Former president Jimmy Carter remembered for humility, sense of fairness at state funeral | CBC News
Jimmy Carter, U.S. president during tumultuous times in the late 1970s, was remembered during his state funeral on Thursday as a man who put honesty and kindness above politics.
Fellow Democratic President Joe Biden delivered a eulogy for the 39th president, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100. Biden, during his long career in the U.S. Senate, was the first member of that chamber to endorse Carter for president in the 1976 campaign.
Carter’s life was “the story of a man who never let the tides of politics divert him from his mission to serve and shape the world,” Biden said.
“The man had character.”
Hundreds of mourners, including all five living current and former U.S. presidents, packed the Washington National Cathedral. As the sombre ceremony began and a bitterly cold wind blew, Carter’s flag-draped coffin was carried up the stone steps of the cathedral by a military honour guard after its trip from the Capitol, where his body had lain in state for two days.
Some world leaders and foreign dignitaries were in attendance, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In a eulogy, Jason Carter recalls fishing trips with his grandfather and says ex-president appreciated nature’s beauty.
Personal, professional tributes
Tens of thousands of Americans over the past two days filed through the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol to pay their respects to Carter, who served from 1977 to 1981, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his humanitarian work.
The funeral began as Joshua Carter remembered his grandfather as being inspired by his Christian faith.
Later, grandson Jason Carter paid tribute to his grandfather’s accomplishments in office and in his post-presidency, paying particular attention to Carter Center efforts that have helped nearly eradicate guinea worm disease around the world, which used to affect millions.
The late president Gerald Ford, in a tribute written specifically for Jimmy Carter’s funeral, said ‘we both married way above ourselves.’ The comments were read by Ford’s son, Steven.
But he also shared more personal remembrances.
“He shared the world with me: The power of an atom. The beauty and complexity of a south Georgia forest,” the former Georgia state legislator said. “When we fished, he celebrated the majesty of everything from the smallest minnow to that grand circulation of waters. And he shared this love with my boys.”
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, once a pastor in Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, remembered Carter for his “tough mind and a tender heart” growing up in small Plains, Ga., in racially mixed Sumter County.
Young was among the speakers remembering the diversity of Carter’s life — in addition to being president he was a peanut farmer and a trained nuclear physicist — as well as his dedication to sticking up for the rights of minorities.
“I never cease to be surprised, I never cease to be enlightened, I never cease to be inspired by the little deeds of love and mercy that he shared with us every day of his life.”
Unique tributes from the late Ford, Mondale
Carter lived longer than any other U.S. president and had been in hospice care for nearly two years before his death. His last public appearance was at the funeral for his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023. At that service, Carter used a wheelchair and appeared frail.
The ceremony on Thursday also included tributes from former president Gerald Ford and Carter’s vice-president, Walter Mondale, that were written specifically for the occasion of Carter’s funeral. Ford died in 2006 and Mondale in 2021.
Mondale, in comments read by son Ted Mondale, remembered how closely the pair worked together in their White House years, and how a true friendship developed.
“We told the truth, we obeyed the law, we kept the peace,” Walter Mondale wrote.
Ford, defeated by Carter in the 1976 election, recognized how well the two men were supported by their respective wives, Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter.
“Of the many things Jimmy and I had in common, the most important is this — we both married way above ourselves,” Ford wrote, in comments read by his son, Steven.
Carter had delivered a eulogy at Ford’s funeral in 2006.
Following the state funeral, Carter’s remains will be returned to his native Plains, Ga., where he lived in his 44 post-White House years and made the base of operations for his diplomatic work and charitable efforts, including Habitat for Humanity.