Former President Jimmy Carter, who disavowed the trappings of the imperial presidency and never gave up his humble Georgia roots, will nonetheless be given an elaborate national send-off starting on Tuesday when he is brought to Washington for three days of tributes.
Mr. Carter, who died last week at age 100, will be flown from Atlanta to Washington and taken to the U.S. Navy Memorial downtown before being delivered to the U.S. Capitol by a horse-drawn caisson. In the Rotunda of the Capitol, he will lie in state for a day and a half before a formal state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.
Vice President Kamala Harris; House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, and Senator John Thune, the Republican majority leader from South Dakota, will deliver eulogies and lay wreaths at the Capitol during a ceremony set to begin around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Among the dignitaries invited are members of Congress, the cabinet, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the diplomatic corps, state governors and the mayor of Washington.
The schedule was pushed back because of snow in Washington, but the public will still be able to pay respects from 7 p.m. to midnight Tuesday and again all day Wednesday. Thousands are expected to make their way to the Capitol to honor the 39th president, who served from 1977 to 1981 and will be placed on the same catafalque that bore Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in 1865.
According to the official schedule, “Ruffles and Flourishes” and “Hail to the Chief” will be played at least five times on Tuesday: at the Carter Center in Atlanta, where he will start the day; at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia, where he will be loaded onto a special presidential jet for the flight north; at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, just outside Washington; at the Navy Memorial; and again at the Capitol.