WASHINGTON — Former President Jimmy Carter arrived at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to lie in state after a memorial service attended by his family, Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress and other officials.
Congressional leaders eulogized the 39th president, praising his work in office, faith and volunteerism.
« Jimmy Carter was that all too rare example of a gifted man who also walks with humility, modesty and grace, » said Harris who recalled that she was in middle school when Carter was elected president.
« He lived his faith, he served the people, and he left the world better than he found it, » she said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., highlighted Carter’s spirit of volunteerism, building homes on behalf of the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity, including a 1994 project in Thune’s home state of South Dakota.
« He was here to get down in the weeds and the dirt, and he did that, literally, on numerous Habitat builds, » Thune said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the « enduring legacy that he leaves, not only upon this nation, but upon the world. »
Carter’s casket arrived at the Capitol in a horse-drawn caisson at around 4:30 p.m. ET, with canons fired upon its arrival and family members gathered at the top of the Capitol steps. Honorary pall bearers carried the late president into the Rotunda, where his casket was laid on the Lincoln catafalque, a platform built to support President Abraham Lincoln’s casket and now used for such ceremonies. It will be open to public viewing from about 7 p.m. to midnight. The statues of Lincoln and other presidents — including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, who Carter defeated in 1976 — line the Rotunda.
His body will lie in state through Thursday morning, when there will be a service for him at Washington National Cathedral.
Tuesday’s events began in the morning with the transport of Carter’s remains from his presidential library in Atlanta to Joint Base Andrews near Washington. From there, Carter and his family traveled by motorcade to the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol.
At the Navy Memorial, which Carter authorized in 1980 after it was approved by Congress, the former president’s remains were transferred from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for the funeral procession to the Capitol. The procession is designed to mirror Carter’s inaugural parade on Jan. 20, 1977, when, instead of riding in the presidential limousine, he and his family walked from the Capitol to the White House, the military release said.
The White House Historical Association noted, « This was the first time a president walked the pavement of Pennsylvania Avenue after the inauguration ceremony, » demonstrating Carter’s desire to make the presidency accessible to all citizens.
The public is invited to honor and celebrate Carter’s life along the funeral procession route on Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues to the Capitol, his family said.
The last president to lie in state at the Capitol was President George H.W. Bush in 2018.
Carter, the longest-living former president, died at age 100 on Dec. 29. He had been living in hospice care since February 2023 at his home in Plains, Georgia.
Biden is expected to give a eulogy Thursday morning at the cathedral service and has declared the day a national day of mourning. After the service, Carter’s body will be flown back to Plains and to the Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school for decades, followed by a private burial.
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