He used an animated version of the exploding peanut in a Carter campaign video. “Jimmy’s smile, country farmer, the longshot — all made for good cartoons,” Rafshoon said in an interview.

Luckovich prepared an obituary cartoon: Carter arrives at the pearly gates welcomed by tool-bearing angels who present him with the “Habitat for Jimmy” home they’ve built for him.

Jimmy Carter stepped forward to give us hope. He lived to see his 100 th birthday, the oldest surviving president in our nation’s history. He had embraced his own mortality long ago, submitting ...