In a rare show of unity during this turbulent time, all living U.S. presidents lined up to honor their respective presidents at President Jimmy Carter’s funeral Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. I did it.
Mr. Carter, who died late last month at the age of 100, is remembered as a compassionate Christian and a progressive ahead of his time, despite a one-term term in the White House that was considered a disappointment at the time.
Beneath the stained glass and stonework of the towering neo-Gothic nave, family members and dignitaries remembered their personal kindness and public sacrifice, as Carter said, “Every week from World War II to COVID-19, on Sunday,” he said, noting that he taught Sunday school at a church in Plains, Georgia.
“Carter was a visionary. He put short-term political interests aside to take on the costly challenges of protecting our children and grandchildren.” Walter Mondale he said in a eulogy before his death in 2021, which was read out by his son on Thursday.
Many of Mr. Carter’s contemporaries who lived this long have now passed away, but some had been preparing their remarks for the occasion for years.
“In the 1970s, very few people had heard of climate change,” said Ted Mondale, recalling how Carter pushed for renewable energy and how he championed women’s rights. He also noted that he was a leader in racial justice.
Stuart Eisenstat, a longtime top adviser to Mr. Carter, said that his former boss “may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but he belongs at the foot of it and will make America stronger. It will make the world safer.”
In the front row are past and present, Republican and Democratic presidents and vice presidents, some of whom have fought competitive races against each other.
Some, like Vice President Kamala Harris, sat quietly and looked forward. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama were seen chatting and laughing together.
Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, members of the Carter administration and foreign dignitaries will also be in attendance.
When Carter came to Washington, President Joe Biden, who had served as a senator in his younger years, said he wanted Carter to “teach us that strength of character is more than a title or the power we have.” “It was,” he said. It is the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect,” he said.
Mr. Biden continued, “To young people and to those seeking meaning and purpose, learn the power of Jimmy Carter’s example. Character, faith, and love are what make a true patriot.” said.
The funeral was a rare moment for those in attendance to put politics aside, coming just two weeks before Mr. Biden transfers power to the politician he denounced at Mr. Trump’s second inauguration.
“There’s an old saying that two presidents in the same room is too many,” said the son of former President Gerald Ford, who defeated Carter to win the presidential election, in a eulogy he prepared after his father’s death. He said while reading aloud.
“But we quickly decided to exercise ex-presidential privilege, which is to quickly forget what either side says about the other in the heat of battle,” Ford continued. “There’s definitely life after the White House.”
Since taking office as president, Carter has devoted himself to domestic and international philanthropy, and while his public image has skyrocketed, he continues to live a relatively simple life with his beloved wife Rosalyn, who passed away just a year ago. I saw that and understood that. 2023.
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Jason Carter described his grandfather as a “normal guy” — a down-to-earth family man who carried a bag on Air Force One during his presidential years and then answered the door in a T-shirt and Crocs.
“Yes, he lived in the governor’s mansion and the White House, but that was for a total of eight years,” Carter said. “For the next 92 years, his home was in Plains, Georgia, a village of 600 people miles from interstates and airports.”
Politically, he said, his grandfather’s values were “not just ahead of his time, they were prophetic.”
As governor of Georgia, Carter fought racial discrimination and mass incarceration at a time when most southern whites resisted integration. He is a “climate change warrior” and has protected more public lands than any previous president, Jason Carter continued. He wanted to decriminalize marijuana. And he deregulated the industry in a way that allowed the rise of craft beer and cheap airline tickets.
“I mean, almost 50 years ago, he might have been the first Millennial,” the younger Carter joked.
Tributes have poured in since Carter’s death on December 29, with his body slowly making its way through Georgia and Washington for thousands to witness.
Before the funeral service, his casket was draped with a flag in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda and placed atop the catafalque that once held Abraham Lincoln’s body.
The process will continue to Georgia, where a private family funeral will be held. Mr. Carter will then be buried on the grounds of his home in Plains.
Mr. Carter was little known outside his home state of Georgia before he ran for president in 1976 and won.
He served only one term, rejected by voters shaken by the global oil crisis and the kidnapping of American diplomats by Iranian Islamic revolutionaries.
For decades, the Democratic Party’s achievements were overshadowed by its Republican successor, Ronald Reagan. Reagan undermined many of Carter’s policies, including experimental solar panels that Carter installed on the roof of the White House to promote alternative energy.
But Carter’s accomplishments, both his dedication to philanthropy since taking office, including Habitat for Humanity, and his future accomplishments as president, have left historians and the public at large. It has been valued for many years in the eyes of She talks about issues like civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental protection at the time.
