Former President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on January 9, the national day of mourning for the long-lived American president.
Walter Mondale, who served as Carter’s vice president, attempted to deliver a eulogy for his former boss but died in 2021. According to the New York Times, Mondale’s son plans to read a eulogy at the funeral.
Details are also emerging about how the country will honor the world-renowned humanitarian, who died Sunday at the age of 100 at his home in Plains, Georgia.
According to the Carter Center, a public memorial service will also be held in Atlanta, Georgia, before Carter is buried in Plains.
In keeping with the U.S. custom of commemorating the deaths of key figures and leaders, President Joe Biden ordered that American flags be flown at half-staff on federal property for 30 days. The period includes the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Carter’s family said they “respectfully and gratefully” accepted the U.S. Congress’s invitation for Carter to lie in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building. Traditionally, this is a public viewing where people, including members of Congress, celebrities, and ordinary Americans, come in to pay their respects.
Carter will be buried at the family estate next to his wife Rosalynn, who died in November 2023 at the age of 96.
Biden requested that January 9 be designated as a day to honor James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th President of the United States.
“He embodied the best of America: a humble servant of God and his people,” he said in a statement.
Trump wrote in Truth Social that although he and Carter disagreed philosophically, Carter was a “really nice guy” and “the most respected person.”
Other U.S. leaders, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, also issued statements praising Carter’s life and accomplishments.
Former President Barack Obama said Carter “taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service.”
Carter, a former Georgia peanut farmer, went on to become a Naval officer and then President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981.
During his time in the White House, he championed causes for global peace, the environment, and human rights, and later received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
One of the most notable accomplishments of his tenure was brokering a Middle East peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
But Carter’s achievements as president were overshadowed by the collapsing American economy and what he called a “crisis of confidence.”
He served only one term in the White House, losing resoundingly to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Much of Carter’s legacy was forged in his post-presidency life.
He continued to work for world peace and met with international leaders. He founded the Carter Center, a non-profit organization created to help eradicate the disease. And even when he was over 90 years old, he worked with Habitat for Humanity to help build and renovate homes.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of President Carter and pray for his family,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International.
