A solemn military procession transported the body of late U.S. President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. Capitol, where it will lie in state until his national funeral later this week.
A joint services body bearer team carried the former president’s casket into the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 7, 2025.
Carter, who passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100, served as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981. He was renowned for his humanitarian work post-presidency, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his global contributions.
U.S. officials, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and John Thune, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other dignitaries, gathered for a brief ceremony to honor Carter. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a statement on X, expressed his condolences, praising Carter’s extraordinary life and contributions to the nation.
Carter becomes the 13th U.S. president to lie in state at the Capitol, following in the footsteps of the first president to do so, Abraham Lincoln.
This event also coincided with the anniversary of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, adding further significance to the proceedings.
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A state funeral is set for Thursday at the National Cathedral in Washington, where President Biden will deliver the eulogy. All four living former presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump—are expected to attend.
In honor of Carter, President Biden has declared Thursday a national day of mourning and ordered federal offices to close. He has also mandated that flags be flown at half-staff for the next 30 days, extending even through Trump’s inauguration on January 20, which has sparked some criticism.
Carter, the first U.S. president to reach the age of 100, had been in hospice care since February 2023 in Plains, Georgia, where he will be buried next to his late wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.