Nearly 44-years after Jimmy Carter left the nation’s capital in a humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington DC to be honoured in death.
Carter’s remains had been lying in repose at the Carter Presidential Center since Saturday in his native state of Georgia. His remains left the Atlanta-based campus on Tuesday morning, accompanied by his children and extended family aboard Special Air Mission 39, landing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
A motorcade carried his casket into Washington for a final journey to the Capitol, where members of Congress organised a ceremony to pay their respects.
A bipartisan delegation of members of Congress were led into the Capitol Rotunda by Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Democrats who represent Carter’s home state.
Vice President Kamala Harris, other members of US President Joe Biden’s cabinet and three of the nine US Supreme Court justices were also present.
The US Army Band Brass Quintet played as people awaited the casket. Silence fell as three knocks on the rotunda door marked the late president’s arrival. The casket was placed in the middle of the room on the Lincoln catafalque, a platform built in 1865 to hold slain president Abraham Lincoln’s casket in the same place.
Harris as well as Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered eulogies that celebrated Carter’s faith, accomplishments, military service and devotion to service.
“Today, we gather to begin a final farewell to Jimmy Carter. Navy veteran, peanut farmer, governor of Georgia. And president of the United States. Sunday school teacher. Nobel Prize winner. Advocate for peace and human rights. And first and foremost, a faithful servant of his creator and his fellow man,” said John Thune.
“He was the first president of the United States to have a comprehensive energy policy, including providing some of the first federal support for clean energy. He also passed over a dozen major pieces of legislation regarding environmental protection. And more than doubled the size of America’s national parks,” said US Vice President Kamala Harris.
“James Earl Carter Junior loved our country. He lived his faith. He served the people. And he left the world better than he found it,” she added
“We all know that his care for humanity didn’t stop at building homes. In the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine. In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God. If you were to ask him why he did it all, he would likely point to his faith,” noted House Speaker Mike Thune as he eulogised Carter.
Carter, who passed away on 29 December 2024, at the age of 100, will lie in state on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. He’s set to receive a state funeral on Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral.
President Biden will attend Carter’s funeral and will deliver a eulogy.
