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"cbs news roundup." former president jimmy carter has died, having built a remarkable legacy after leaving office. investigators in south korea are hoping to discover what caused a devastating passenger jet crash. and we'll take a look at the worsening situation in gaza, where a cold winter is adding to the struggle for survival. january 9th has been declared a national day of mourning for president jimmy carter. he was the longest living president and he died sunday at the age of 100, his life ending where it began, in plains, georgia. serving just one term, jimmy carter had a complicated presidency, but will be remembered mostly for the way he lived his life after leaving the white house. cbs' skyler henry looks back at the life of jimmy carter. >> reporter: jimmy carter was relatively unknown when he entered the 1976 presidential race. >> my name is jimmy carter and

i'm running for president. >> reporter: but the georgia farmer and politician cultivated a following that helped him win the white house. >> let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust. >> reporter: james earl carter jr. was born in 1924 in the small town of plains, georgia. the son of a peanut farmer attended the u.s. naval academy to study nuclear science. while in the navy, he met rosalyn smith. the two married and had four children. rosalyn was by her husband's side when he decided to enter politics. after serving two terms in the georgia state senate, he ran for governor and won. when carter joined the race for the white house, confidence in the government was low. >> well, i'm not a crook. >> reporter: americans were still angry about the watergate scandal, and carter made honesty a center of his campaign. >> i'll never tell a lie. i'll never make a misleading statement. >> reporter: in 1976, carter beat republican incumbent gerald ford to become the nation's 39th

president. >> i do jimmy carter do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: perhaps the greatest achievement of his presidency, the camp david accords that resulted in piece between egypt and israel. stormed the embassy in tehran. as the siege dragged on, carter's popularity plummeted. his bid for a second term ended with a landslide defeat to ronald reagan in 1980. >> i promised you four years ago that i would never lie to you. so i can't stand here tonight and say it doesn't hurt. >> reporter: carter didn't slow down after leaving the white house. he built homes with habitat for humanity, wrote more than 20 books and established a center for human rights. in 2002, carter was awarded the nobel peace prize for his work in the middle east and third world nations. >> there are a lot of exciting things to be done now in this wonderful phase of my life. >> reporter: mr. carter also

taught sunday school in his hometown, where he openly discussed his own mortality. >> i didn't ask god to let me live. i just asked god to give me a proper attitude toward death. and i found they was absolutely and completely at ease with death. >> reporter: at age 99, he made a rare public appearance to say goodbye to the first lady, who was by his side for 77 years. and almost a year later, carter celebrated his 100th birthday with family members, making him the first former u.s. president to live for a century. skyler henry, cbs news. >> and we'll have more coverage on the life of president jimmy carter later in the show. turning now to south korea. investigators are sifting through the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed while landing on sunday morning. they're searching for potential causes for the worst airline disaster in the nation's history.

the boeing 737-800 was returning to south korea after a flight from bangkok. 179 people were killed. only two survived. cbs' cristian benavides reports. >> reporter: disturbing video shows the moment a passenger jet burst into flames as it landed at an airport in south korea, killing all but two people on board. 179 passengers died, making it one of the deadliest air disasters in south korean history. the plane crashed into a barrier at the airport some 180 miles south of seoul on sunday morning, with its front landing gear apparently not deployed. officials say the pilots accept out a distress signal shortly before the plane overshot the end of the runway. the 15-year-old boeing 737-800 jet operated by jeju air was arriving from bangkok, thailand when the crash took place. an senior south korean transport ministry official says the

plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been recovered and will be scrutinized by government aviation experts. at the airport, family members grieved as officials announced the name of some victims. the airline's ceo apologized to the victims' families. this man is mourning the death of his daughter, who he said was in her mid-40s. south korea's acting president declared the area of the crash a special disaster zone. at the vatican, pope francis expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the air disaster. cristian benavides, cbs news. palestinian civil defense says at least seven people were killed when an israeli air strike hit the top floor of a hospital in gaza on sunday. israel says it was targeting a hamas control center inside the hospital. cbs' holly williams reports that for civilians in gaza, the situation is growing more desperate.

>> reporter: in the gaza strip, 2024 has been an entire year of war. a year of loss, grief, and anger with the outside world. for standing by as the air strikes rain down on this shattered patch of land. with nearly the entire population displaced and many living in flimsy tents, this winter, the people of gaza are facing a new adversary, the biting cold. at nasa hospital, a cbs news team filmed medics treating babies for hypothermia. dr. fida al nadi says they admit one or two cases every day. the very youngest are the most vulnerable. >> many children are born prematurely, and this predispose him more to hypothermia.

>> reporter: mahmood al fasa buried his daughter sila this past week. she died of hypothermia at just three weeks old. "i went to wake her up for breast-feeding and she was frozen and blue. she was bleeding from her nose," he said. her heart had stopped from the intensity of the cold. holly williams, cbs news, tel aviv, israel. when "cbs news roundup" continues, we'll have much more on the life and legacy of president jimmy carter.

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he was 100 years old. mr. carter's single term in office brought together israel and egypt with historic camp david accords. but runaway inflation and the iran hostage crisis haunted his administration, and he's now remembered more for what he did after he left office. norah o'donnell reports. >> i will faithfully execute. >> the office of president of the united states. >> the office of president of the united states. >> reporter: jimmy carter entered the white house in 1977. >> when i get to washington, coming in as an outsider -- >> reporter: after campaigning as an establishment alternative. born in plains, georgia in 1924, james earl carter jr. was the son of a businessman farmer and registered nurse. he studied nuclear science at the u.s. naval academy, and while there fell in love with rosalynn smith, also from plains. they married in 1946 and raised four children.

jimmy and rosalynn were partners in the family business, which moved from peanuts to politics. mr. carter served two terms in the georgia state senate, and in 1970, he was elected governor. >> my name is jimmy carter and i'm running for president. >> reporter: he was hardly a household name, but he won the democratic presidential nomination and challenged incumbent republican gerald ford. >> i'm going work for you. >> thank you, very much. i'll depend on that. >> reporter: with the nation reeling from vietnam and watergate, mr. carter's simple message struck a chord. >> i would not tell a lie. i would not mislead the american people. >> reporter: in 1976, america's bicentennial year, he beat mr. ford to become the nation's 39th president. >> tradition shattering walk down pennsylvania avenue. >> reporter: but the next four years were rocky as oil prices and inflation soared, his

popularity sank. yet president carter did achieve many of his goals. he created the departments of energy and education, established former diplomatic ties with china, and returned control of the panama canal to panama. perhaps his greatest achievement was an historic peace treaty between israel and egypt known as the camp david accords. >> the deep and ancient antagonism can be settled without bloodshed. >> reporter: at the same time, he became the first u.s. president to confront the threat of militant islam. on november 4th, 1979, iranian militants stormed the u.s. embassy in tehran, taking 52 american hostages. a u.s. military attempt to free the hostages in april of 1980 ended in disaster. eight american servicemen were killed. the very next november, with

americans still held hostage overseas and inflation soaring at home, jimmy carter lost his reelection bid in a landslide to ronald reagan. mr. carter spent his final days in the white house negotiating the release of the hostages. >> i ronald reagan. >> iran would not let them go until a few minutes after he left office. ♪ jimmy carter went on to have great success in his post presidency. he established the carter center in atlanta, working for peace around the world. and here at home building houses for the needy through habitat for humanity. >> have i this freedom to do things that i like to do and that i'm an official of the u.s. government or the united nations cannot do. >> reporter: he was awarded the nobel peace prize in 2002 and remained one of the most active former presidents in history. in 2015, mr. carter announced he had cancer that had spread to his liver and his brain. faith was a constant guiding

force in the president's life, and during this time, he continued to teach his weekly sunday school lesson. >> all right. i see you're wide awake. >> reporter: later that same year, he announced he was cancer-free and talked about it with us in 2018. >> i was prepared to go. but things turned out for the better. >> reporter: but that's an unusual thing, to prepare to say goodbye and be granted a great deal more time. >> that's true. i've been very fortunate in many ways. >> reporter: in october, surrounded by family and friends, mr. carter had his 100th birthday party in the backyard of his home in plains, georgia. absent from celebration was his beloved wife rosalynn, who passed away at the age of 96, almost a year earlier. te pair were the longest married first couple in american history. mr. carter reflected on their life together in the "cbs

mornings" series "note to self". >> one of your greatest sources of happiness will be your wife rosalynn and the growing family that will be coming. stay close to all of them. bring them together whenever possible, and provide them the same help and support that your own parents gave to you. >> that was nor

on friday, the 119th congress will be sworn in with republicans controlling both the house and the senate. many hoped the violent political rhetoric would settle down after the election, but the opposite has happened. there has been a surge in bomb threats and swatting attacks against elected officials. scott macfarlane has the story. >> reporter: georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene posted this video of a bomb technician responding after she was targeted by a bomb threat, the latest in a series of threats triggering police responses against her and other members of congress. >> this is the trend that we're seeing. these people are getting threatened in their homes. their families are being threatened. >> reporter: testimony from the u.s. capitol police reveals there have been at least 50 so-called swatting attacks on members of congress in just the past month, incidents in which someone makes a false claim of a bomb or a mass shooting at the home of a public official. >> you've got a bunch of law enforcement officers that are

pounding on a door, kicking in a door and it's a recipe for chaos and a recipe for somebody innocent to get hurt or killed. >> reporter: that number you reported, 50 or so, is that a striking number to you? >> in a one-month period, yes. which means we had multiple cases a day. and, again, these are -- these are recurring all over the country. and so, yeah, it certainly got our attention. >> reporter: after a year marred by political violence, the november election hasn't broken the fever. several u.s. house members told cbs news they'd been menaced in recent weeks. >> i'm being unfairly argued the right now. i'm receiving death threats. >> i'm fine, but i've got a family at home that has to deal with all this. >> reporter: including north carolina democrats wily nichol, who told us his recent editorial recommending strategies to push back on president trump's agenda triggered a wave of death threats. >> we've had threats on my life, my family, my staff. it's been very ugly.

>> reporter: to counter the harassment, capitol police are deploying more officers into elected officials' home communities and airports during travel. at least one of the recent swatting incidents resulted in a death. a police officer rushing to respond to a bomb threat at congresswoman greene's home in georgia got involved in a crash, and the other driver died. >> that was scott macfarlane

the new congress to be sworn in friday will have dozens of new faces, and some inspirational members will be headed home. one is a representative from virginia, who used her final months in office to bring real change to the house floor. here again is scott macfarlane. >> reporter: for jennifer wexton, her third term as voice of virginia's tenth congressional district will be her last. >> this very impressive new ai recreation of my voice does the speaking for me now. >> reporter: one year after announcing she had palsy, wexton is retiring. there is no cure for her son which has rapidly robbed her of her ability to move freely, balance, and most recently her speech. >> clearly, my mobility and speech have been severely impacted, but i'm still the same person on the inside. >> reporter: it's a stark change for the former courtroom prosecutor. a debater so skilled, she

flipped a long-time republican congressional district to the democrats in 2018. >> i stand before you tonight as your congresswoman-elect! >> reporter: now she uses artificial voice technology to say aloud the words she prompts then screen. >> i still nitpick grammer with my communications team and chime in with my quips in my group chats just like i've always done. >> reporter: the mother two of persevered through a grueling year, midnight votes, gridlock, standoffs on a huge campus she still crosses by foot. do you wish you were running again? >> the way that this disease progresses, i doubt i would be able to make it to the end of another term. and i do really want to spend more time with my family and friends while i'm still able to enjoy it. >> mr. speaker, i rise today -- before departing, wexton has broken new ground here, seeking and securing formal approval to use her artificial voice technology in a formal speech on the u.s. house floor. >> i hope i can be a voice, even an ai voice for americans facing

accessibility challenges and other disabilities. >> reporter: that's a point she stressed to constituents when she announced her rare diagnosis in 2023. >> so please, you're welcome to empathize, but don't feel sorry for me. >> reporter: since then, wexton has fought for change, including a bill she pushed to provide a national plan to combat parkinson's and related diseases. >> i may have needed to play the "i'm dying and this is a priority for me card", but this disease has to be good for something. >> scott macfarlane with representative jennifer wexton. we'll be right back. - man, i need some serious help with this health insurance stuff. - check out covered california. it's a free service from the state that helps you get health insurance. millions of people have used it. - wait, for real? - mmm hmm, they even offer financial help to lower the cost. - nooo... how you know about all this? - that's how i got my insurance. i got a great plan for about $10 dollars a month. - okay, i see you. - if you've got questions, covered california can help, every step of the way.

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it's monday, december 30th, 2024. this is "cbs news mornings." >> my name is jimmy carter, and i'm running for president. [ cheers ] >> the death of a president. jimmy carter, the longest lived american president, dead at 100 years old.