Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who struggled with a bad economy and a hostage crisis but went on to a long and admired post-White House career, will be honoured at a state funeral in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Fellow Democratic President Joe Biden will eulogize the 39th president who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100. Biden, during his long career in the U.S. Senate, was the first member of that chamber to endorse Carter for president in the 1976 campaign
President-elect Donald Trump, who on Tuesday criticized treaties Carter signed during his presidency to give Panama authority over the Panama Canal, is expected to attend, as are former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Some world leaders and foreign dignitaries will also attend, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Carter lived longer than any other U.S. president and had been in hospice care for nearly two years before his death. His last public appearance was at the funeral for his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023. At that service, Carter used a wheelchair and appeared frail.
Following the state funeral, Carter’s remains will be returned to his native Plains, Ga., where he lived in his 44 post-White House years and made the base of operations for his diplomatic work and charitable efforts including Habitat for Humanity.
‘The end of an era’
Tens of thousands of Americans over the past two days filed through the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol to pay their respects to Carter, who served from 1977 to 1981, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his humanitarian work.
As she waited in the public viewing line outside the Capitol, Dorian DeHaan said her daughter married into the family of the president’s younger sister, Ruth, presenting the opportunity to meet the former president in Plains.
“But it’s a sad moment,” DeHaan, 67, said. “It’s the end of an era and I think we kind of have lost this real belief in humanity, in our presidency.”
The public viewing hours extended overnight and and ended shortly before sunrise on Thursday. After that, an honour guard will transport his remains to the Washington National Cathedral, which has hosted the state funerals of Carter’s immediate predecessor, Gerald Ford, and successor, Ronald Reagan.
Carter attended both of those funerals and gave the eulogy for Ford.