wife at his side. they married when he was 21, fresh from the naval academy. she was 18. during his improbable journey, carter's advisers would call rosalynn his secret weapon. >> i look forward to consulting closely with him on a regular basis. >> reporter: at inauguration day, he and the first lady would leave the limo behind. they wanted to walk the parade.

>> this is more like it was in the old days. >> the time had come to sign the piece. >> reporter: human rights would drive his foreign policy. he helped forge an historic peace agreement between israel and egypt, which still stands today. >> so proud of both of you. >> reporter: ahead of his time, he was the first president to warn of climate change, installing solar panels on the white house. but the setbacks at home rising inflation, growing gas lines, would wear on the american people. >> good evening. >> reporter: issues he tried to address in what was later dubbed his malaise speech, though he never used that word. >> it is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. >> reporter: and carter would soon face another crisis. after iranian militants seized american hostages at the u.s. embassy in tehran, the president seemed powerless. >> the american hostages were blindfolded, handcuffed, and marched out on the u.s. embassy's front steps by the revolutionary students.

>> my thoughts and my prayers for our hostages in iran are as though they were my own sons and daughters. >> reporter: an american rescue mission failed. and carter would lose to ronald reagan. >> the president, we hear, is preparing his own concession statement. what we may have at the end of all this is the biggest landslide we have seen in years. >> reporter: after 444 days that gripped the country, the iranians released the american hostages on the same day jimmy carter left the white house. abc cameras were with him in those final hours when the release became reality. >> right on, man. that's great. that's great. >> i think that was the happiest day that i have ever had. not in laying down the presidency, which i didn't want to do, but in just knowing those hostages were free. >> reporter: carter was just 56 when he left the white house. unsure how he would define his future. >> we didn't know what we were going to do the rest of our lives and we decided to take on

projects no one else wanted to do. >> reporter: but carter would redefine the modern post presidency. he worked with habitat for humanity and through the carter center he traveled the world with rosalynn to eradicate disease, monitor elections, and to promote human rights. all work that won the former president the nobel peace prize in 2002. >> we can choose to alleviate suffering. we can choose to work together for peace. >> reporter: he would famously travel commercial. shaking hands with passengers. but no matter how far he traveled, his home was always his farm in tiny plains, georgia. in august of 2015, he revealed skin cancer, melanoma, had spread to his brain. >> i have had a wonderful life. i have had thousands of friends. and i have had an exciting and

adventurous and gratifying existence. now i feel it's in the hands of god, who i worship. and i'll be prepared for him when it comes. >> reporter: but his faith and his strength would carry him through. and crowds would still line up at the tiny baptist church in plains, georgia, for the former president, where he would return to teach sunday school just as he had for decades. >> i don't know what christ means to you. >> reporter: those lines a poignant tribute to a president who may be most admired for what he did after he left office. >> it's been the best part of my life since i left the white house, but i really have been both gratified and honored and pleased. and excited to be the president of a great country. >> reporter: the carters had recently marked 77 years of marriage, and in recent days after the former president lost the former first lady, rosalynn carter, he was determined at 99 and in hospice to be there to honor his wife.

he went to the church in a new suit that had been made for him, wearing a blanket over his lap with the image of his late wife. the two of them were always a team. a shared purpose. a shared kiss. jimmy carter often said marrying rosalynn was the pinnacle of his life, more than any presidency. >> stayed with me all this long has been the most wonderful thing in my life. >> he's pretty wonderful in my life, too. >> mary: and a wonderful example for us all. our thanks to david. former president carter's accomplishments extended far beyond the white house. let's bring in chief washington correspondent jon karl. jon, the former president once told you he found his post presidency more personally gratifying. >> reporter: he sure did. keep in mind, he spent just four years as president of the united states, a very tough four years marked by crises abroad,

stagflation and political setbacks at home, but he spent more than four decades as an ex-president. his carter center doing work in some 80 countries around the world. work that brought jimmy carter personally to some of the poorest and remote places on the planet. having human contact with the people that his carter center was working to assist. he said that that human contact he had as an ex-president with those people was far more gratifying than anything he did as president, although it was his experience as president, he said, what he learned in that job and the fame that he gained from being president, that made him able to do all the work he did after the presidency in the humanitarian space. >> mary: jon, thank you. there is still much more ahead here on "world news tonight" this sunday. the details just coming in on that deadly plane crash in south korea. at least 179 people confirmed dead. and the latest on the deadly

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the bond between jimmy and rosalynn carter has been a true love story for the ages. decades of commitment to each other, to family, and to serving others. on their 75th wedding anniversary, our steve osunsami was invited to plains, georgia, to sit with the carters as they reflected on that milestone in their marriage. >> president carter, you say often that marrying mrs. carter was the pinnacle of your life. more than any presidency. >> oh, yes. that was the most important thing in my life. it was happy and joyful. and obviously long lasting. the campaign and the successful campaign was a greatest event in our lives together except for getting married.

rose would say okay, finally. and stay with me all this long. >> reporter: this 75 years of marriage, what advice do you have for people who want to make it last? >> well, let me tell you the first step. first of all, choose the right person to marry. and then give each other plenty of space. let the other person, you know, have a full life in the way they choose. and help when you can. share things a lot. >> and do things together. we're always looking to do things, find things we can do together, like fly fishing and bird watching. and just going out to the pond. catch a fish. >> and every night, we try to make sure we are completely reconciled from all the

arguments during the day when we go to bed. >> reporter: so never go to bed angry. >> we try not to. >> reporter: i have trouble with that. >> we have trouble with it too. i think we have succeeded most of the time. >> i think so. >> reporter: get those arguments out of the way. >> you know, we still have our ups and downs. which makes life more exciting, i guess, but getting over there, so we're still love each other very much, maybe even more than we did at first. there's no doubt in my mind that my love for her has grown stronger. because we have been through so many things together. for 75 years of marriage, we have always grown deeper in our love for one another. that's kind of extraordinary. you don't have very many couples but it certainly happened to us.

>> 77 years of marriage, and some good advice for us all. our thanks to steve. i'm mary bruce. from all of us here at abc news, good night. go to heaven. >> revenge of me on abc seven news. breaking news. remembering jimmy carter, his connections to the bay area and how his legacy extends well beyond the white house. also, the storm has passed, but problems persist. a look at the impact of our recent downpours. a silicon valley congressman is calling for

reforms of a worker visa program that's popular in the tech industry and causing a rift among republicans. abc seven news starts now. >> from abc seven live breaking news. >> we begin with that breaking news, the passing of jimmy carter at the age of 100. the carter center says he died peacefully today at his home in plains, georgia, surrounded by family. thanks for joining us on this busy evening. i'm j.r. stone carter lived longer than any other u.s. president and was a celebrated champion of human rights. abc news reporter karen travers has a look at his remarkable life. >> when americans elected jimmy carter the 39th president of the united states, it was a vote for something new. >> so help me god. congratulations. >> james earl carter was born in plains, georgia, october 1st, 1924. in 1946, he graduated near the top of his class at the u.s. naval academy. married rosalynn