National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter: What it means and what’s closed

On By Littum

A national day of mourning will be held Thursday for Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100.

IN a proclamation after Mr. Carter’s death, President Biden called him “a man of character, courage and compassion.”

Announcing the day of mourning, he said: “I call on the American people to gather that day in their respective places of worship to honor the memory of President James Earl Carter Jr. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn feast.”

The day of mourning is held on the same day as Mr. Carter’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. President Biden will deliver a eulogy at the funeral, and a eulogy written by Gerald R. Ford, who died in 2006, will be read by his son Steven Ford.

American flags at the White House, government buildings, military bases, naval ships and American embassies around the world have been ordered to be flown at half-staff to honor Mr. Carter in the 30 days following his death.

On December 30, President Biden ordered that “all executive departments and agencies of the federal government shall be closed on January 9,” except those necessary for “national security, defense, or other public needs.” Federal employees will still be paid for the day.

The Post Office will suspend mail delivery and close post offices, but there will still be limited parcel delivery, a spokesman said.

National parks will generally be open, but their administrative offices will be closed.

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will too be closedand so will the United States The Supreme Court and other federal courts, along with the Library of Congress.

The last national day of mourning for a president came in December 2018, after the death of George HW Bush.

The story is long. The government closed on June 1, 1865 for a day of “humiliation and sorrow,” six weeks after Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed. Citizens were asked to gather in “their respective places of worship” to remember the fallen president. Banks and insurance companies also closed, although the post office only closed for half a day.

Presidents who died in office after Lincoln were also honored, including James Garfield, William McKinley, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Roosevelt.

Lyndon Johnson’s first presidential proclamation announced a day of mourning for John F. Kennedy, three days after he was assassinated in 1963.

In recent times, relatively routine deaths of presidents after their terms of office have also been marked by a day of mourning, including for Dwight Eisenhower in 1969, Harry S. Truman in 1972; Lyndon Johnson in 1973 and Richard Nixon in 1994.

Ronald Reagan was honored in 2004 and Gerald Ford in 2007.

Not only presidents have been commemorated with a day of mourning. The priest Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were each honored after being assassinated in 1968.