Former President Jimmy Carter the body was flown to the District of Columbia on Tuesday afternoon and will lie in state at the US Capitol ahead of a state funeral scheduled for Thursday across town at the Washington National Cathedral.
Carter died on Sunday, December 29, at the age of 100. His death came just over a year after the death of his wife, Rosalynn Carter, to whom he was married for 77 years.
Carter’s ceremonial arrival at the US Capitol Rotunda followed the start of six days of funeral ceremonies that began Saturday morning in the 39th president’s hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Carter’s casket was greeted Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, DC, by a U.S. Air Force Band playing “Abide with Me.” From Andrews, a hearse took Carter’s casket to the US Navy Memorial for a brief ceremony. Carter, a Naval Academy alumnus, served as a submarine officer before leaving the Navy to take over the family farm.
At the Navy Memorial, the casket was transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for the procession up Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol.
Vice President Harris delivered the eulogy at the Capitol ceremony, and was joined by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in presenting a memorial wreath on behalf of the executive branch.
Tuesday’s U.S. Capitol ceremony included remarks from both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D., representing their houses of Congress.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a memorial service for former President Jimmy Carter in the Rotunda of the US Capitol. (Jack Gruber/USA TODAY)
In his speech, Johnson praised Carter as a “remarkable man” and hailed his service in the military and his work for charities such as Habitat for Humanity and The Carter Center, the latter founded in 1982 by the former first couple.
“I remember his advice to quote: ‘We live our lives as if Christ was coming this afternoon,'” Johnson noted Tuesday. “And about his incredible personal reflection, ‘If I have one life and one chance to make it count for something.'”
“We all agree that it certainly is,” he concluded. “That is why today, in these hallowed halls of our republic, we honor President Carter, his family, and his lasting legacy that he left not only to this nation but to the world.”
JIMMY CARTER, PIONEER OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
Former President Jimmy Carter (Emma Woodhead/Fox News Digital)
Johnson announced last month that Carter would lie in a letter to Carter’s second-oldest son, James Carter III.
“In recognition of President Carter’s long and distinguished service to the nation, it is our intention to request that the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to allow his remains to lie in state in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol,” the leaders wrote.
Apart from Carter, only 12 presidents have lain in state in the Rotunda of the US Capitol, the use of which requires the approval of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The last president to lie in state was George HW Bush in December 2018. Since 1865, nearly all services held in the Capitol Rotunda have used the hearse that was built in 1865 to display President Lincoln’s casket.
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The public can view Carter’s casket from early Wednesday until early Thursday morning, when his official funeral service will be held at the Washington National Cathedral.
The former president will be honored and remembered through several days of funeral services before returning to his hometown for private funeral and burial ceremonies. He will be laid to rest by his wife.
