Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford faced off in 1976 in a bitter campaign but later bonded as few presidents have — and made a pact to speak at each other’s funerals.

To return the canal to Panama, President Jimmy Carter worked to change minds and build a bipartisan coalition that put aside short-term political considerations.

Mr. Carter witnessed a shift from what had been a solidly Democratic South to one that Republicans, supported by white voters and particularly evangelicals, came to dominate.

Rising from Georgia farmland to the White House, he oversaw the historic Camp David peace accords, but his one-term presidency was waylaid by troubles at home and abroad.