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Former President Jimmy Carter’s body was taken to the District of Columbia on Tuesday afternoon and will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol until a state funeral is scheduled for Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral across town.
Mr. Carter passed away on Sunday, December 29th at the age of 100. His death occurred just one year after the death of his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter.
Carter’s ceremonial arrival in the Capitol Rotunda came after the start of a six-day funeral service that began Saturday morning in the 39th president’s hometown of Plains, Georgia.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force band greeted Carter’s casket at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, D.C., playing “Abide With Me.” A hearse from Andrews took Carter’s casket to the U.S. Naval Memorial, where a simple ceremony was held. A graduate of the Naval Academy, Carter served as a submarine officer before leaving the Navy to take over his family’s farm.
At the Naval Memorial, the casket was transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for a procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol.
Vice President Harris delivered the eulogy at the Capitol’s lie-in ceremony, and Vice President Doug Emhoff also presented a memorial wreath on behalf of the executive branch of government.
At Tuesday’s ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-La.) spoke on behalf of their respective chambers.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks at a memorial service for former President Jimmy Carter in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. (Jack Gruber/USA TODAY)
In his speech, Johnson praised Carter as an “extraordinary man” and praised his military service and his work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center, the latter of which was founded by the former couple in 1982. Both were praised for their philanthropic efforts.
“I remembered his advice: ‘Live your life as if Christ were coming this afternoon,'” Johnson said on Tuesday. “And for his amazing personal reflection, ‘If I had one life and one chance to make it mean something.'”
“We all agree that he certainly did,” he concluded. “So today, in the hallowed halls of our Republic, we honor President Carter, his family, and the enduring legacy he left on this nation and the world.”
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Former President Jimmy Carter (Emma Woodhead/Fox News Digital)
Last month, Prime Minister Johnson announced in a letter to Carter’s second son, James Carter III, that Carter was a national liar.
“It is our intention to honor President Carter’s long service to our nation and to ask the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to allow his remains to be interred in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol,” the leaders said. . I wrote.
Carter is one of only 12 presidents to have slept in the Capitol Rotunda as a state guest, and its use must be approved by both houses of Congress. The last president to lie in office was George H.W. Bush in December 2018. Since 1865, nearly every service held in the Capitol Rotunda has used the catafalque, which was built in 1865 to display President Lincoln’s casket.
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The public will be able to view Mr. Carter’s casket from early Wednesday morning until early Thursday morning, when his official state funeral will be held at the Washington National Cathedral.
The former president will be honored and commemorated through a multi-day funeral, after which he will return to his hometown for a private burial and interment ceremony. He will be buried by his wife.
Brianne Depiche is a political reporter for FOX News Digital, covering the 2024 election and other national news.
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