A week-long series of memorial services for former President Jimmy Carter culminates Thursday with a solemn state funeral in Washington. The state funeral will bring together all five living presidents, temporarily laying down their partisan swords and bidding farewell to one of their own.
Carter, who has been in repose at the Capitol for the past two days, will be taken to the Washington National Cathedral at 10 a.m. for all the rites of a national send-off. He will then be flown back to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he lived most of his life and will be buried outside the modest ranch home where he died last week.
The memorial service represents the culmination of American honor for the 39th president, who served as president during a tumultuous period from 1977 to 1981 and worked to heal the nation through the trauma of Watergate and the Vietnam War. be. President Biden will also be joined by Jason Carter, the former president's grandson, and Stuart E. Eisenstat, Carter's longtime friend and White House domestic adviser.
The eulogies, written by former President Gerald R. Ford and former Vice President Walter F. Mondale before their deaths, will be read by their sons Stephen Ford and Ted Mondale. Mr. Carter defeated Mr. Ford in the 1976 election, but they later became friends, and Mr. Mondale was Mr. Carter's inner circle partner for four years in the White House.
There will also be readings by Jason Carter and his other grandson, Joshua Carter, and a sermon will be delivered by civil rights leader Andrew Young, who served as Carter's ambassador to the United Nations. Among the music provided, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sing John Lennon's “Imagine.”
The service will be attended by former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. This will be the first gathering of In November. The same group is expected to gather again for his inauguration in just 11 days.
Mr. Trump will be a unique figure among presidents. Presidents view him as a dangerous force and, in some cases, have harshly criticized him. Even Mr. Bush, the only Republican in the group, voted for other candidates rather than for Mr. Trump.
Trump has no speaking roles and is not a favorite of the Carter family. He has regularly disparaged Mr. Carter over the years, especially during last year's campaign, when Mr. Trump used former President Carter as a foil to attack Mr. Biden. After Mr. Carter's death, Mr. Trump offered some words of reprieve, but he also did not hesitate to condemn his predecessor's decision to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1977.
Mr. Biden, who may be Mr. Carter's closest living president, declared Thursday a national day of mourning and shut down the federal government to all but essential operations as flags flew at half-staff. Carter's casket will be taken from the cathedral to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where it will make its final flight on the presidential plane known as Air Force One.
After a final private service at Maranatha Baptist Church in the Plains, where Mr. Carter taught Sunday school until he was in his 90s, the motorcade carrying the casket makes its final journey through the Plains to Mr. Carter's home. becomes.
Navy jets will fly over in missing persons formation, after which Carter will be buried in the family plot next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who died in late 2023.
