All 5 living presidents expected to attend Jimmy Carter’s National Cathedral funeral: NPR

Former President Jimmy Carter’s flag-draped casket lies in state at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 8.

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Maansi Srivastava for NPR

Political leaders in Washington will honor the life of former President Jimmy Carter with a funeral at the National Cathedral this morning. Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100, was the country’s longest-living president.

Thursday’s event marks the last public tribute to Carter, following additional funeral services and ceremonies since Saturday at the US Capitol, the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta and his hometown of Plains, Ga. Following his national funeral service, the late president’s remains will be transported back to Georgia for a private ceremony and burial in Plains.

The funeral at the National Cathedral is part of a national day of mourning, as President Biden declared in Carter’s honor after his death.

Tune in at 9:30 a.m. for NPR’s live special coverage just prior to the National Cathedral service. Watch here:

Biden was a longtime colleague of Carter’s and will deliver a eulogy during the service, according to a White House official.

In remarks after Carter’s death, Biden called the late president a “dear friend” and praised his character, highlighting Carter’s record as president and his more than four decades of humanitarian work after leaving the White House.

“What I find extraordinary about Jimmy Carter is that millions of people all over the world, all over the world, feel that they too have lost a friend, even though they never met him,” Biden said. “It’s because Jimmy Carter lived a life that was measured not by words, but by his deeds.”

All four living former presidents are expected to attend Carter’s funeral, including President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in less than two weeks. Trump recently criticized Carter’s presidential record during a press conference, arguing that the late former president lost his 1980 re-election bid because of his decision to relinquish control of the Panama Canal Zone.

President-elect Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump pay their respects in front of former President Jimmy Carter’s flag-draped casket at the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on January 8.

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Tyrone Turner/WAMU

“No one wants to talk about the Panama Canal now because, you know, it’s inappropriate, I think,” Trump said. “Because it’s a bad part of the Carter legacy.”

“He was a good man. I knew him a little bit and he was a very nice person, but it was a big mistake,” Trump added. On Wednesday night, the president-elect and his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, paid their respects to Carter, who lay in state at the Capitol Rotunda this week. Trump later told reporters that he met with members of the Carter family earlier in the day.

The public could also pay tribute to the former president. As they waited in line outside the Capitol, Carter’s supporters praised his long career in public life.

Members of the public write notes in condolence books at the Capitol Visitor Center, near the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, which lies in state at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 8.

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Mark Wentzell of Minneapolis, Minn., who traveled to the memorial with his daughter, told NPR that Carter was “a real role model for everybody.”

“He was so sincere in everything he did,” he said.

“I see him as a really good man, high moral values,” Washington, DC resident Bruce Meredith said as he got in line. “He was seriously a public servant. He gave everything he had to this country. And that’s why I respect him so much.”

Susan Prolman was only 11 years old when Carter ran for president, but she fondly recalled how he stayed at her family’s home in New Hampshire during the 1976 primary.

“Instead of staying in hotels, they are stayed in people’s houses” she said. “It was very exciting.”

Susan Prolman, 59, holds up a sign from when she was campaigning for President Jimmy Carter growing up in New Hampshire. She remembers him coming to stay with her family during a campaign visit. Prolman visited the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, which lay in state at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 8.

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Standing outside the Capitol, Prolman, who now lives in DC, held up her handwritten ‘Carter for President’ poster she made nearly 50 years ago. Beneath these words were small hand-drawn peanuts, a nod to his time as a peanut farmer.

“He was a really kind man,” she said. “He brought so much to this country.”