Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation’s capital after a humiliating defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington for a three-day state funeral starting Tuesday.
Carter’s remains, which had been in state at the Carter Presidential Center since Saturday, left the Atlanta campus on Tuesday morning, accompanied by his children and relatives. Special Air Mission 39 departed from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, north of Atlanta, and arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. A motorcade carried the casket to Washington, where it made its final journey to the Capitol, where members of Congress paid their respects.
In Georgia, eight military pallbearers held Carter’s casket as artillery fired on a nearby tarmac. They carried it to a vehicle and lifted it to the cabin of the aircraft. The iconic blue and white Boeing 747 is known as Air Force One when a sitting president is on board. Carter never flew on the plane as president, but the plane first flew as Air Force One in 1990 with President George H.W. Bush.
This scene was repeated in the suburbs of Washington. The former president’s coffin was removed from the plane, cannons were fired and a military band played. A hearse bearing the presidential seal joined the convoy heading to Washington.
A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers entered the Capitol Rotunda, led by Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who represent Carter’s home state. Vice President Kamala Harris, members of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet, and three of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Elena Kagan, were also in attendance.
The remains of the 39th president, who died at the age of 100 on Dec. 29 at his home, were taken to the U.S. Capitol by horse-drawn carriage Tuesday afternoon.
A brass quintet from the U.S. Army Band performed as people waited for the casket. The room fell silent after three knocks on the vaulted door announcing Carter’s arrival. The coffin was placed in the center of the chamber of the Lincoln Catafalque, a platform built in 1865 to hold the coffin of murdered President Abraham Lincoln in the same spot.
Harris, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and House Speaker Mike Johnson paid tribute to Carter’s faith, military service, and dedication to building homes for the needy through Habitat for Humanity. He was honored for his dedication to service, including his personal contributions.
“Jimmy Carter was an all-too-rare example of a gifted man with humility, humility, and grace,” Harris said, recalling his unassuming approach to campaigning. He slept in the homes of his supporters, “shared meals at their tables and listened to their ideas,” she said.
The U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club performed the patriotic anthem “My Country, Thy Thys” in front of bipartisan Congressional leaders, and Ms. Harris, along with her husband Doug Emhoff, laid a wreath next to the casket. . Carter’s family, including some of her grandchildren, wiped away tears.
Carter, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100, will be laid to rest in the state Tuesday night and again Wednesday. He will receive a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. Mr. Biden is expected to pay his respects.
There is a familiar ritual that follows the death of a president. The Air Force will return to the Beltway, an honor guard will carry the flag-draped casket up the steps of the Capitol, and Lincoln Cathedral will be installed in the Rotunda.
There may also be symbolism specific to Carter. A military band played hymns as he was carried out of the Presidential Center. The hymns, “Amazing Grace” and “Blessed Assurance,” were dedicated to the outspoken Baptist evangelical who called himself a “born again Christian” when he ran for president in 1976. Washington, his hearse stopped at the U.S. Naval Memorial, and his remains were transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for the remainder of the trip to the Capitol. This location is a reminder that Carter was the only Naval Academy graduate to become commander in chief.
Sen. John Thune remembered President Jimmy Carter at the Capitol.
All this extravagance carries a certain irony for a Democrat who has gone from his family’s peanut warehouse to the governor’s mansion and, ultimately, the White House. Carter won the presidency as a smiling Southerner and technocratic engineer who promised to change the ways of Washington. And when he arrived in Washington, he circumvented many of those unspoken rules.
From 1977 to 1981, Carter was Washington’s highest-ranking resident. However, he could not master it.
Biographer Jonathan Alter said of the president, who struggled with arguments with lawmakers and reporters, that in a town that thrives on relationships, “he could be abrasive and not the most appealing personality.” .
Mr. Carter often disparaged the ceremonial ornaments that have been on display in Georgia and will continue to be displayed in Washington.
As president, he wanted to prevent the Marine Corps band from playing “Long Live the Chief,” believing it would be too exalting of the president. His advisor convinced him to accept it as part of the job. The song played Saturday as his motorcade drove through his hometown of the Plains, passing his childhood farm and arriving at the Presidential Center. The song was played again as his remains were taken on the way to Washington.
He also never gave his full name, James Earl Carter Jr., when taking the oath of office. His full name was printed on every memorial card commemorated in Atlanta.
He once addressed the nation from the White House residence wearing a cardigan, which is now on display in his museum and library. His remains now rest in a wooden coffin, carried and guarded by military pallbearers in impeccable uniforms.
As Carter’s remains leave Georgia, President-elect Donald Trump criticized the late former president for ceding control of the Panama Canal to his home country at a press conference in Florida.
Asked whether it was appropriate to criticize Carter during the solemn funeral, Trump said: “I liked him as a person. I didn’t agree with his policies. I thought it was a good thing to let go.”
“I didn’t want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter’s death,” he added, despite initially mentioning it out of the blue.
House Speaker Mike Johnson praised former President Jimmy Carter at Tuesday’s memorial service.
Cooper reported from Phoenix.
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