The country’s five living presidents are poised to lead the nation as it says one last goodbye to its longest-living commander in chief, the late Jimmy Carter, who died last month at the age of 100.
President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s one and only presidential campaign in 1976, will eulogize him at Wednesday’s official state funeral. Carter had been receiving hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, since 2023 for an undisclosed illness.
On what Biden declared to be a National Day of Mourning, Carter’s body was driven from the U.S. Capitol, where he had been lying in state, to the Washington National Cathedral for the state service. Carter had previously laid in repose at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta.
Seated alongside Biden is his predecessor and successor, President-elect Donald Trump, bringing the political rivals together before next week’s inauguration. Also in attendance are former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, in addition to their respective wives.
Hunter Biden was also spotted in the crowd, as were all the U.S.’s living vice presidents and world leaders including outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Carter had complicated relationships with some of his successors, choosing not to heed the tradition of not criticizing a sitting president. Carter once brokered a peace deal with North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung on Clinton’s behalf but announced it on CNN without his approval, apparently to pressure him into accepting the terms.
Carter’s four years in the White House were undermined by problems at home and abroad, including inflation and conflict in the Middle East, similar to Biden’s own short tenure in the executive mansion. But it will be Carter’s post-presidency that will likely define his legacy despite controversies, such as writing a much-criticized book called Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
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After the proceedings, Carter’s remains will return to Plains for a private funeral service and his interment beside his wife Rosalynn. The one-time first lady died in 2023 at the age of 96.
The U.S. Navy, Carter’s former service branch, will also conduct a missing man formation flyover.
