Washington ? Jimmy Carter came back Monday to the White House as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate – and a frequent critic of the current administration, although he accepted President Bush’s praise with one of his trademark grins.

The Carter family toured the White House and had a chance to visit with old friends who worked there when Carter was president more than 20 years ago.

“I want to welcome this year’s Nobel laureates to the Oval Office,” Bush said during a brief photo session. “I want to welcome somebody who spent a lot of quality time here. … President Carter, Mrs. Carter, we’re so honored to have you as well as the other distinguished Americans who are here with us.”

Carter stood just to the right of Bush in a line of Nobel laureates that included:

• Raymond Davis Jr. of Blue Point, N.Y., physics.
• Riccardo Giacconi of Washington, physics.


Former President Jimmy Carter and President George W. Bush share a laugh during a reception for U.S. 2002 Nobel laureates in the Oval Office of the White House.

• John B. Fenn of Richmond, Va., chemistry.
• H. Robert Horvitz of Cambridge, Mass., physiology/medicine.
• Vernon Smith of Fairfax, Va., economics.

Carter, 78, won the Nobel last month for his “untiring effort” to peacefully solve international conflicts and to advance democracy and human rights. The prize came with an extraordinary rebuke aimed at Bush by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which contrasted Carter’s efforts at creating Mideast peace through diplomacy against Bush’s vow to oust Iraq’s Saddam Hussein by force if necessary.

In September, Carter said he was disturbed by administration threats to take military action against Iraq without the blessing of the United Nations. But he has praised Bush’s leadership on Iraq in recent days.

“I’m grateful that our administration has changed its position,” he said.