Mourners will begin paying their respects to Jimmy Carter on Saturday, marking the start of a meticulously planned six-day farewell for the longest-lived president in American history.
Flags across the United States have been lowered to half-mast following Carter’s passing on December 29, at the age of 100, in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
The state funeral for Carter will officially commence on Saturday, with Secret Service agents from his current and previous protective detail transporting his casket to a hearse.
The motorcade carrying his remains will make a stop at Carter’s childhood family peanut farm, where a farm bell will toll 39 times in tribute to the 39th president of the United States.
From there, the procession will continue to Atlanta, making a brief visit to the Georgia Capitol, where Carter once served as a state senator before his time as governor, followed by a moment of silence.
Carter’s body will then be taken to the Carter Presidential Center, where it will lie in repose from 7:00 pm on Saturday (0000 GMT Sunday) until 6:00 am (1100 GMT) on Tuesday, offering the public a chance to honor the former president.
On Tuesday morning, his remains will be flown from a military base in Georgia to Joint Base Andrews near Washington aboard a US Air Force plane, Special Air Mission 39.
A motorcade will transport Carter’s body to the US Navy Memorial, where it will be transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for a funeral procession to the US Capitol.
Military pallbearers will carry Carter’s flag-draped casket into the Capitol rotunda, where it will lie in state until 7:00 am (1200 GMT) on Thursday, surrounded by a guard of honor made up of service members.
Carter will be the 13th former US president to lie in state in the Capitol, following in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln, the first president to do so after his assassination in 1865.
On Thursday, a national funeral service will take place at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
The service will also honour former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush, all of whom were remembered there. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, the four living former presidents, are expected to attend.
President Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy for Carter, his fellow Democrat who served as president from 1977 to 1981. Biden has declared Thursday a national day of mourning, with federal offices closed, and ordered flags to remain at half-mast for 30 days, a practice that will extend into Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
This move drew criticism from the president-elect, who expressed on Truth Social that “no American can be happy” about flags being at half-mast when he assumes office.
After the service at the cathedral, Carter’s remains will be flown back to Georgia aboard Special Air Mission 39 for a private funeral at the Baptist church in Plains, where he taught Sunday school.
A final motorcade will transport his body through the town, heading to a burial plot at his residence.
In a fitting tribute, US Navy jets will perform a flyover as Carter is laid to rest beside his wife, Rosalynn, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 96, after 77 years of marriage.
