WASHINGTON – The remains of President Jimmy Carter arrived at the U.S. Capitol for the final time on Tuesday afternoon for a service with members of Congress before the 39th president lies in state.
Military personnel carried his flag-draped casket into the Capitol Rotunda for members of Congress and Carter’s family to pay their respects at a service before opening up the space to the public.
A crowd formed in the evening to make their way into the Capitol building to pay their final respects to the former president, who served only one term but forged an enduring legacy as a humanitarian.
Bitter cold and strong winds off the heels of a massive snow storm made the wait unpleasant. However, the weather wasn’t enough to discourage those wanting to bid a personal farewell to Carter.
“If anyone was a saint it was him,” said Marshall Rocke, one of the visitors in the crowd. Rocke, 60, took a train from New York to Washington in order to pay his respects to “one of the greatest human beings ever.”
The viewing and service followed a solemn procession through the streets of nation’s capital. Carter’s flag-draped casket was carried in a horse-drawn caisson from the U.S. Navy Memorial, passing crowds of onlookers braving the cold to pay their respects. Members of the Carter family followed the caisson on foot in a procession officials said was designed to mirror his 1977 inaugural parade.
Carter’s remains were flown in an Air Force One jet from Georgia to Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington earlier Tuesday after a solemn ceremony in Atlanta. Carter family members then accompanied his remains to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in nearby Marietta, Georgia, for a Special Air Mission 39 flight – a tribute to Carter − to Washington.
Carter is scheduled to lie in state until midnight Tuesday, then from 7 a.m. Wednesday until 7 a.m. Thursday.
Carter’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday at Washington National Cathedral and President Joe Biden has declared Thursday a National Day of Mourning. Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are expected to attend the funeral.
After the funeral, Carter and his family will return to Georgia and Maranatha Baptist Church in Carter’s hometown of Plains for a private funeral service and interment.
The soft-spoken Southern Democrat died Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
Jimmy Carter, 39th president, dies:Was a noted humanitarian
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Vice President Kamala Harris all eulogized Carter in an hour-long service attended by members of Congress and other officials at the Capitol Tuesday evening. Supreme Court justices, including Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan, were in attendance, along with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Harris noted his achievements in office, including helping broker peace between Israel and Egypt in the form of the Camp David Accords.
She also noted the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s outstanding legacy out of office.
“Jimmy Carter established a new model for what it means to be a former president,” nodding to his work as a humanitarian in the decades after he left the White House.
“Jimmy Carter was that all too rare example of a gifted man who also walks with humility, modesty and grace,” Harris said.
The United States Naval Academy Glee Club sang a resonant performance of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” before lawmakers, including Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, presented wreaths by Carter’s casket.
Carter made his return to the nation’s capital with several members of his family, including Amy Carter, the youngest of the former president’s four children and his only daughter.
Amy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1967 and was later thrust into the public eye when the family moved to the White House in 1977.
Carter, 57, was seen seated at the service Tuesday afternoon, wiping away tears.
The family:Jimmy Carter’s family tree extends deep into the Peach State
Two years ago, Peggy and Preston White decided when Jimmy Carter died, they would take a road trip from Oklahoma City to Washington.They kept their promise, and on Tuesday night joined a crowd outside the Capitol waiting patiently to see the former president lying in state.Peggy White, 66, admired Carter since he became governor of her home state of Georgia. In college, she wrote a paper about his successful ascension to the governorship.And when American diplomats were taken hostage in Iran in 1979, she enlisted in the Navy, the same military branch Carter served in.“I admire him and I think he was a fine president. I voted for him both times. It was really sad when he didn’t make it,” White, a retired postal worker, said. “He surely made up for it with a lifetime of service to our nation.”
− Christopher Cann
Carter’s remains arrived at the U.S. Capitol late Tuesday afternoon for a packed service. The late president’s casket was brought up the front steps of the building and placed at the center of the ornate rotunda following honors outside that included a 21-gun salute. Carter’s family, members of Congress and other leaders were among the solemn crowd gathered to pay their respects.
For the soldiers and horses carrying Carter’s casket to the Capitol, Tuesday is a high-profile, no-fail mission. The Army suspended the Caisson Detachment operation in May 2023 following the deaths of two horses used to haul caissons in funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. The Army hired experts for advice that ranged from finding the right horses for caisson duty to designing the curriculum for soldiers who care and ride them.
Caisson rolling again:Famed military horse unit resumes operation for former President Jimmy Carter
Now the soldiers and horses have been rehearsing for months − with bands playing and cannons firing − to prepare them for the pomp and circumstance of a president’s funeral, said Maj. Wes Strickland, a spokesman for the Old Guard.
“We’re under a microscope,” said Lt. Col. Derrick Draper, deputy commander of the regiment. “People will be looking for the slightest flaw. And they should be. We hold ourselves to the highest standard.” Read more here.
− Tom Vanden Brook
Funeral services for Carter began Saturday in Georgia, when a funeral motorcade rolled out from near Carter’s farming hometown of Plains. The solemn sound of a bell ringing out 39 times broke the quiet of a chilly January morning at Carter’s boyhood home.
His remains were taken to the state capital in Atlanta, where he was honored in a moment of silence before a service at the Carter Center.
‘An unbelievable American story’:Mourners line streets from Plains to honor Jimmy Carter
The son of a farmer and nurse, Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, according to his official biography. He grew up in nearby Archery. He attended public schools, went to the U.S. Naval Academy and became a nuclear engineer, serving on the second nuclear submarine. He married Rosalynn Smith in 1946.
When his father died, Carter returned home to his family farm and also operated a seed and farm supply company in Plains. He served in the Georgia Senate before becoming governor in 1971.
Who was Jimmy Carter?The 39th president has a long legacy of service
In 1976, he ran for president as a Democrat and won, beginning his only term at 52 years old. As president, Carter expanded diplomatic relations abroad, invested in the energy sector and increased national park space for Americans. However, he also oversaw inflation and an American hostage crisis that likely cost his re-election, losing to Ronald Reagan.
Carter, after leaving office, conducted humanitarian work around the globe, including with preventable diseases. In 2002, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to “find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
On Nov. 19, 2023, Rosalynn Carter died at their home in Plains. She was 96.
Following Biden’s declaration on a National Day of Mourning set for Thursday, various organizations announced that they would be closed on the same date in honor of Carter. Federal offices will be closed, all Postal Service retail locations will be closed, regular mail won’t be delivered, and package delivery will be limited.
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will halt trading of all U.S. equities and options that day. Bond markets will be open but for reduced hours, closing early at 2 p.m. ET, according to a recommendation from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the Supreme Court building closed on Thursday. However, not all businesses and banks that close on federal holidays will be closed.
− Fernando Cervantes Jr.
As an acknowledgement of Carter’s legacy, the USA TODAY Network will publish “Jimmy Carter: Peanut Farmer, 39th President, Humanitarian” to chronicle a lifetime for the ages that lasted ages.
You can own a piece of American history with a 160-page hardcover volume from the USA TODAY Network, whose reporters and photographers cover tomorrow’s history today around the world. You can order the book at CarterPictorialBook.com. Books will ship Aug. 1 and can be pre-ordered for a 20% discount at $31.95, plus tax and shipping. Once released, the retail price will be $39.95.
Contributing: Susan Page, Ryne Dennis, Evan Lasseter, Sarah Clifton and Eduardo Cuevas