(Washington) The United States is holding a national funeral on Thursday for its former president Jimmy Carter, the culmination of several days of tribute to the Nobel Peace Prize winner who marked the history of the country and the world.
In the presence of his successor Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden must deliver the funeral eulogy at the National Cathedral in the capital Washington, an Episcopal church where Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush were entitled to the same honors.
This funeral will close nearly a week of mourning during which Americans gathered in silence before the coffin draped in the country’s colors to pay tribute to the 39e president, died on December 29 at the age of 100.
Jimmy Carter himself had asked Joe Biden to deliver his eulogy, the president revealed in an interview with USA Today published Wednesday, the two men having been longtime friends. They last met in 2021.
“Carter was a straight man,” praised Joe Biden. “Carter couldn’t see the world from there,” he said, pointing to the top of his head. “But from there,” he continued, raising his hand to heart level, according to USA Today.
Jimmy Carter was a one-term president from 1977 to 1981.
Alongside around 3,000 people, all four other living US presidents will attend the funeral, from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The first president to pass the age of 100, Carter died in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Thursday was declared a day of national mourning, with federal administrations closed.
Peacemaker
PHOTO JOSE LUIS MAGANA, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
People look at the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Washington.
Joe Biden also ordered that flags be flown at half-mast for 30 days, as is customary. They will therefore still be for the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, which the Republican criticized.
The future president nevertheless paid tribute to Jimmy Carter after the announcement of his death. On Wednesday, he prayed in Washington in front of the coffin of his predecessor, alongside his wife Melania Trump.
Initially perceived as weak by his peers in Washington, Jimmy Carter established himself internationally as a peacemaking statesman, notably negotiating the first country agreement between Israel and an Arab country, Egypt. When his death was announced, tributes poured in from all over the world.
After his mandate, he distinguished himself in various initiatives in favor of democracy and human rights, a humanitarian commitment which earned him international recognition, until the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
The six days of tribute began on Saturday, when agents of the Secret Service, responsible for the protection of senior political figures, carried his coffin.
The convoy first traveled through Plains, the town to which he was so attached. In front of the family farm where he grew up, the bell rang 39 times, in homage to the 39e president of the United States.
The remains of the former president arrived at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
Jimmy Carter had been in hospice care since February 2023 in Plains, where he died and will be buried alongside his wife Rosalynn Carter.
