Biden Says Carter to Receive a State Funeral in Washington
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said he’ll order a state funeral in Washington for Jimmy Carter, calling the former Democratic president who died Sunday “an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian.”
Most Read from Bloomberg
Detroit’s Michigan Central Is the Building Revival Story of 2024
A Commuting Resolution for 2025: Ride Your Local Subway or Bus
While the White House didn’t immediately announce specific plans, state funerals for presidents usually include lying in state at the US Capitol and a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral. Biden separately designated Jan. 9 as a national day of mourning.
The US stock market has traditionally closed on the day of presidential funerals. No announcement has been made as of yet by exchange overseers.
Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama were among those paying tribute to Middle East peace efforts and a long post-presidential run of humanitarian work by Carter, who died at age 100 at his home in Plains, Georgia.
Obama drew an arc from Carter teaching Sunday school at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains “for most of his adult life” and the Camp David Accords to the former president’s appointing Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the federal bench, launching her path to the US Supreme Court.
“He believed some things were more important than reelection – things like integrity, respect, and compassion,” Obama said in a statement.
Biden’s statement, issued during his year-end vacation in the US Virgin Islands, included a tribute to Carter’s efforts to “eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us.”
On Sunday evening, Biden commended Carter for his courage and humility in remarks at Company House Hotel in St. Croix.
“Some look at Jimmy Carter and see a man of a bygone era,” he said. “I see a man, not only of our time, but for all times.”
Biden said he’s spoken with some of Carter’s friends and members of his family who are planning services.
When asked if there’s anything Trump could learn from Carter, Biden responded: “decency,” adding that “everybody deserves a shot.” The Trump transition team didn’t immediately respond for comment.
Trump said Carter was a “truly good man” who “worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.”
“While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump frequently brought up Carter during the 2024 election campaign, seeking to use him as reference point for Biden’s presidency.
“Biden is the worst president in the history of our country, worse than Jimmy Carter by a long shot,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Manhattan in April. “Jimmy Carter is happy because he has had a brilliant presidency compared to Biden.”
During Trump’s first term in office, Carter criticized Trump, at one point accusing him in a 2018 CBS interview of being “careless with the truth.” Both Carter and his wife attended Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — a Republican who clashed with Trump over the state’s 2020 presidential election result — called Carter “a true-servant leader.”
(Updates with national day of mourning in second paragraph)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
